State-run Arasu Cable TV Corporation on Saturday started beaming from Chennai, with Tamil Nadu Chief Minister J Jayalalithaa launching its operations here through video conferencing.

Launched with the aim to ‘break the monopoly’ in the cable business, Arasu Cable TV will offer a total of 155 channels in digital and analog modes as part of its bouqet.

Already in vogue in the rest of the state, Arasu Cable TV will charge a monthly subscription of Rs 70 for 100 channels and customers would have to pay separately for additional pay channels, a state government release here said.

It has an existing subscriber base of 58 lakh and 13 lakh have registered with 2000 cable operators offering it in Chennai, it said.

Originally launched by the previous DMK government in the wake of a split in the first family involving its chief M Karunanidhi and his grandnephews and media barons, the Maran brothers whose SCV had a near monopoly in cable business in the state, Arasu Cable TV however went dormant after the relatives patched up.

Jayalalithaa had promised to revive the service if voted to power and kept it up after forming government following her party’s success in the April 2011 general elections.

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