The Indian economy is weathering the worldwide downturn far better than almost any major country and is forecast to grow 4.3% this year and 6.5% the following year. While that is lower than past rates, it remains much better than Western Europe and the US, according to a new study from Screen Digest. Screen Digest predicts that the TV market will see growth too – with the number of TV households rising from 133m last year to 191m by 2013, outstripping increases in the population and households in the same period. Analogue TV has the largest audience, says Screen Digest, but satellite reaches the high income group. Analogue cable TV accounted for 89% of all pay TV homes in 2008 and roughly 60,000 operators. “Screen Digest believes it will increase its subscriber base from 80m to 113m by 2013. Yet despite its large base, Screen Digest forecasts slow conversion to digital. With its affluent middle class audience, satellite is perhaps the more attractive prospect, not just for operators including Dish TV, Sun Direct TV, Big TV, Airtel Digital TV and Tata Sky, but also for the wider media industry due to its transparency in reporting,” says the report. Hindi channels account for a major chunk of the TV advertising market. Screen Digest believes that whilst the outlook for the top three or four Hindi-language channels in the general entertainment space is good, ever-increasing competition and pressures on advertising revenue will see some of the smaller channels either fold their operations or merge with bigger channel groups. However, Screen Digest believes that the future growth potential will be in regional channels.