CHENNAI: Udumalai K Radhakrishnan, an AIADMK functionary from Tirupur district will head the Arasu Cable TV Corporation Limited (ACTCL). He is at present the secretary of the party’s Tirupur district unit youth wing. Radhakrishnan, who has been in the cable TV business for over 23 years, has been chosen for a tough job — as Chairman of the Arasu Cable TV Corporation Limited — by Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa in a surprise move. On July 3, the State government had announced that Santhosh Babu, Secretary, Information Technology Department would also be functioning as the Chairman of the Arasu Cable TV Corporation. Then a Government Order issued on July 4 said that Radhakrishnan had been appointed as the chief of ACTCL and Santhosh Babu would cease to function as the Chairman. The GO added that the terms and conditions of Radhakrishnan’s appointment would be issued separately.When asked about his new job, Radhakrishnan said, “It is a pleasant surprise given by Amma.” On his plans as the Chairman of Arasu Cable, he said, “I will act as per the directions of Amma for the welfare of the people.”The previous DMK government established ACTCL on August 13, 2007 and Brijewsar Singh was appointed as its Chairman and Managing Director. The Corporation could not launch its services in the timeframe promised and it was nearly a year later, when then Chief Minister M Karunanidhi launched its operations on July 15.C Umashankar, who was heading the ACTCL, was shunted out of that post and even suspended. On taking over as the chief of the Corporation, Umashankar took proactive steps to strengthen the services of the ACTCL. He had said that the Corporation had fixed a target of getting 50 lakh connections (subscribers) in 2009 itself. However, things moved at a sluggish pace after the intra-family issues within Karunanidhi’s family were resolved and ultimately, the ACTCL became defunct.In Tamil Nadu, Sun Cable Vision, formerly Sumangali Cable Vision, (SCV) is the monopolistic operator in the distribution realm and it has put most competitors out of business. The control of distribution allows the company to choose the frequency over which any given channel is distributed which in turn decides the audio-visual quality, explained an industry veteran, alleging that the channels from Sun Group always had an unfair advantage over competitors in more ways than one.This strength was crucial in Sun TV Group’s rise and growth as the leading satellite channel bouquet where the top positions in terms of TRP ratings were all garnered by channels it floated. SCV is also an important cog in the machinery, bringing in a steady stream of income as subscription charges, ensuring patronage for the channels, and thus helping the channels earn a handsome advertisement revenue based on high viewership.
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