Chennai: Tamil Nadu has cleared plans for setting up of a government-owned multi system operator, which would act as MSO in Chennai and a cable operator in other parts of the state. This will be the first government-owned MSO in the country.

The state cabinet has decided to float its own cable TV company. Preparatory work in connection with project will be initiated soon.

In Chennai the proposed MSO would be the third player. The first two are Sun Cable Vision, belonging to Sun Network and Hathway Cable and Datacom Private Limited, part of the Mumbai-based Rajan Raheja group.

The government's move may result in organising the largely unorganised sector in the entertainment chain. A government company will be obliged to string its cable in an orderly manner without spoiling the city's skyline.

For the households this is good news as they were in the clutches of a duopoly. The other advantage is that the new company can provide cable internet connection across the city to start with. At present, the service is available only in select pockets of the city.

It should be remembered that the ruling DMK was opposed to the previous AIADMK government's move to nationalise the MSOs in the state. At that time the government's move was to reign in the Sun Cable Vision and the Sun Network supporting DMK.

After the attack on the Dinakaran newspaper's office in Madurai, the equations between the DMK party and the Sun Network have changed. The ruling party decided to promote a channel of its own called `Kalaigar TV'. Now the government has decided to float an MSO and compete with Sun Network's cash cow, Sun Cable Vision.