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        Satellite TV is where family meets business and politics. Add some murders, palace intrigues and court scenes and the picture is complete. Now, I am not talking of any of those ubiquitous mega serials that have rendered entire households as couch potatoes, pumpkins and such other 'vegetables'. The allusion is rather to the real time drama that has been on show in the State for years and is now all set for a climax ... or anti-climax, if the celebrated script-writer's script turns awry. And even after that, one can expect sequels, for this is a rational land where Sun, sons and daughters never set! And since viewers outnumber voters in TN, it's time to rejoice: After free TVs, there will now be a Corporation - Arasu Cable TV Corporation - to look after public 'interest' - which is all about uninterrupted TV-watching. How much the rulers have understood their subjects!

        The ultimate rationalist has also given his rationale for the new company: ' ... the cable TV business will yield revenues to the public exchequer which will lessen the tax burden on the people and in fact, even substitute taxes'. Indeed a profound fiscal discovery that only a rational mind is capable of! We irrationals were hitherto led to believe that much of our tax burden was actually owing to the numerous inefficient, money-guzzling public enterprises, not to speak of a flabby government itself. How wrong we were!

        But if public finance is that simple, then why at all a Tata for Titanium? Why not a public corporation instead because the project looks eminently more profitable than the cable TV business? That way the tax burden can be brought down even further. And again, why do we need investments from Videshis and Aryans or even the sons of the soil, when the government itself can exploit all those fertile business opportunities? And reap such copious revenues that there will be no taxes, whatsoever, on a Tamilian? Oh, come on, Thalaiva, we may not be as bright as you, but we are certainly not as dumb as you believe. We do know why we will have a Cable TV corporation just as your estranged not-so-grand nephews know it! But dont worry, we will swallow it though they may not!

        In fact, Karunanidhi has virtually accused the Marans of spreading 'canards through their media' and also keeping in readiness a team of North Indian lawyers in order to scuttle the Arasu Cable TV Corporation. That K should be bemoaning the consequences of his own past undoings is indeed true poetic justice, or rather, script-writer's justice. The rationalist has learnt it the hard way that the puranic Bhasmasura has his modern day peers too. And that the monster of a media that the Marans own will not just bite the hand that fed them, but would also not hesitate to scorch their benefactor from head downwards.

        But it is difficult to sympathise with K's predicament. And the self-serving volte-face is glaring. He rushed to the Governor with nephew in tow when the AIADMK regime sought to nationalise cable TV operations. Now he is attempting something similar because he does not want his Kalaingar TV to be at the mercy of the Marans. The monopoly and the virtual power of God that the Marans wielded over every channel, besides lording over the ministry that mattered at the Centre too, all these years somehow did not make K's heart bleed. Instead, he blessed them. But when the genie came home to roost, the public and their unbearable tax burdens have suddenly sprung up on his monitor.And not having the wherewithal and time to take on his new enemies, the CM wants the government to fight a proxy private war at public expense. But we are told it is all for our good! A shabby alibi that will give even teary-eyed crocodiles an inferiority complex.

        That the cable TV business has gone unchecked and needs attention cannot be gainsaid. The laws relating to the regulation of that industry is still a maze, much like a bunch of entangled cables and the evolution of that industry itself is a long story, well, like those unending cables. The transition from the DD-only era to a competitive milieu was painfully slow, but when it happened the floodgates themselves were washed away by the gush and rush. Channels and changes came so fast in the nineties that the law could not keep pace. The result was the rule of ad hocism and often, dadaism. The scenario in TN got murkier because the MSO that gained control over the cable operators could also control policy owing to political clout, with the attendant money and muscle. Indeed, many are yearning to see the end of such a stiffling strangle-hold. That K and his regime themselves have joined the fight is welcome in a pervert way: Such battles can be fought only below the belt.

        But floating a public corporation looks a bad idea, even if one were to ignore the dubious motives or the fact that a rational whim and not a project report or priliminary study has preceded it. Public ownership is doubtless lofty. And it sounds attractive if there is money too to be made. But given the shoddy track record of most government-run businesses, saddling the exchequer with one more corporation is an unwarranted diversion of administrative resources. It would be sad to see IAS officers and heads of public utilities engaging in street fights over cable lines instead of attending to infrastructural problems of cities and towns. And given the hi-tech orientation of the Cable TV business, with things like DTH and multiple services in the offing, it is doubtful if a government company can muster the agility needed to remain competitive. If private monopoly is bad, government monopoly could be worse, because it actually means the monopoly of ruling politicos. Just as the rulers are now reining in intransigent newspapers by using government advertisements as a leash, they can now use this corporation as an instrument to punish or pamper TV channels by 'managing' their availability on air. And in a State where political parties or their co-borns own media, those in power can easily subvert the corporation to their own benefit. And it is also a possible candidate for divestment and we know who all will bid. But the most painful paradox is that a 'welfare' government, which is withering away and and washing its hands off even essential public services like education and healthcare, should be running wineshops and cable TV networks.

        A better option is to encourage more MSOs and ensure that they are protected against the wrath of the current monopolist. But that is assuming that the rulers are acting in public interest. However, in TN where family interests hold sway, that is an eminently irrational assumption. Rather, we must look forward to mega serials produced by Government companies with ministers in the lead!