Preserving freedom before the new model of pay-TV – The World

BIG business operations have resulted in recent weeks the business model change that is occurring in the telecommunications sector. The kick-off of this concentration process gave it the Comcast TV platform with the purchase of Time Warner Cable last February. and the last episode has starred AT & T to acquire cable television company Direct TV 49.000 million. In Spain, we have also experienced two draft operations. Vodafone bought Ono by 7,200 million euros in March, which, along with a good fiber optic network, took TiVo, a television service to the letter over which it has exclusive for Europe. And the last big move was Telefónica, which has acquired a majority stake in Canal + by EUR 725 million, giving the company headed by Cesar Alierta a strong foothold in the business of pay-TV in which Imagenio and racing.

The advancement of technology and boost native Internet companies have led to a radically new turn model approach telcos and in the TV platforms . In the digital era, both businesses are condemned to understand because one without the other will not survive. The telcos need content to feed their expensive fiber networks, while pay-TV operators need to monetize those networks a content-sports, movies, series … – every time it costs more money to purchase.

All this spiced with direct competition from Internet companies. A phone market fight with WhatsApp, Line or the like, while a pay-TV has front and companies like Netflix, Amazon, Apple or Google. All rooms have television services at an affordable price offering streaming programming, ie content that can be viewed on television from the internet without downloading.

This is a revolution in a key sector because it directly affects the daily lives of citizens. So we must be very careful that these movements do not end up hurting concentration freedom of information in society. Right now the Competition Commission (CNMC) studies buying Canal + by Telefonica, Vodafone and Orange criticized by considering it as an abuse of dominant position. In this case, the new Movistar TV 2.2 will have 3.7 million subscribers to pay television in Spain. But it is also true that compete in this market more than a dozen companies-without-the-air television, so it is difficult to talk even oligopoly. Another thing is, and this will also need to determine the CNMC, if Telefónica’s financial power can distort the market in their favor the purchase of television rights.

This change in the telephone business model is the result the development of the digital age, in the end, gives telcos a leading role in the information society that is becoming owners of networks and content flowing through those networks. The duty of the authorities is that the new situation does not result in an impairment of the freedom of citizens.