[Venezuelanalysis.com's Chris Carlson reports on Wednesday's announcement by RCTV General Director Marcel Granier that RCTV will be back on Venezuelan TV screens as of next Monday, via cable and satellite. Meanwhile, Gustavo Cisneros, owner of the other main private
channel, assured his channel Venevision would maintain a "balanced"
position in Venezuelan politics. --Ed]
RCTV Reappears on Cable and Satellite
By Chris Carlson - Venezuelanalysis.com
Thursday, Jul 12, 2007
Mérida, July 12, 2007 (venezuelanalysis.com)— Private television channel RCTV will be back on Venezuelan TV screens as of next Monday, via cable and satellite, RCTV General Director Marcel Granier announced at a press conference yesterday.
Off the air since May 27th when its broadcast license was not renewed by the Chavez government, RCTV will begin broadcasting again next week through cable and satellite with the same critical line against the Chavez government. Meanwhile, Gustavo Cisneros, in a televised statement yesterday, assured his channel Venevision would maintain a "balanced" position and commented that television channels should not play a role in the political conflict in Venezuela.
Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) will be viewable in 95% of the subscription television market starting Monday at 6:00 a.m., after being off the air for about a month and a half. The channel went off the national airwaves on May 27th, when the Chavez government denied it a renewal of its broadcast license that expired that day. The broadcast license, however, only applies to the national radio-electric spectrum, not subscription television such as cable and satellite.
The channel will be viewable through channel 103 on DirecTV, channel 13 on Intercable, Net Uno and Planet Cable (cable providers), which represent almost all of the national market for subscription television, and about 50 percent of the total population in Venezuela.
"We must return in the first place for our workers in order to try to keep the highest amount of talent possible," said Granier yesterday to justify the decision to broadcast by cable and satellite. "We confirm our commitment to Venezuela, with our audience, and with our workers. We won't cut back our efforts to recover the open airwaves across all national territory," he said.
Granier pledged to maintain a critical line against the government, and to continue fighting for "freedom of expression" and the return of the channel to the open airwaves. According to Granier, the channel's programming will be basically the same as before May 27th, which included several programs strongly opposed to the Chavez government such as a well-known political talk show in the morning called La Entrevista and its daily news program El Observador.
But the channel will be different in one important respect. RCTV will officially no longer be a national channel, but rather will be administrated from RCTV International, located in Miami, Florida.
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"Cisneros was accused by opposition groups of having worked out an agreement with Chavez in 2004 to change Venevisión's tone towards the government."
He was also accused of participating in the coup (far more actively and prominently than Granier or RCTV).
Any chance that RCTV will get back the equipment that was seized by TVES with the blessings of the TSJ?
Posted by: Henry | July 13, 2007 at 03:52 PM