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Earlier,
on 19 February, top officials of the ACTCL,
including chairman Brisherver Singh, had
a meeting with the cable TV operators and
announced that ACTCL would start operations
by June 2008.
ACTCL
is a new corporation floated by the state
government of Tamil Nadu with the objective
of providing quality TV signals to the public
through cable operators throughout the state
by establishing multi-system operators (MSOs).
In
the first phase, ACTCL plans to set up digital
cable head ends at Coimbatore, Tirunelveli,
Tiruvannamalai and Thanjavur. The
proposed MSOs will provide TV signals to
the local cable operators (LCOs) in and
around the above locations.
"
From each MSO, apart from digital output
in QAM and IP formats, analog RF format
also would be available for catering to
the nearby LCOs. The digital output would
be fed to the needy LCOs and the IP output
would be transported through HFC network
to the distant cities and towns in the state.
If need be, more such head ends would be
set up at different locations so as to cover
the entire state of Tamil Nadu," the
tender says.
As
per the tender document, the scope of work
involves "supply, installation, testing
and commissioning of the Digital Analog
head end set up, on-site training of the
staff etc., at the above mentioned locations.
The set up will be state-of-the-art with
capabilities for expansion in future. It
should have the provision to incorporate
Conditional Access / Encryption, SMS, auto
billing etc., along with value added services
such as VoD, games, internet, data services."
The
cable TV headend "would be executed
on SITC basis right from designing the configuration
including Dish Farms, identifying the right
equipment, arranging supply and carrying
out installation of these equipment at the
identified locations," the tender says.
"The work also involves carrying out
inter-connect wiring of all the equipment
including power supply distribution through
UPS, Network Management System, arranging
testing of the installed set up and commissioning
for regular transmission of Cable TV distribution
to LCOs. Provision for future incorporation
of billing and conditional access system
etc. should be made."
The
DMK government is trying to break the monopoly
of SCV, the cable TV outfit of the Kalanithi
Maran-promoted Sun group.
ACTCL,
which would act as a multi-systems operator
(MSO) in Chennai metropolitan area, has
sought the Centre's permission to launch
its services in the city as an MSO. In non-metropolitan
areas, ACTCL would be a cable head-end operator.
Until the end of last year, MSO licenses
were granted only to Hathway Cable &
Data Com Private Ltd. (Hathway), Indusind
Media Communication Ltd and Kal Cables Pvt.
Ltd in Chennai.
Presently SCV is also battling Hathway,
which has been making slow inroads into
the last mile distribution in Tamil Nadu
after the loss of favour of the Maran's
with TN chief minister and uncle K Karunanidhi.
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