Colombia. Several actors from the sector gathered in Andesco to discuss necessary modifications to guarantee the financing of public television, a topic that was discussed in the panel on "Development of a new model of financing of public television for Colombia" that took place in the eighteenth of Andesco in the city of Cartagena.
Among the participants of this panel were Ángela María Mora Soto, director of the National Television Authority, María del Pilar Bahamón, advisor to the Ministry of Information and Communications Technologies, Germán Darío Arias Pimienta, executive director of the Communications Regulation Commission, Jaime Andrés Plaza Fernández, vice president of regulation of TIGO UNE, Carlos Herrera Barros, secretary general of the Telecommunications Company of Bogotá, Andrés García Zuccardi, senator of Commission VI of the Senate of the Republic, Jorge Hernando Pedraza Gutiérrez, senator of Commission VI and the representative to the chamber Ciro Rodríguez Pinzón.
Moderated by former television commissioner Ricardo Galán, the participants held a conversation with a view to exchanging the positions of the public and private sector regarding the important modifications that the financing model requires. According to Maria del Pilar Bahamón, Mintic's advisor, the model that is decided must combine the financing possibilities. That is, a figure in which the public budget and the money from the market converge, without pretending that public television competes for the pattern of private television or subscription television.
Given that the concessions of RCN and Caracol television expire on January 9, 2017, the opinions of private television operators and those of subscription television opened the debate on what is the viability of a public television that is only financed from their contributions. Most of the concessionaires agreed that the current model does not correspond to the reality of the platforms, making necessary a modification that commits other funders.
According to the director of the ANTV, the National Television Board is aware of the need to review the model. Based on a recent diagnosis that evidenced the inequity of the loads, the members of the board will announce in September of this year the modifications that will determine if the contributions are made based on the number of subscribers or the income of each operator.
The opinions of the representatives of the legislative branch were unanimous in that the current model cannot be modified without taking into account the position of all those involved in the sector. They also agreed that it is necessary to migrate public content to new platforms more in line with new audiences, specifically children, who increasingly consume more content in mobile media.
