TN govt clarifies Cable TV Corporation's role

Chennai, Aug 19 (UNI) The Tamil Nadu Government today clarified that its recently constituted Arasu Cable TV Corporation would only function as a Multi-System Operator (MSO) and not be involved in local distribution of cable network.

Following reports in a section of the media that there was confusion over the government's venture into cable TV distribution, an official release here said the State Cabinet, which met on August 11, decided that the government corporation would only function as an MSO. Based on this, a GO was issued on August 13.

According to the Central Act, the term MSO was being used only in metropolitan cities like Chennai, while in other places it was referred as 'cable operators.' Hence, it was mentioned so in the GO, the release said.

Citing Chief Minister M Karunanidhi's recent clarification that the newly-constituted corporation would not be involved in direct distribution of cable network to households, the official release asserted the existing cable operators would not be affected.

UNI