[Commlist] Call for Chapters: Power, Platforms, and Publics: Reconfiguring Distribution in Indian Television

Call for Chapters

Book Title: Power, Platforms, and Publics: Reconfiguring Distribution in 
Indian Television

Editor: Dr. Sushmita Pandit (Assistant Professor, St. Xavier’s University)

Overview

The objective of this volume is to posit distribution as a fundamental 
category for understanding power and publics in Indian television. 
Distribution is gradually emerging as a pivotal yet under-theorized 
location of power in contemporary Indian television. In the last few 
years, the aspects of production, representation, genres and audience in 
relation to Indian television have received ample scholarly attention. 
However, the issues related to how television content is circulated 
through cable, satellite, DTH, and OTT platforms, navigating regulatory, 
policy decisions and infrastructural factors have received limited 
academic consideration. This edited volume seeks to position 
distribution as the focal point of analysis. It considers the category 
of distribution not merely as a neutral, spontaneous organizing or 
technical practice, but as an active, contested socio-technical system 
that shapes visibility, access, labour, governance, and monetization.

This collection aims to highlight the Indian television scenario as a 
case in point to connect with the ongoing global issues and debates 
around streaming networks, platformization, portalization, forms of 
algorithmic distribution, and the infrastructural turn in television 
studies. Such an engagement can connect to critical and theoretical 
debates to forge novel ways of seeing and narrating these changes. It is 
fruitful to consider distribution as a critical category within the 
Indian context, particularly because Indian media ecology offers a 
unique site with public broadcasting practices, uneven infrastructure, 
cultural-linguistic diversity, and policy-related uncertainty amid the 
swift expansion of platforms. Drawing on both emerging fields of study 
and established theoretical frameworks, this edited collection aims to 
connect platform studies, policy research, a political economy approach, 
and techno-cultural analysis, addressing the central question: how can 
distribution be employed as a central analytical lens for understanding 
contemporary Indian television and its transformations in relation to 
markets, culture, technology, governance, and power in India.
The editor is currently in advanced stages of discussions with several 
reputed academic publishers regarding the publication of this edited volume.

Call for Contributions

Original chapter submissions are invited that critically engage with the 
politics and practices of distribution in Indian television. 
Contributions should engage deeply on distribution as a site of debate, 
power, and cultural mediation. We welcome interdisciplinary approaches 
that combine theoretical innovation with empirical depth, and encourage 
submissions that explore historical, contemporary, or speculative 
dimensions of television distribution in India.
Chapters may be theoretical or empirical (5,000–7,000 words) and should 
offer clear scholarly contributions to media and communication studies, 
television studies, platform studies, cultural studies, or policy 
research. Please note that there are no publication fees or charges to 
authors for inclusion in this edited volume.

Themes and Topics

Chapter proposals are welcome on, but not limited to, the following themes:
• The historical evolution of television distribution practices in 
India—from terrestrial broadcasting to cable, satellite, DTH, and OTT 
platforms.
• Digitalization, platformization, and the reconfiguration of legacy 
distribution models.
• Infrastructures of access and the production of inequality across 
urban/rural, class, caste, linguistic, and regional divides.
• Platformization, algorithmic circulation, and the political economy of 
OTT services.
• The circulation of regional and linguistic content in digital 
distribution ecosystems.
• Regulatory frameworks, policy debates, and the governance of 
distribution (e.g., content moderation, data governance, platform 
liability).
• The experiential aspects of distribution (e.g., subscription sharing, 
piracy, affordances, platform switching).
• Market concentration, ownership patterns, and the political economy of 
distribution networks.
• Emerging issues related to distribution: AI, telecom-media 
convergence, infrastructural justice, and democratic media access.
• Broader theoretical and methodological approaches to studying 
distribution as cultural and political power.

Submission Process

Kindly submit an abstract of 300–500 words along with a brief author bio 
(150 words) detailing your academic background and expertise to 
manuscriptsub2026 [at] gmail.com <http://gmail.com>.
Abstracts should clearly state the chapter’s objectives, methodological 
approach, and contribution to the field. We encourage proposals from 
scholars across disciplines, including (but not limited to): media 
studies, film studies, communication, political science, sociology, 
cultural studies, science and technology studies (STS), philosophy, 
posthumanities, legal studies, and digital humanities.

Deadlines

    Abstract Submission Deadline: Tuesday, 31 March 2026
    Notification of Acceptance: Thursday, 30 April 2026
    Full Chapter Submission Deadline: Friday, 31 July 2026

Contact Information

Please send your submissions and any inquiries to: manuscriptsub2026 
[at] gmail.com <http://gmail.com>

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