Controversy over "black out" of Kannada TV channel resolved

Bengaluru, Nov 25: A controversy over alleged blackout of a leading Kannada TV news channel in some parts of Karnataka for some hours was brought to an end on Tuesday with the Congress Government in the state stepping in and resolving the issue, paving the way for resumption of its transmission by cable operators.

TV9 authorities had alleged that their channel was taken off the air last night following a directive issued by an "influential Minister", as it had planned an expose on alleged involvement of the government in a corruption case. [News channel slams K'taka govt, says govt issued 'gag order']

The channel had claimed in a statement that the action of cable operators in taking it off the air emanated from a meeting between them and the minister a few days ago at which he ordered them to stop telecasting TV9 and its English channel News9.

Minister for Information Roshan Baig said today after a meeting with cable operators that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah had asked him and his ministerial colleague Mahadev Prasad to resolve the issue.

Baig said the cable operators had agreed to pay heed to the appeal of Chief Minister and to respect his word, following which they decided to resume telecast of the two channels.

Earlier, the editors of all Kannada TV channels had held a closed-door meeting with Siddaramaiah and sought his intervention in resolving the dispute.

The channel was also in the thick of controversy over a dispute with the Telangana Government which had allegedly threatened it in September.

PTI