MUMBAI: Southern Indian broadcast powerhouse Sun TV Ltd will switch its flagship channel Sun TV to the pay mode starting 2 December.

The channel has been tagged at a price of Rs 12 per month per subscriber for the cable operators to access the channel.

The Kalanithi Maran promoted network is also likely to turn its Malayalam language entertainment channel Surya TV pay in the near future.

At present, it has three pay channels - KTV, Sun News and Sun Music. But in Chennai, which is a conditional access system (CAS) market, the consumers can view the pay channels through a set-top box (STB). But all these pay channels are free-to-air.

Ahead of the implementation of CAS in the southern zones of the three metros -- Delhi, Kolkata and Mumbai -- Sun TV accepted the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) fixing a common price of Rs 5/- per channel per subscriber per month (excluding taxes).

However, the pay channel price cap is not applicable in Chennai, which is already a CAS-driven market.

The Sun TV scrip opened the trading day at Rs 1210.25 and closed at Rs1219.50 and touched a high of Rs 1249.