Govt speeding up cable TV operations

Mar 5, 2008

Govt speeding up cable TV operations

The ruling DMK government in Tamil Nadu is speeding up the process for launch of its state-backed cable TV operations by June.Arasu Cable TV Corporation Limited (ACTCL) officials met at Chennai on Friday (29 February) representatives of a number of suppliers including Scientific Atlanta to discuss various issues relating to the tender, sources tell.ACTCL is floating a global works contract tender for supply, installation, testing and commissioning of digital cable TV head ends at Coimbatore, Tirunelveli, Tiruvannamalai and Thanjavur for the first phase.ACTCL's estimated value of the tender is $ 2,564,000 (around Rs 102.65 million approx.) for the first phase.

ACTCL is floating a global works contract tender
The earnest money deposit (EMD) is one per cent (around Rs 1.03 million) and the cost of the tender document is approximately Rs 5000.A performance bank guarantee to the extent of five per cent of the value of the contract for the period of the warranty has to be furnished by the successful bidders. The warranty period of 24 months will commence from the date of handing over the ordered items after carrying out successfully the tests prescribed by purchaser and commissioning in good working condition.

The last date for purchase of tender documents is 7 March and the last date for submitting offers is at 3 pm on 12 March. The bids will be opened on 12 March at 4 pm.ACTCL intends to expand the services later to other areas in the state in phases.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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Mar 5, 2008