Jaya urges Centre for DAS license to Arasu Cable TV

Chennai: Chief Minister Jayalalithaa urged the Centre to review the application of state-run Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Ltd (TACTV) for 'Digital Addressable System' license, which is pending before the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. In a letter to Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Prakash Javadekar, which was handed over to him by AIADMK MPs at Delhi, she referred to the Madras High Court judgement in 2012, as well as her government's earlier efforts to secure the license.

Observing that the Ministry has issued licenses to nine other Multi System Operators in Tamil Nadu and not TACTV, Jayalalithaa said "I strongly suspect that the non-issuance of the DAS license to TACTV by the previous UPA government was only to facilitate particular private business interests, as other licenses were issued at the same time." She also pointed out that Inter Ministerial Committee, set up by the Ministry in 2013 to look into recommendations of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on the licensing issue has still not submitted its final report.

TACTV was fully qualified and entitled to get the DAS license under the Cable TV Network (Regulations) Act, 1995, since it held that a person or an association of individuals or a company registered under the Companies Act is to be issued the license, she said. After coming to power in 2011, Jayalalithaa revived the state PSU TACTV, which commenced operations in Tamil Nadu on September 2 and thereafter to Chennai metro area, after getting a Conditional Access System (CAS) license.

Ever since the Centre amended the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995, and modified the 'CAS' area to 'Digital Addressable System' (DAS) area, TACTV took all necessary steps to commence operations in the Digital Mode in Chennai and had placed orders for the supply of Set Top Boxes, CAS and Subscriber Management System and erection of Head End at a cost of about Rs 50 crore, she said. TACTV had applied to the Ministry for DAS license in 2012 to operate in Chennai and also for operating in the rest of Tamil Nadu.