Madurai : The Madurai bench of the Madras high court on Tuesday (21st April) dismissed a public interest litigation that challenged the Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation’s decision to introduce an auction system to allot slots to channels.
In his petition, M Amar of Trichy said Arasu Cable TV Corporation took a decision in its meeting held on 5th November last to allot 23 slots in the mid, super and hyper bands to satellite FTA Tamil channels for telecasting throughout the state, except in Chennai and Coimbatore.
As the number of free-to-air (FTA) Tamil channels is more than that of the available slots, the cable TV corporation proposed to allot the slots on a tender cum auction basis.
The tender process has forced the free channels like Makkal TV, Polimer TV, Vasanth TV, Tamilan TV, Imayam TV, Moon TV and Win TV to pay charges to the corporation, which ultimately affected the viewers.
Though the corporation offers 106 slots, it has put just 23 slots in the auction system, according to the petitioner. Hence, the cable TV corporation’s tender system should be cancelled, the petitioner prayed.
When the matter came up for hearing, the division bench of the court dismissed the petition observing that the petitioner had no locus standi to file the petition.
