In this article I examine the cultural role of private and state-controlled television networks in India and their negotiation of identities through profitable hybrid programming. I draw attention to a new emerging power in processes of globalization: indigenous, regional television networks. Ethnography in Bangalore, India, in 1997 and 2000 revealed that regional, private, vernacular language networks indeed played a crucial role in local imaginings and, in the long run, may rise in tremendous political power through their manipulation and reflection of regional identity. The analysis leads to a critique of local media markets and the location of 'nation' in global media processes.