The Cable war has hotted up in Tamil Nadu. Ever since Dinakaran, a Tamil daily owned by Dayanidhi Maran came out with the now (in)famous survey about Mu Ka Azhagiri and M K Stalin, sons of Tamil Nadu Chief Minister M Karunanidhi,there has been a move to destabilise the Sun TV group. The Arasu Cable TV Corporation came into existence with this motive, though officially it is just the Government's Cable network.

In a bid to counter Sun TV and the Sumangali Cable Vision network owned by former union minister Dayananidhi Maran's family, the latest salvo is fired by Azhagiri in the form of a new cable network. with the backing of M K Azhagiri,, was launched in Madurai yesterday, blacking out Sun TV network channels.

The Royal Cable Vision (RCV), a multi-system operator, was inaugurated by Azhagiri's wife A Kanthi in Madurai yesterday.

The RCV has plans of expanding its operations to other parts of the state, including Chennai.

As is to be expected, several cable TV operators in Madurai city who were feeding SCV signals, have already switched over to RCV.

That it has the backing of the present Government is proved, if proof be needed at all, by the fact that State ministers K R Periyakaruppan and Tamizharasi, Deputy Mayor of Madurai, Mannan and various other supporters of Azhagiri had come out with full page advertisements in local dailies wishing success to the new network.

Several television viewers, particularly those watching the mega serials were naturally upset over missing their favourite programmes. They are not bothered about who was the channel provider, but wanted them to telecast all channels. Yes, because of a family feud, the innocent viewer is caught between Scylla and Charybdis.