Sogecable and Ono appeal against pay DTT
July 13, 2009
From David Del Valle in Madrid
The two largest pay-TV groups in Spain, Sogecable (more than 2 million subscribers) and Ono (over 1 million subs) have issued appeals against the Government’s Royal Decree bill that will allow pay TV services through digital terrestrial TV.
Both argue that it breaks competition rules. For Ono, the bill changes the rules of the game as “it modifies the awarding DTT conditions” that laid down that the DTT transmissions would be free to air.
Sogecable has asked the Government not to approve it on the grounds that “it does not meet any social demand” adding that the bill reveals the political bias of the Administration. The company also says that the bill is only to the benefit of DTT companies and to the detriment of other pay-TV operators (satellite, cable and IPTV). This “discrimination” is against the EU Treaty, concluded the company.
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