Minister for Information Technology M Manikandan has said that the tenders called by the Tamil Nadu Cable TV Corporation (TACTV) for procuring Set Top Boxes (STBs) would be opened in couple of days and Chief Minister Edappadi K Palaniswami would soon launch the distribution of free STBs to the subscribers.
In a brief chat with reporters here on Saturday, the Minister said after former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa had promised in the election manifesto to provide free STBs, if the party was elected to power, the government called tenders on June 14 and they would be opened in couple of days, after which, the Chief Minister would launch the distribution.
He said as of now, the TACTV has 70.52 lakh subscribers and the Government proposed to provide them cable TV service at the lowest subscription. After repeated representations to the Prime Minister, the Centre gave the Digital Addressable System (DAS) licence on April 17, he said.
On payment of monthly subscriptions, Mr. Manikandan said subscribers could either pay the amount through the more than 26,000 cable TV operators or directly to the government by downloading an app created for the purpose. About 16 lakh subscribers had downloaded the app and 60 lakh more subscribers would do so, he said.
After downloading, they could pay the subscription within 10 days from 1 to 10 of every month. If the subscribers could not pay within the period, they could pay through Cable TV operators, he added.
