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4 bidders for Colombian DTH
Chris Forrester ©RapidTVNews | 18-02-2010
Four major broadcasting rivals, DirecTV, Telefónica Telecom, Telmex and the Mexican aggregator Comtelsat have submitted their free-to-air DTH ideas in an RFP requested by Colombia’s National Television Commission.
The Latin American project, which is expected to be finalised by the end of February, is aimed at taking the country’s national and regional channels' TV broadcasters to the estimated 8% of the Colombian population that has no access to pay-TV.
The winner will be revealed in July 2010 and the project implementation must be carried out over the second half of this year. The idea is to have the project operational by January 1, 2011.
"Those four companies that applied for the RFP and those that believe can take over the responsibility of the Project will be able to participate in the bid," sources from the Commission explained to NexTV Latam.
No supplier of DTH home antennas or set-top-boxes will participate in the bid. Manufacturers will be able to offer antennas and STBs as suppliers to the winning bidder as long as they meet all the technical specifications set by the TV Commission. The antenna and STB package is expected to be cost below US$150.
DirecTV, Telefònica Telecom and Telmex are the three big DTH operators for Latin America; whereas, Comtelsat Mexico is the TV system integrator that has expanded over the whole region last year. The latter has just close an agreement by means of which the company will be in charge of supplying content generated by Fox Sports in some parts of the region. Comtelsat is responsible for adding TV channels to the satellite operators. Likewise, Comtelsat supplies services to broadcasters, cable operators and telephone companies in Latin America.
© Rapid TV News 2010
