Tamilnadu news:  Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa today begins the Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation. Speaking after the launch of the cable TV services through video-conferencing, she said with the commencement of operations by the government, the monopoly that prevailed in cable TV business in the state has been ended.
Noting that people and cable TV operators have been freed from the clutches of one family that dominated the cable TV business in the state, she said the AIADMK had in its poll manifesto announced it would provide a level-playing field for all cable TV operators. This will be fulfilled with this launch. She said the consumers would be charged only Rs 70 per month for a bouquet of channels and they would be saving nearly Rs 70 to Rs 100 per month through the government launched service.
Ms Jayalalithaa said the Cable TV Corporation would provide 90 free channels at a monthly subscription of Rs 70. 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 had said while making an announcement to this effect in the state Assembly last week.
Barring Chennai, the service would be available to people in all parts of the state, adding the government would take steps to include pay channels also in the bouquet of channels. Ms Jayalalithaa had 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.