What effect will the emergence of multimedia services have on the existing media in India, especially the traditional print and broadcast media which are the main source of news, information and entertainment? The issues to be looked at before attempting an answer to these questions include the role of media and what they have to offer to its users. Television and newspapers have always been regarded as very good avenues for fast distribution of information and news. However, each of these has its own drawbacks. Newspapers are seen to lack the dynamism of video and film. Television, on the other hand, is seen as being inherently passive. Users are not unable to change fixed ordering of the information, nor are they able to easily man oeuvre through the information presented. In the emerging environment of multimedia services, the existing media can participate as content providers.  The mass media’s worth has always been that t offered its users the service of packaging its product in a manner that is acceptable and easily understood.

Multimedia provides opportunities for media to enhance its traditional gatekeeper role (using filters of local cultural and social values and upholding the cultural, economic and political values of a country). The USP of multimedia is wide array of contents it has to offer, therefore, selling data and information will turn out to be one of the most lucrative spin-offs of the multimedia world. On the other hand, the proliferation of multimedia services will reduce the attractiveness of mass media as advertising vehicles, whether the new source of revenue will make up for this is still to be seen. For the broadcast media, the emergence of multimedia is of even greater significance, since the very essence of multimedia involves adding the video dimension to many types of information services which will revolutionize the way people process information. The broadcast media can build on its strengths and offer its expertise in communication through pictures.

Multimedia has the potential to vastly increase the range of services available, and offers its users a large choice of applications. However new technology alone will not ensure success it is the people who use it that will decide the future of multimedia. The users’ wants and needs how they will manage the options and above all, whether or not they will pay for the freedom of choices are what counts.