The Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation Ltd (TACTV) has received five bids to provide free ‘set top boxes’ (STBs) to nearly 75 lakh subscribers. TACTV had issued a global tender in May for supply of STBs.
The cable corporation will now scrutinise the bids and the prequalification documents. Following this, the technical specifications will be verified on a file by file basis, and the sample boxes submitted to Arasu Cable will be sent to a Government of India (GoI) approved laboratory for testing.
Opening of bids
Once the documents are examined, TACTV will decide on the qualified bidders, and those found eligible will be called on a specific date. On the specified date, the price bids will be opened in the presence of the qualified bidders and the winner will be announced.
“It will take at least about two weeks for the process to be completed. A clearer picture will emerge by the end of this month,” a senior official from TACTV told The Hindu.
TACTV, in fact, had to extend the deadline for submitting the bids after many potential bidders raised a number of queries and issues during a meeting held in mid-May. The bids finally closed at 3 p.m. on Wednesday.
The cable corporation hopes to start the process of distributing the STBs in a couple of months.
“We’ll decide on how to go about the process. May be we can start off distributing the STBs in Chennai first and roll it out across the State in phases; but these things have to be thrashed out,” the official said.
During the run-up to the Assembly polls last year, former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, in her party’s election manifesto, had promised to provide free STBs to subscribers of Arasu Cable.
Blackouts ruled out
Many private multi-system operators are wary of the plan as they feel provision of free STBs makes the field unequal, and they would have to either subsidise their STBs or provide them free to subscribers.
A couple of multi-system operators had told The Hindu last month that they are working on such a plan though it would affect them financially.
Meanwhile, with instances of local cable operators reportedly blacking out channels that are critical of the government, Arasu Cable officials say it would no longer be possible once STBs are installed.
“We have not got any reports of blackouts. But, in just about a month, the local cable operators will not be able to cut off any channel that is being offered on our platform.
“Everything will be controlled from our primary headend. So, it will be impossible for anyone to blackout any channel,” the official said.
In the recent past, subscribers, especially from the southern districts, have complained of channels either being moved down on Arasu Cable or blacked out, for carrying news critical of the government.
