07-15-2008, 05:07 PM
Chennai, Jul 15 (PTI) The Tamil Nadu government today launched its own cable TV corporation 'Arasu', apparently to compete with the Sumangali Cable Network (SCV) owned by the Maran brothers, grand nephews of Chief Minister M Karunanidhi.
Launching the operations of the new network, called Arasu (government) cable TV Corporation, from here, Karunanidhi said it was the first such venture by any state.
The network beamed its first pictures from the Thanjavur digital control room, covering Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur and Tiruchirapalli districts.
The CM said the government had prevailed upon representatives of 70 to 80 popular pay channels to give their feed to the Corporation.
The government would take legal action to get the feed of some more pay channels, which had not given their consent to give their feed to the corporation, Karunanidhi said.
He said that only 70 to 80 of about 300 pay channels in India were popular among the public and hence the state government had decided to beam programmes only to them.
Justifying his government's decision to enter Cable TV business, the DMK chief said it was aimed at providing quality services at fair prices.
Some Multi System Operators had 'exploited' local cable TV operators and earned huge profits, he said in an apparent reference to SCV, which holds a major stake in cable TV business in the state.
Recently Karunanidhi's Madurai-based son M K Azhagiri had started his own cable network, the Royal Cable Vision (RCV) to take on SCV in Madurai district. PTI
http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf...enDocument
Launching the operations of the new network, called Arasu (government) cable TV Corporation, from here, Karunanidhi said it was the first such venture by any state.
The network beamed its first pictures from the Thanjavur digital control room, covering Thanjavur, Nagapattinam, Tiruvarur and Tiruchirapalli districts.
The CM said the government had prevailed upon representatives of 70 to 80 popular pay channels to give their feed to the Corporation.
The government would take legal action to get the feed of some more pay channels, which had not given their consent to give their feed to the corporation, Karunanidhi said.
He said that only 70 to 80 of about 300 pay channels in India were popular among the public and hence the state government had decided to beam programmes only to them.
Justifying his government's decision to enter Cable TV business, the DMK chief said it was aimed at providing quality services at fair prices.
Some Multi System Operators had 'exploited' local cable TV operators and earned huge profits, he said in an apparent reference to SCV, which holds a major stake in cable TV business in the state.
Recently Karunanidhi's Madurai-based son M K Azhagiri had started his own cable network, the Royal Cable Vision (RCV) to take on SCV in Madurai district. PTI
http://www.ptinews.com/pti%5Cptisite.nsf...enDocument