ince the time Malgudi�s Swami captured the hearts and imaginations of the nation�s children in the eighties, television has been a powerful magnet for young viewers. But Master Manjunath (who played Swami) and the other standard bearers of early children�s TV might be surprised by the diversity of their counterparts in today�s television landscape. Now karate-chopping freedom fighters, talking babies and comic book superheroes dominate the schedule of kids� television.

Certainly, the phenomenal success of Cartoon Network and the kids� hour programming on various channels have contributed to the increase in the overall time devoted to children by popular television, urging a whole new crop of players to enter the ring. While three channels are already on air - Cartoon Network, Pogo and Nick (earlier Nickelodeon) - three more will be launched during this year, including Alliance One�s Animax, UTV�s Hungama and ZEE�s Spacetoons. While the existing channels are all international or air international content dubbed in Hindi, the new entrants are pitching themselves as Indian children�s channels in an attempt to woo viewers. ... more