Advanced Television

AT&T hit with $2m fine for STBs

March 8, 2018

By Chris Forrester

The Chilean Supreme Court has upheld a decision to penalise American giant telco AT&T a total of Chilean Pesos 2 billion ($2m) because its DirecTV subsidiary used “uncertified” set-top boxes in the country.

The fine was originally levies by Chile’s energy & fuel supervisory body (Superintendencia de Electricidad y Combustibles, SEC), and follows a fire allegedly caused by an overheating set-top box in the city of Talcahuano in 2015. An investigation found that some 1 million set-top boxes failed to comply with the SEC’s fire safety rules.

The SEC ruled that AT&T/DirecTV (and Liberty Global) needed to swap the unsafe boxes out, which allegedly did not happen.

“The Supreme Court’s decision highlights the company’s obligation to deliver safe products for the users, taking all the necessary measures, which are defined by our regulations, in order to guarantee safety,” stated Luis Ávila Bravo, head of the SEC.

Separately, AT&T announced Mar 7 that it would mount an IPO for is assorted Latino DirecTV businesses. AT&T says the offering will be made during the first half of this year.

Categories: Articles, In Home, Policy, Regulation, STB