The Arasu Cable TV control room on the premises of Thanjavur Cauvery Wholesale Co-operative Super Market (TCWS), may become vibrant soon with the announcement by the Tamil Nadu government to revive the network.
It was with much fanfare that the control room was inaugurated through video-conferencing by the then Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M. Karunanidhi on July 15 2008, at a function in which Collectors from Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam participated. The control room which had a jurisdiction of eight districts provided feeds to hundreds of cable TV operators which were its members. The districts covered included Thanjavur, Tiruvarur, Nagapattinam, Ariyalur, Perambalur, Pudukottai, Tiruchi and Dindigul. In Thanjavur district, 40 cable TV operators were members.
Equipments, including eight dish antennas, D-Coder, En-Coder which were imported from foreign countries, were installed at a cost of Rs.10 crore.
However, the operations of the Arasu cable TV network became defunct on January 15, 2010. “We have all the equipments here. We are just waiting for the government's orders to restore activity,” a control room staff said. Thanjavur was the first centre from where Arasu Cable TV corporation activities were launched by the previous government. As of now, Sumangali Cable Vision is providing the feeds to the local TV channels and cable operators. With the resumption of the Arasu Cable TV Corporation, the feeds might be got at a lesser rate. Private TV channel owners and local cable TV operators welcomed the move of the government.
