When I purchased my first TV, a portable B&W one way back in 1986, there was only one channel - Doordarshan that was available terrestrially. We used to get limited but quality TV viewing those days, totally free. Besides epics like Ramayan and Mahabharat, there were serials limited to 13 episodes and enjoyable.
Even though there are hundreds of channels available now on different platforms, I feel I miss Doordarshan days a lot.
Those days will never come back.