TN govt's Cable TV operations by June

Chennai, Feb 19 (UNI) The much-awaited Cable TV operations by the Tamil Nadu government will be from by June this year.

This was decided at a meeting of the government-owned Arasu Cable TV Corporation Limited (ACCL) and attended by the representatives of the Cable TV operators and owners association.

The meeting also decided to float global tenders for setting up control rooms in Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Thiruvannamalai and Thanjavur districts, and decided to fix March 12 as the last date for securing global tenders for setting up control rooms.

After receipt of the tenders, work on setting up the control room would commence and cable tv services would be started by June, an official release said.

Stating that the ACCL was committed to providing quality service at affordable and low cost rates, the release said steps would be taken to expand it across the state in a phased manner.

It said as far as Chennai was concerned, the ACCL has sought Centre's permission for launching MSO services. ''Once permission is received, the services would also be launched in Chennai also,'' it added.

The government also promised the cable TV industry that action would be taken in an unbiased manner against those cutting any cable lines and threatening the cable TV operators.

This assumes significance in the context of leading MSO 'Sumangali Cable Vision', owned by the Maran brothers, lodging a complaint with the police of threatening its operators to' switch to Hathway.

The government also said the demand of the cable TV operators to reduce the tax burden would be considered.

The meeting was chaired by ACCL Managing director Brajeswar Singh. Finance and IT Secretaries, and representatives of the Cable TV operators and owners Associations attended the meeting.

UNI GV RR MIR KP1943