ITV

Tag: J Jayalalithaa

  • Arasu Cable to run subscriber awareness campaigns

    Arasu Cable to run subscriber awareness campaigns

    MUMBAI: The state owned multi system operator (MSO) from Tamil Nadu (TN), Arasu Cable, is looking at running awareness campaign for its subscribers. The campaign will urge them to demand printed receipts from their local cable operators (LCOs).

     

    The MSO is doing this in order to ensure that no one is charged more than the monthly fee of Rs 70. The campaign will begin with a poster campaign from Kancheepuram and will be displayed at government buildings, ration shops, government hospitals and schools, regional transport offices and civic body offices.

     

    Subscribers can lodge complaints over the phone on 044 28221233 if the LCO doesn’t provide a receipt or demands for more money. There are more than 65 lakh Arasu cable subscribers in TN. Printing books have already been handed to LCOs for the same.

     

    Arasu has been awaiting its DAS licence from the ministry for quite some time now. The MSO owned by the Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa’s AIADMK has been writing several letters to the central government to allow its licence go to go through so that it could switch over from analogue to digital.

  • Jayalalitha again seeks DAS licence for state-run Arasu

    Jayalalitha again seeks DAS licence for state-run Arasu

    NEW DELHI: After she failed to convince him through a memorandum presented last month, Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa has now written to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to intervene to secure Digital Addressable System (DAS) licence for the state run TV Cable Corporation.

     

    The application has been pending with the state for three years but has not been cleared in view of the opinion by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) that political party, state and centre-run TV channels or TV distribution networks should not be permitted in the country.

     

    The Regulator had given this opinion in 2008 and then reiterated it earlier this year after the Information and Broadcasting Ministry referred the matter to it for a second time.

     

     In her letter to Modi, Jayalalithaa said the previous United Progressive Alliance regime sanctioned licenses to nine Multi System Operators in Tamil Nadu but did not respond to the state’s plea. She claimed that her government had revived the ‘defunct’ Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corporation (TACTV), a state run TV Cable Corporation, after coming to power in 2011 to adhere to its commitment to provide inexpensive and quality Cable TV services.

     

    TACTV, an initiative of the previous DMK government at the height of family feud in the party’s first family involving M Karunanidhi and his grandnephews, Maran brothers, was however later put in cold storage after they patched up.

     

    TACTV was providing 100 channels for Rs 70 as against the Rs 150-250 charged by some other MSOs, she said in the letter. After the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995 was amended, paving way for DAS, TACTV took steps to commence operations in the digital mode in Chennai and applied to the Ministry for DAS license.

     

    Orders were also placed for the supply of Set Top Boxes, Conditional Access System and Subscriber Management System and installing of a headend at a cost of about Rs 50 crore, she told Modi.

     

    Jayalalithaa in her letter has asserted that as per the provisions of the Cable TV Network (Regulations) Act, 1995, and Rules thereof, TACTV is qualified for such a licence. She also alleged that she strongly suspects that the non-issuance of license by the previous UPA government was only to facilitate particular private business interests. 

  • Vishwaroopam’s DTH premiere on 2 Feb, after theatrical release

    Vishwaroopam’s DTH premiere on 2 Feb, after theatrical release

    MUMBAI: After buckling under pressure from theatre owners, Kamaal Haasan‘s spy thriller Vishwaroopam is all set to premiere on direct-to-home (DTH) platforms on 2 February, almost a week after the theatrical release.

    The Hindi version of Vishwaroopam will be released on 1 February across India. The Tamil and Telugu versions of the film will be released on 25 January as announced by the actor earlier.

    "While the original DTH premiere was on a Thursday (January 10) and hence inconvenient for most, I am now releasing it on a Saturday at the end of the first week of release (January 25) which will be on February 2," Haasan said in a statement.

    The trilingual action film was earlier supposed to premiere on DTH on 10 January a day before the theatrical release on 11 January which met with fierce resistance from a section of theatre owners who saw the move as an attack on their livelihood.

    The protest by cinema owners in Tamil Nadu, who had also urged the Tamil Nadu CM J Jayalalithaa to intervene, had Haasan change his mind.

    The actor and film-maker had also moved the Competition Commission of India (CCI) against certain theatre associations for restricting the release of his film.

    However, Haasan did not reveal the name of DTH operators who will telecast the movie. Haasan‘s production had earlier signed a deal with all the six DTH operators to air the film.

    "I will announce the names of my DTH partners who will be involved in this endeavour soon," he said.

  • Kamal Haasan’s Vishwaroop signs up with three DTH ops

    Kamal Haasan’s Vishwaroop signs up with three DTH ops

    MUMBAI: Even as theatre owners in Tamil Nadu threaten to boycott Kamal Haasan‘s Vishwaroopam, Raaj Kamal Films International, the production company owned by the Tamil superstar, has gone ahead and signed up with third direct-to-home (DTH) operator Dish TV to premiere the movie one day before its theatrical release.

    Vishwaroopam, the first ever Indian film to premiere on DTH before its theatrical release, had earlier signed up with Videocon d2h and Airtel digital TV.

    Dish TV along with Videocon d2h and Airtel digital TV will showcase the movie on 10 January, one day before its theatrical release on 11 January.

    Tamil Nadu Theatre Owners Association and Madurai-Ramanathapuram United Film Distributors, who have been opposing the actor‘s decision, have threatened to boycott the film if the actor doesn‘t reconsider his decision. The theatre owners have also urged Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa to intervene and protect their interests.

    However, DTH operators feel the DTH premiere is an idea whose time has come. Even Haasan had made it clear that there was no going back on the decision to premiere it on DTH first.

    Says Dish TV COO Salil Kapoor, "It is an idea whose time has come; we are glad that the movie fraternity is looking at this technology as a new revenue stream. As a pioneer in the DTH space, this is yet another first to Dish TV‘s credit.

    This Indian spy thriller which is being writtend Directed and co-produced by Haasan is priced at Rs 1,000 per view for the Tamil version, if the subscriber books the order till 5 January. After 5 January, subscribers would need to pay Rs 1,200 per view.

    The Hindi and Telugu versions of the movie are priced at Rs. 500. Tamil and Telugu versions are called Vishwaroopam and Hindi version of the same is named Vishwaroop.