Your.tv says Dutch cable rates make competition impossible

Your.tv, one of the companies hoping to compete in the Dutch cable market following regulator OPTA’s opening up of analogue networks to third-party service providers, has said the resale rates set by the regulator make it impossible to compete with established cable providers UPC and Ziggo.

Your.tv says the rates published by OPTA in November last year, to be implemented in March, leave no room for service providers to make a margin and build a viable business model.

Your.tv said that subscription rates for analogue cable increased by an average of 7% a year between 2000 and 2009, well above the annual rate of inflation. The company said that rather than use the current prices as a basis for calculating the resale rates, OPTA should base its calculations on the 2000 rates adjusted for inflation.