Tamil TV channel to fight piracy

Chennai, Aug 19 (IANS): In a bid to stop film and song piracy, motion picture directors and cable operators in Tamil Nadu have joined hands to launch a TV channel next month that will broadcast movies and cinema-based programmes.

The 'Thamizh-th-Thirai', or Tamil Screen channel, will begin its telecast from Sep 3, according to director R. Bharathiraja, who is associated with the project.

This is a major effort by the film industry to stop illegal broadcast of film songs and movie sequences by a section of cable operators.

Such entertainment programmes need permission from the concerned producer/director for public viewing and an amount has to be paid as royalty.

Thamizh-th-Thirai will telecast mega-serials by senior directors, feature films, documentaries and star-night programmes. It will also buy newly made films for telecast.

The programmes will be beamed up to the Insat 2E satellite from the Ambattur uplink station, located on the outskirts of this city.

Many industry members, while welcoming the channel, still doubt that it will be able to rein in film piracy. They point out that Chennai Police have seized over a thousand pirated VCDs of "Vasoolraja M.B.B.S." that was just released last week.