By Sebastián Lacunza
Herald Staff
Herald Staff
Telefónica Group, the second broadcaster on the Argentine market following Clarín, might be receiving a bad piece of news from the AFSCA media watchdog in the next few days, as it is analyzing the adjustment plans filed by media groups to adapt to the Media Law.
Official sources told the Herald that the office headed by Martín Sa-bbatella is likely to order Telefónica to sell Telefe channel and its eight TV stations in provinces to comply with the Media Law, which was on October 29 declared constitutional by the Supreme Court, putting an end to a long legal battle.
The legislation passed in 2009 establishes in Article number 24 that nobody who runs a public service is allowed to have a licence.
Telefónica Group owns the main telephone player as well as several television stations, including Channel 11 (Telefe, based in Buenos Aires City), Channel 5 (Rosario), Channel 7 (Neuquén), Teleocho (Córdoba), Channel 8 (Mar del Plata), Channel 8 (Tucumán), Channel 9 (Bahía Blanca), Channel 11 (Salta), Channel 13 (Santa Fe) as well as 57 relay stations throughout the country.
The Spanish Telefónica Group is the legal owner of Telefe and argues it does not “control” its partner Telefónica Argentina, so they are complying with the ban to provide public services and run media at the same time within the country.
Sources explained to the Herald that the possible resolution of the case is not to accept the group’s plan because it would not be under the requirements of the law, as the central office in Madrid is legally and factually linked to the Argentine business, but they also made it clear that the last word has not been said yet and that the situation may change.
Sabbatella said that he was planning to have all the adjustment plans filed by the media owners analyzed by the end of the year but the same sources explained that the decision might be postponed until 2014.
In addition to Clarín and Telefónica, another important group under analysis is Mendoza-based cable company Supercanal, which holds several cable licences and enjoys a dominant position in several provincial districts. Supercanal is owned by the Vila-Manzano group, led by media proprietors Daniel Vila and José Luis Manzano, who also own La Red radio, the broadcast television channel América and dozens of newspapers. Spanish group Prisa, which owns Continental radio, and the third player on the cable market, Telecentro, which belongs to the former right-wing Peronist speaker Alberto Pierri, are also among the main cases to be solved by AFSCA.
Another major issue to be sorted out is the order of channels in cable television service, a market led by Clarín group with 60 per cent of the share.
Authorities compelled cable operators to include state-owned signals such as children’s channel Paka-Paka and cultural Encuentro, and other private, provincial or foreign stations ostracized or excluded by Clarín, such as the news ones CN23, Telesur and Córdoba 24. At the same time, according to the official provision, different categories of channels (national news, international news, movies, sports, series, children, culture) must be sequentially ordered. For instance, the seven news chains available in Buenos Aires city should be gathered from Channel 2 to Channel 8.
AFSCA media watchdog led by Sabbatella claimed that Clarín “must fully adapt to the requirement of the Meda Law”. After the Supreme Court declared the Broadcast Media Law constitutional on October 29, Clarín decided to present a plan to adapt to the requirements established in the bill.
AFSCA sources said that the Clarín group and every cable provider are compelled to include those channels and regard the mandatory provisions on the grid. A lower court and then a National Administrative Appeals Court ratified the ruling.
Although Clarín rejects the obligation to include all the channels with regard to all the services provided by the company, sources from the company admitted that they may accept the sequential order established by AFSCA. “It is part of the negotiation”, said Clarín’s informant.
@sebalacunza