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Church channels television to improve morality

D Jose in Thiruvananthapuram

The Syro-Malabar Church in Kerala plans to counter 'the threat posed to the society' by commercial television through a channel of its own.

The channel, to be set up at a rough budget of Rs 100 million, would telecast 'moral' programmes.

Originally mooted by the Archiepiscopal Assembly, the Bishops Synod, the 3-million-strong Church's supreme body, okayed the idea in Cochin recently.

The Church has already approached the Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited with the proposal. A few details, including the transponder and the location of the studios, remain to be settled.

The moral channel gains significance in the light of the varied interests the Syro-Malabar Church has taken in Kerala society. It has a full-fledged Malayalam local daily, which is lately being developed in a large way. It also has a bank, the Catholic Syrian Bank, which some non-resident Indians from Bangkok are trying to take over.

Among the other Christian and minority communities, the Syro-Malabar Church has the maximum number of educational and charitable institutions in the state.

Meanwhile, two other firms have approached VSNL with proposal to launch channels.

While Madras-based industrialist Neelakantan is pursuing a full-fledged Malayalam channel, TV India is looking for a part-time arrangement to beam news. Asianet, at present using the new VSNL antenna facing 64 E, has also expressed willingness to switch over its entire operation to Kerala if a 24-hour television up-linking facility is made available.

Another group that is knocking on VSNL's door is Jaya TV. Now off air after the fall of its patron, All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam leader J Jayalaitha in Tamil Nadu, the outfit wants to launch a full-time political channel, focussing on south India.

Though refusing to comment on this, VSNL General Manager A S Menon said if two such proposals attain concrete shape, VSNL was ready to start a 24-hour up-linking facility at Kakkanad in Cochin. This would help channels transmit signals to their parent stations any time.

For a 24-hour operation, all that VSNL needs to install are separate antennas. All other infrastructure are either available in Kerala or are to be made available soon, Menon said.

The proposal for a small-dimension earth station in Thiruvananthapuram is in the last stage. VSNL is ready to offer Internet connectivity through an Integrated Services Digital Network to lease-line customers too. The facility, open throughout the year, will cost Rs 800,000. In addition, VSNL would provide Internet Service Provider links, which would enable a customer to sublet the facility to another hundred users.

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