With Tamil Nadu making a strong pitch for granting a license to state-owned Arasu TV to run its cable network, the Centre today said it has asked TRAI to expeditiously reconsider its recommendation on allowing government entities into broadcasting and distribution.

”... we have referred the matter back to the TRAI for reconsideration as to whether the state government or the central government entities should be allowed in the broadcasting or the distribution business,” I&B Minister Manish Tewari told reporters here.

He was replying to questions on the delay in granting of Digital Addressable Systems license to Arasu cable TV to operate its distribution network.

Tewari said that he had asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which is also the regulator for the broadcast sector, to “expedite their consideration on the matter“.

“There is a larger question. I am aware of the concerns raised by the Tamil Nadu Chief Minister. The Members of Parliament have also come and met me. That is why we have requested the TRAI chairperson to expedite their consideration... so that we can take a conclusive decision at the earliest,” he said.

Tewari said it was correct that Arasu was granted a license in 2008.

Subsequently, there was a recommendation by the TRAI which explicitly stated that entities, which include the state government or their instrumentalities, should not be allowed either in distribution or in the broadcasting business.

The government has given 11 DAS licences to multi-system operators in Tamil Nadu until now, but Arasu is not one of them.

Arasu started operations in 2011 when AIADMK supremo J Jayalalithaa came to power. It was founded in October 2007 by the DMK government headed by M Karunanidhi at the peak of a fight between his family and the Marans, who control Sun TV and Sumangali Cable Vision.

However, plans to project Arasu as a rival of Sumangali were shelved after the Marans made up with Karunanidhi.

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