Cable Europe welcomes OPTA decision

Cable operators’ association Cable Europe has welcomed the decision by Dutch regulator OPTA not to regulate the cable market (reported in yesterday’s DTVE Daily).

Cable Europe director of communications Gregg Svingen said: “OPTA made a decision today which reflects market realities. After thorough economic analysis of the fast accelerating digitisation and increasing convergence in the TV sector, OPTA has proposed to no longer impose regulatory obligations on the cable companies UPC and Ziggo, an example of better regulation. This is part of an encouraging trend as the European Commission has recently expressed concerns regarding Belgian regulators attempts to impose rules on an evolving TV market.”

UPC Netherlands also welcomed the news, pointing out that competition in the market was now significantly greater than previously.