Making a suo motu statement, the Chief Minister said to begin with, the Corporation would make available to customers, 90 free channels at a monthly subscription of Rs 70. The decision to launch Arasu Cable Tv corporation marked the fulfillment of AIADMK election promise and would break the monoply in Cable TV sector, she said.
After the government decided to revive Arasu Cable Tv Corporation, about 34,344 cable operators in the State and MSOs, who had 1.45 crore connections throughout the state, joined the corporation with much enthusiasm, she said. The government would collect from these operators, Rs 20 per connection per month and the launch of Arasu Cable tv would help the public to save from Rs 70 to Rs 100 a month, Ms Jayalalithaa said. Barring Chennai, the service would be available to people in all parts of the State, she said adding the government would take steps to include pay channels also in the bouquet of channels.
Ms Jayalalithaa said the operations would be started from the existing four Heads Ends at Thanjavur, Coimbatore, Vellore and Tirunelveli and beam Arasu Cable TV signals to operators located around the radius. The government would take private Head End facilities in the remaining 27 districts on lease to expand operations across the state, she added.
She said the previous DMK regime had launched the Arasu Cable Tv Corporation in 2007 and offered more than 50,000 connections. However, due to the selfish attitude of the previous government, the number of connections came down and as on March 31, the connections shrunk to 432. Thus, the Corporation became defunct during the DMK Regime itself, she said.
- Agencies
News Source 2
In an apparent move to end the monopoly of the Marans-owned multi-crore cable TV business, state-run Arasu Cable TV corporation will start functioning from September 2.
A total of 90 channels, including pay channels would be available on this platform for a monthly fee of Rs 70, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa told the Assembly today.
Slamming the previous DMK government which started the service in the wake of split in the DMK first family involving the Marans, she said the same government which launched the service was also instrumental in it going dormant (after DMK chief M Karunanidhi and Marans patched up).
"The corporation provided 50,000 cable connections when it was started in 2007 but due to selfishness of rulers,it shrunk to 432 as on March 31, 2011,"she said in a suo moto statement.
After assuming power all efforts were taken to restructure the corporation,she said referring to appointing of a Chairman and a Managing Director as part of this.
Infrastructure like digital heads were also restructured she said, adding over 34,000 Multi-System Operators (MSO) and cable operators who possess 1.45 crore connections have joined it which will cover areas other than Chennai.
"Efforts have been taken to broadcast 90 channels through Arasu cable TV and Free To Air (FTA) channels to start with. Pay channels will be added later," she said.
While consumers will be charged Rs 70 per month, operators will have to pay Rs 20 per connection she said, adding her government's latest initiative would ensure delivery of cable services at nominal rates.