Mexico. A strong controversy has been unleashed in Mexico after the statements of the president of the Cofetel, Mony de Swaan, who assured that Televisa and Azteca have filed eight amparos against the transition to digital terrestrial television.
The official explained that only six of these amparos were filed by Televisa and that these processes have to do with the use of the 700 megahertz band that is granted to television concessionaires and that with digital technology the radio space could be compacted to expand broadband services.
He added that these frequencies are in the hands of the large television networks, which is why they do not want digital TV to be developed and that then the Mexican government was going to be obliged to rescue these frequencies.
But immediately the reactions to these statements were known. The first to deny the President of Cofetel were the directors of Azteca, who assured that they have not initiated any amparo process against digital television.
They indicated that what was presented were administrative processes that aim to clarify aspects of the operation of digital television, but at no time stop its implementation.
Others who came out against Mony de Swaan's words were his own cofetel colleagues, commissioners José Luis Peralta and Ernesto Gil Elorduy, who said that the statements about the amparos are inaccurate.
They added that the Chairman of the commission should have spoken in his personal capacity and not on behalf of the entity, since the issue has not been discussed in the meeting and there is no position on the issue. In addition, they pointed out that the ongoing processes do not seek to slow down the implementation of digital television.
The two officials also disagreed with a 700 megahertz frequency rescue.
