Televisa to pay for carrying FTA networks
Details
Juan Fernandez Gonzalez
| 06 March 2017

The first effect of the Instituto Federal de Telecomunicaciones’ (IFT) decision to confirm Televisa as the dominant pay-TV player in Mexico is that the company will have to pay a carriage fee to free-to-air (FTA) networks.

According to Mexican law, pay-TV operators are entitled to include FTA networks in their plans for free. However, this doesn’t apply to dominant players, which have to pay.

In addition, these costs aren’t allowed to raise prices for the end user and the preponderant player is not allowed to stop broadcasting the networks in order to avoid paying the fee, according to Elena Estavillo from the IFT, speaking to the newspaper Crónica.

The carriage rule have come into immediate effect, as they are already included in Mexico’s telecom regulation, but the more specific anti-trust measures will be applied in the future.

“Firstly, there is an initial period in which we [the IFT] will carry out an analysis of the market’s needs in order to define possible measures to increase competition,” said Estavillo. “It’s a complex issue which will probably take us several months to resolve.”

The results of the analysis will then be communicated to Televisa, which will have the opportunity to present its case, after which the market authority will issue a final decision with the definitive anti-trust conditions.

Last Thursday the IFT announced that is considers Televisa a preponderant pay-TV player, as it owns over 60% of the market through both satellite and cable platforms, and controls an important part of the Mexican content industry. The company announced it would fight the decision.