TELECOM - Brazilian Senate passes bill to open cable TV market to phone companies

TELECOM - Brazilian Senate passes bill to open cable TV market to phone companies

On August, 16th, the Brazilian Senate passed a bill (PLC 116/2010) to open the cable TV market to phone companies. It is now waiting for the signature of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff, who endorses the measure. 

Basically, PLC 116/2010 establishes an entirely new legal framework for Brazil's telecommunication systems, since it modifies and unifies all regulations related to Pay TV (cable TV, MMDS, DTH and TVA). Amongst its top innovations, it is worth mentioning the partial revoke of the Brazilian Cable TV Act, the allowance for telephone companies to operate cable TV, and the establishment of national and regional content quotes to be broadcasted by cable TV carriers.

According to the Brazilian Telecommunication Agency (ANATEL), over 90 million people in Brazil (51,9% of the Brazilian population) distributed to over 465 Municipalities (8,4% of the total Brazilian Municipalities) have access to any sort of Pay TV. Full information available in Portuguese at http://www.anatel.gov.br/Portal/verificaDocumentos/documentoVersionado.asp?numeroPublicacao=251424&documentoPath=251424.pdf&Pub=&URL=/Portal/verificaDocumentos/documento.asp.

For any questions regarding this issue or for legal analysis of the PLC 116/2010 impact on the telecom market in Brazil, please contact me at jaymesilva3@gmail.com