New Delhi : The Information and Broadcasting ministries latest update release dated 22nd September shows that nine new MSOs have got permission for DAS, which includes three new MSOs from Tamil Nadu, whereas, the TN Government owned Arasu Cable was not granted permission, as the latest recommendation of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) states that state-owned bodies should not be permitted
The list of nine new MSO granted permission are Koduri Satyanarayana, Sri Sai TV Services of Khammam District of Telengana; Abhilash Communications of Adilabad for notified areas of phase II and phase III cities in PAN India; JPR Channel of Mumbai for Mumbai (phase I) and phase II areas in Maharashtra and Gujarat; Operator Digital Tamil Nadu of Coimbatore for all the cities, towns and villages of phase II,III and IV in Tamil Nadu; VK Digital Network of Chennai for cities/towns/areas occurring against phase I, phase II, phase III, phase-IV; Saga Network Entertainment of Madurai for Tamil Nadu; Talachaer TV Home Cable Network of Talacher in Odisha for Angul District and Dhenkanal District, Odisha ; Voice and Vision Club of Singrauli in Madhya Pradesh for phase III and IV of Madhya Pradesh and Sonebhadra Districts of Uttar Pradesh; and Den Network Satellite of Mumbai for Maharashtra.
The I&B ministry has cancelled the licence of Digicable, Kal Cables, Intermedia Cable Communications, Godfather Communication and DigiCablecomm Services owing to the reason that the Union Home Ministry has denied security clearance. However, most of them had approached the court and obtained a stay against the move.
With this further delay on processing the Arasu Cables DAS application, the future of Arasu Cables existence in Tamil Nadu post implementation of digitisation Phase III & IV is looking bleak, while other state governments like Karnataka and Puducherry are contemplating for the launch of state owned Cable TV services similar to the model of Arasu Cable.
