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Almost seventy-five percent of India's one billion people live in villages. Until recently, most of the villages were fairly isolated from external media influence. As these villages continued to modernize and gain access to services once thought to be limited to an urban environment, basic human needs began to change. Television, which used to be thought of as a luxury, has in the past 10--15 years become perceived as a necessity. Rural Maharashtrian villages have suddenly been propelled into the electronic information age. These societies that used to be defined by their own oral traditions and stories are now more than ever being structured and reorganized through television. / The research question centers on the role of television in rural life, and the influence it has had on the social, economic and political landscape of the village. Through in-depth interviews and participant observation a picture emerged of television's role in the process of social change at the village level. The physical presence of television and the content of the medium both contribute to the restructuring of human relationships within village life. / The data suggest that television influences certain processes of social change, some of which include: consumerism, democratization, changing gender and age relations, linguistic hegemony, access to information and the entrepreneurial base. In addition, television has restructured the concept of time within the village community. The data also illustrate that village children are unaware of what life was like before the arrival of television. Villagers have become accustomed to their daily dosage of soap operas, movies, game shows and music programs. Rural Maharashtrians are increasingly becoming active participants in the "global village."