A television network is a company that runs TV channels and earns from them in two ways: by selling advertising time on each channel, and by charging cable and DTH operators fees to carry its channels. It is also called a broadcaster. One Indian network may run dozens of channels: general entertainment channels with serials and reality shows, film channels, news channels, sports channels and channels in many Indian languages. JioStar and ZEE are among India's largest networks.
How does a channel reach your TV? The network sends the channel's signal to satellites. Cable operators and DTH (direct-to-home satellite) services receive it and pass it on to homes, through a set-top box. In India, the rules for these fees are set by TRAI, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India. Each network declares a monthly price for each of its pay channels and for its bundles of channels, called bouquets. The operators collect money from viewers and pay the networks their share. Many channels are now also streamed by a streaming service, often one that the same network owns.
Advertising is sold by time. A network sells ad time in units of 10 seconds. The price of each unit depends on how many people are expected to watch that show. The number of viewers is counted by audience measurement, and in India this is done by BARC, the Broadcast Audience Research Council. TRAI rules also limit the amount of advertising to 12 minutes in each hour.
Consider a Marathi general entertainment channel. Its prime-time serial at 8 pm is watched in several lakh homes every evening. A detergent brand wants to advertise during the serial for four weeks. Its media agency plans the campaign in media planning and buying software. The channel's sales team books the order in its ad order management system: twenty 20-second ads in the serial's breaks, at an agreed price for every 10 seconds. The schedule of programmes and ads is then sent to playout, which plays each ad at the planned second. After the campaign, the channel shows the brand which ads ran, and at what time.
Live sport earns the highest prices. Cricket matches, and above all IPL matches, draw the largest audiences, so 10 seconds during an IPL final can cost many times as much as 10 seconds during an ordinary serial. Networks pay very large sums for the rights to show such sport, as described in sports media rights. News channels buy stories and video from a news agency.
New kinds of ads are changing the business. Addressable TV advertising lets operators show different ads to different homes that are watching the same programme. Whether a channel earns from ads, from fees or from both is described in AVOD, SVOD and TVOD.