Bengaluru: Two private news channels, blacked out by a section of cable operators, were back on air on Tuesday evening following the intervention of Chief Minister Siddaramaiah.
TV9 and News9 – both belonging to the TV9 group – had alleged that the operators had blacked out the channels at the behest of Energy Minister D K Shivakumar for telecasting investigative reports against him. While Shivakumar denied any involvement, cable operators said they had stopped telecasting the channels as the TV9 group was working against their interest.
Siddaramaiah later entrusted the task of resolving the issue to ministers Roshan Baig and H C Mahadevappa. The ministers held a meeting with the representatives of Karnataka Cable TV Operators’ Association.
Briefing reporters, Mahadevappa and Baig claimed that the government had nothing to do with the issue. There was some communication gap between the operators and the TV channels, leading to the blackout. The channels are back on air and the issue has been resolved, they said.
Minister for Information and Public Relations Roshan Baig said the government believed in the freedom of expression. The government decided to intervene following a request from representatives of various news channels.
Association president V S Patrick Raju said the association had minor differences with TV9 and that they had now agreed to resolve all the issues amicably.
