18 more paid channels added in Arasu Cable for same price

Putting an end to the wait of the viewers, the State-run Arasu Cable Corporation has announced airing of a bouquet of pay channels without paying any extra charges from today.

Customers of Arasu Cable Corporation, which was launched by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa on 2 September, were provided with 90 Free-To-Air channels for a monthly subscription of Rs 70 across Tamilnadu (except Chennai).

An official press release here said that from today they would receive a list of pay channels. It includes include Vijay TV, Zee Tamil, Discovery Tamil, Pogo, Cartoon Network, Animal Planet, Neo Cricket, Sony Max, AXN, HBO, National Geographic, NDTV, CNN, Times Now, ESPN, Star Sports, Star Cricket and Ten Sports without paying any extra subscription.

Jayalalithaa after assuming office for the third time accorded paramount importance to liberate cable TV industry from the monopoly control of a few individuals.

She revived the defunct Arasu Cable Corporation to release the subscribers and cable TV operators from the clutches of the MSOs. As a first step she relaunched Arasu Cable Corporation service across Tamilnadu via video conferencing from Chennai.

Initially it was planned to offer 90 Free-To-Air channels for a nominal subscription of Rs 70 from the people. Later on it was planned to add pay channels with the existing free channels and keeping up this promise, today they have added various pay channels without any added fee from customers.

Authorities of Arasu Cable Corporation have installed 31 transmission centres across 31 districts in Tamilnadu (except Chennai). All efforts were made to maintain and monitor the functioning of these centres. Many cable operators were now part of Arasu Cable Corporation to provide cable TV services to the people.

Chennai is excluded from Arasu Cable Corporation operation owing to the prevalence of CAS (Conditional Access System) in the metropolis.

People of the State and cable operators have welcomed the addition of pay channels among the bouquet of channels.

‘Earlier we spent Rs100 for very few channels and after the arrival of Arasu Cable, we can watch more channels including pay channels for much lesser amount,’ says Karthika of Thiruvallur.