MUMBAI: The government is doing well in the area of registering multi system operators (MSOs), especially in those areas where digitization has been implemented. This was stated by information & broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar in a written reply in th Rajya  Sabha. He revealed that 106  MSOs have  have been granted permanent registrations by his ministry to enable them to operate in digital addressable system (DAS) zones.

He added that the I&B ministry had received a letter from the Tamil Nadu chief minister J Jayalalithaa to also register the government run MSO the Tamil Nadu Arasu Cable TV Corp  Ltd to allow it to operate in the DAS notified areas of the southern state.

He disclosed that his ministry was examining Arasu’s application in the light of the TRAI’s recommendations regarding the entry of government entities in the broadcasting and distribution activities.

The TRAI has been consistent in its stand that state government entities should not be allowed to enter the business of broadcasting and distribution of TV channels. It had made these recommendations in its paper on Issues related to entry of certain entities into Broadcasting and Distribution Activities in December 2012, and reiterated them in its consultation paper on monopoly/market dominance in cable TV in June 2013.