Info channel is "no competition"
Television Under pressure from regional broadcasters, Cablecom wants to improve its license application.
Television Under pressure from regional broadcasters, Cablecom wants to improve its license application.
The application for a programming extension of its info channel license, which the cable network operator Cablecom submitted to Bakom in mid-July (WW 29/04), has caused uncertainty and even outrage in the TV industry.Belcom boss Andreas Meili fears "a conflict of interests, to put it mildly" if the quasi-monopolist were to offer and market its own content in future. Tele-Südostschweiz owner Hanspeter Lebrument, on the other hand, is demanding in the name of equal opportunities that Cablecom "must then switch on all channels at zero cost". And Telesuisse Association President Filippo Lombardi, as a media politician, even wants to anchor a clause in the new RTVA that would prohibit cable and telecom providers from offering their own content. This would also affect Bluewin TV (see page 32).
Only the SRG "does not oppose new Swiss channels in principle", as its spokesperson Josefa Haas stated on request. However, like most of the addressees of the consultation, SRG has also obtained an extension of the deadline from OFCOM until September 17.
A mere "misunderstanding"?
By then, the uproar could have died down again. In a letter received by Bakom this week, Cablecom explains that "to avoid misunderstandings (...) the cooperation with content providers and new TV formats mentioned in the license application will be dispensed with".
"The organization of an editorial program that could compete with national, regional or local television offerings was never planned," the paper continues.
The opinions of those affected will show whether this self-restriction defines precisely enough which activities the infrastructure providers, who are forcing their way into the television business, are allowed to develop there.
Oliver Classen
The application for a programming extension of its info channel license, which the cable network operator Cablecom submitted to Bakom in mid-July (WW 29/04), has caused uncertainty and even outrage in the TV industry.Belcom boss Andreas Meili fears "a conflict of interests, to put it mildly" if the quasi-monopolist were to offer and market its own content in future. Tele-Südostschweiz owner Hanspeter Lebrument, on the other hand, is demanding in the name of equal opportunities that Cablecom "must then switch on all channels at zero cost". And Telesuisse Association President Filippo Lombardi, as a media politician, even wants to anchor a clause in the new RTVA that would prohibit cable and telecom providers from offering their own content. This would also affect Bluewin TV (see page 32).
Only the SRG "does not oppose new Swiss channels in principle", as its spokesperson Josefa Haas stated on request. However, like most of the addressees of the consultation, SRG has also obtained an extension of the deadline from OFCOM until September 17.
A mere "misunderstanding"?
By then, the uproar could have died down again. In a letter received by Bakom this week, Cablecom explains that "to avoid misunderstandings (...) the cooperation with content providers and new TV formats mentioned in the license application will be dispensed with".
"The organization of an editorial program that could compete with national, regional or local television offerings was never planned," the paper continues.
The opinions of those affected will show whether this self-restriction defines precisely enough which activities the infrastructure providers, who are forcing their way into the television business, are allowed to develop there.
Oliver Classen
