By IANS
Chennai : Tamil Nadu announced Friday that the central government has cleared the decks for its cable delivery system proposal.
The decision to start the process of launching the government’s three-phased cable distribution system from mid-July was taken at a high-level meeting, chaired by Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi here.
Fifteen districts would be covered during the mid-July launch, a communiqué said.
By September, the southern metropolis of Chennai, presently governed by the Conditional Access System (CAS), would also be covered, it added.
Sumangali Cable Vision (SCV), which delivers the largest number of channels in the state, has raised its protest against the new move, saying it “was aimed at lessening our business opportunities by harassing our operators”.
SCV is owned by the Maran-brothers, the estranged grand-nephews of Karunanidhi. The state government, however, has denied the allegation.
Though the state government openly encourages SCV’s rival entities like Hathway and Tata Sky, the Sun bouquets of channels still holds sway in Tamil Nadu television rating.
Sun’s premier channels in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Kerala also have a considerable market share in the respective states.