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21-04-2010, 01:01
*Dominican Republic prepares new regulation for Pay-TV operators The Dominican Republic Instituto Dominicano de las Telecomunicaciones (Indotel) started a public consultation process aimed at drawing up a new "Regulation for Pay-TV services". Such consultation will be opened over a month, and later, comments will be analyzed and the regulating agency will call for a public hearing that will enable companies and individuals to present and support their arguments before the Board. Once this process is finished, the definite norm will be drawn up. At present, the country relies on its Cable Services Regulation that is aimed at regulating only one broadcasting technology type, leaving aside those services that, though not rendered exclusively through cable or optic fiber networks, they share Pay-TV features thus making them easy to assimilate. The new regulation is aimed at widening the present regulation scope and to regulate Pay-TV services regardless of the technology to be utilized. The discussion will also help to become aware of local channels' rebroadcasting obligation, posed to cable TV licensees. For the regulator, the "Must Carry" constitutes "one of the main and controversial points when analyzing Pay-TV services". In this sense, Codetel and Sky believe that DTH operators' "Must Carry" obligation is a "technically complex and economically unsustainable measure for the market". *