Colombian pay-TV companies accused of hiding 3.1MN subs


Details

Juan Fernandez Gonzalez

| 09 February 2016




Colombia's industry watchdog, Comisión de Regulación de Comunicaciones (CRC), has reported that the pay-TV industry has avoided paying over $50 million in taxes by hiding actual subscriber figures.



According to the report, published by El Espectador, the television authority ANTV has registered 4.9 million pay-TV subscribers, while the CRC has measured over eight million, a difference of 3.1 million.

Although the issue has been discussed countless times, sub-reporting practices - or unregulated subscriptions- have never previously been highlighted by an institution and supported by actual data.

According to the CRC, between 2012 and 2014 the pay-TV industry avoided paying about $52 million in taxes. Although the data has been collected since 2012, and ANTV is aware of this practice, no penalty has yet been issued to any operators.

On top of regular taxation, Colombian pay-TV players pay 2.2% of their income in taxes to finance public television and the production of public-interest content, legislation which does not affect over-the-top (OTT) video operators.

The situation has highlighted how the pay-TV industry, and especially local cable operators, is looking for different ways of facing current financial challenges. “We have to pay international programmers and producers in dollars and face many taxes at home; cable TV is struggling in Colombia”, said Lorena Angarita, president of Red Intercable, speaking to El Espectador. “There is no intention to evade tax. We need a hand; the dollar exchange rate fluctuation is affecting us.”