TDT Hits Out On Pirate Viewing
Television piracy has come under the spotlight once again, as Spanish competitors demand that the Government takes action to prevent it. Pirate television, and particularly that being supplied to the expat community, has sparked heavy debate on numerous actions, to the extent that the European Commission has frequently been called upon to regulate policy.
The EU directive, 2007/65, drafted by Viviane Reding, which describes ‘Television without Frontiers’ has been well documented in the Round Town News, and we have taken advice from a wealth of sources in an effort to bring our readers the most reliable information possible, as soon as any alterations are confirmed. Now ‘Impulsa TDT’, the association responsible for the implementation and development of digital television, has suggested that Spain is the only country allowing “TV Piracy” and warned that it must stop.
Impulsa President, Eladio Gutiérrez, explained that “there are already pirates in digital broadcasting and this situation affects the whole television system in a very serious way. When someone in his house can waste his time watching outlawed channels I think this has a big impact on all the citizens.” He went on to say that Spain is the only country in Europe that allows such activity to take place as in the rest of Europe or in the United States the regulation in the use of the radioelectric spectrum is “much more stringent”.
RESTRICTIONS
Mr Gutiérrez said that the Central Government and the Regional Governments across the country were doing little to tackle the situation, which could otherwise be used to their advantage if all suppliers were obliged to work within the legal framework. However, Spain would have to be mindful of any restrictions which they chose to impose, or could face being in breach of EU law, as British broadcasters Sky and the BBC have found. Sky is already in breach of the Directives (89/552/EEC and 97/36/EC) and as from 19th December 2009, along with all other broadcasters, will be prevented from blocking signals being received in any other Member State. In this sense, restricting the issue of viewing cards will automatically be in violation of Directive 2007/65/EC of Community law, whilst reducing the signal, a ploy which is also favoured by the BBC, will also be severely frowned upon.
SWITCHOVER
Mr Gutiérrez went on to speak of the analogue switchover, scheduled to take place on 3rd April 2010, suggesting that due to a new directive from the European Union this is now likely to course even more confusion as, in a second switchover, all broadcasters will be forced to abandon their frequencies so freeing the band for mobile telephony. The Government has dedicated a sizeable budget of over €1 200 million to the ambitious operation, in the hope that the transition can be arranged with minimal disturbance, although skeptics feel that the end result will be utter chaos in every eventuality. The main effect that this will have on viewers is that they will once again need to reorganize and retune all channels in their decoders- a nightmare prospect for Television providers who can expect some degree of dissatisfaction among clients.
PROFIT
Jorge del Corral, the General Secretary for UTECA, the Association responsible for contracting all of the national private TV channels, stated that the second phase in the digital switch will be paid by the telecommunications corporations, although argued that “some might say that these expenses will fall in the lap of the mobile phone users themselves”. Finally, Mr Del Corral criticized that “The present TDT Spanish audiovisual model will not be able to maintain itself since there are too many public signals that the local and regional Governments will need to reclaim to enable them to have up to two to three muxes (multiplexers). This can be profitable for them in the long term”. Essentially, this could pose as a threat to pirate companies and smaller broadcasters who would not be able to compete on price, giving Mr Gutiérrez the outcome that he is hoping for.
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