ONO and Sogecable slam DTT pay-TV plan

Spanish pay-TV providers ONO and Sogecable have condemned as illegal government plans to permit pay-TV services on the country’s digital-terrestrial platform, according to local reports.

Cable operator ONO told the country’s Advisory Council on Telecommunications and the Information Society that permitting broadcasters Net TV, Veo TV and La Sexta to offer pay services on the platform contravened the original terms of those broadcasters’ digital licences, which specified that transmissions should be in the clear.

Sogecable said that the proposal favoured broadcasters on political grounds and argued that permitting pay-TV services on the platform before Spain’s digital switchover in April 2010 would be discriminatory against cable and satellite providers.

Separately, ONO has switched off analogue services in the region of eastern Cantabria, prior to switching off analogue services to its other customers in April 2010.