Advanced Television

Legal action could delay Portugal DTT expansion

June 21, 2016

From Branislav Pekic in Rome

Portuguese commercial broadcasters SIC and TVI have launched legal proceedings, challenging the decision of the regulator regarding the prices charged for channel distribution by DTT network operator Meo (Portugal Telecom).

Last November, Portugal’s National Communications Authority (Anacom) ruled that the prices charged by Meo (about €3.5 million per year per channel) were not excessive.

According to a report in daily “Correio da Manhã”, the two broadcasters consider the regulator’s ruling as “illegal”, but the implications of the whole process could be much wider.

In fact, SIC and TVI believe that the “contentious situations in question should first be resolved” before the approval of the projects under discussion in Parliament for the inclusion of the RTP 3 and RTP Memória channels on the national DTT multiplex.

They also “reserve the right to consider the possible use of all possible actions within the European and national legal frameworks governing the matter under consideration”.

Meanwhile, the parliamentary discussion on four legislative initiatives aimed at broadening the DTT offer in Portugal has been postponed to June 29th.

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, DTT/DSO