 As one of the aims of the experiment was to study the potential of TV as a medium of development, the villages were chosen specifically for their backwardness.According to the 1971 census of India, the states having the most number of backward districts in the country were Orissa, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, West Bengal and Karnataka.Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal were eventually left out, as they were slated to get terrestrial television by the time SITE would end.