#contraelapagon against DTT closure
April 8, 2014
From David Del Valle in Madrid
#contraelapagon (against the switch off) is the change.org campaign, sponsored by online portal Vertele and supported by Atresmedia and Mediaset, launched against the closure of nine DTT channels ordered by the Spanish government in compliance with the Supreme Court’s ruling on the grounds that those licences were awarded unlawfully.
The initiative argues that the closure will mean that over one third of the DTT offer will disappear reducing media pluralism and negatively affecting the production and services TV industry. Atresmedia and Mediaset have expressed their support to the initiative which is for a different solution from the closure of the DTT channels.
In the meantime, broadcasters have announced the channels to be closed down. In Atresmedia’s case the channels affected are Nitro, La Sexta 3 and Xplora. As for Mediaset, La Siete and La Nueve. Veo TV will eliminate AXN and a teleshopping channel whereas Net TV will close down two teleshopping channels. All these channels must be closed down before May 6th.