Tamil Television Network (TTN) is a France-based

Tamil language Tamil (; ' , ) is a Dravidian language natively spoken by the Tamil people of South Asia. Tamil is an official language of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu, the sovereign nations of Sri Lanka and Singapore, and the Indian territory of Pudu ...

satellite television channel. Its main audience were

Sri Lankan Tamil Sri Lankan Tamils ( or ), also known as Ceylon Tamils or Eelam Tamils, are Tamils native to the South Asian island state of Sri Lanka. Today, they constitute a majority in the Northern Province, live in significant numbers in the Eastern Pr ...

s living in Europe, Australia and the Middle East. The channel mainly broadcast films, live broadcast of

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, crickets matches and news.

Launch

In June 1997 Paris based ''Radio Asia'' (founded by Sabapathy Suppiah Kuhanathan, editor of ''Eelanadu'') launched Tamil Radio & Television (TRT), the first Tamil-language TV station outside

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. The

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channel broadcast 24 hours to viewers across Europe,

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Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

and

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

. The channel broadcast news and original cultural programmes as well as films, soap operas and music imported from

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is a States and union territories of India, state in southern India. It is the List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of India ...

. By 2000 it had about 7,000 subscribers and 50,000-60,000 viewers. Despite this the channel faced financial difficulties. In September 2000 ''Tamil Media Ltd'', owner of ''IBC Radio'', took a 50% stake in TRT, against the wishes of Kuhanathan. On January 14, 2001 TRT was renamed Tamil Television Network. Sabapathy Suppiah Kuhanathan now started Dish Asia Network and DAN Tamil Alai Radio

Closure

The French authorities started investigating TTN after the

Sri Lankan government The Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) ( si, ශ්‍රී ලංකා රජය, Śrī Lankā Rajaya; ta, இலங்கை அரசாங்கம்) is a parliamentary system determined by the Sri Lankan Constitution. It administers the is ...

protested about its links to the Tamil Tigers. The investigations revealed that TTN did not have a license to broadcast from the

Conseil supérieur de l'audiovisuel The (, ''lit.'' ''Superior Audiovisual Council''), abbreviated CSA, was a French institution created in 1989 whose role was to regulate the various electronic media in France, such as radio and television. The creation of the was a measure foun ...

(CSA), the French broadcasting regulator. Later TTN applied for a license but this was rejected by the CSA in February 2006 as TTN was already broadcasting from French soil without a license. The matter was referred to the Procureur de la République (Attorney General). The channel ceased broadcasting on 2 May 2007 when

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stopped relaying the channel.

Relaunch

In 2013 TTN Tamil Oli has started their own IP TV Service, where you could watch Tamil Channels like TTN Tamil Oli and more channels.

References

{{Tamil-language television channels Tamil-language television channels Television channels and stations established in 1997 Television channels and stations disestablished in 2007