India has come a long way since 1959 when we first witnessed Doordarshan. Moreover, television viewing in traditional days gave us limited options. Then with time came the next wave of television viewing with cable TV which gave the choice of 24 hour broadcast to the viewers. As Direct to Home (DTH) service made its way into Indian homes in 2006, the viewers made it clear that they do not mind paying for good content of their choice. However, cable TV and DTH only allowed them to manage their experience to the extent of flipping channels. With the advent of smartphones and internet in the country, and the recent India launch of popular internet streaming services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hooq, Spuul, Voot, and Hotstar etc., smart TV apps are all set to redefine the television viewing experience in the country once again.

Apart from offering the traditional television features, a smart television set can also be connected to the internet or other digital devices for video streaming. Therefore, it is called a Connected or Hybrid TV. Therefore, the user can play videos from his phone, listen to music stored on his flash drive, live stream a cricket match over internet, conduct a video call, or subscribe to various internet-based services such as on-demand videos etc. Therefore, users are no more dependent on the content offered to them by television broadcasters but may choose themselves from a vast array of content available on internet. If the recent trend of launching popular entertainment series exclusively over internet further picks up, there are chances that the viewers may completely do away with their traditional set-top boxes and switch to smart televisions.

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