The Chamber of IT businesses believes that the latest move by the Government in the saga pitting cable operators against the major TV stations solves and merely prolongs the dispute.

The Government has been eager to please the five big domestic TV stations (Sitel, Kanal 5, Alfa Alsat and Telma) and pushed hard against the cable operators (which include Deutsche Telekom, Austria Telekom, the domestic Telekabel company and others). In a law that was adopted on the last day of the Parliament, along with the scandalous law on state prosecutors, the Government made it very difficult for cable operators to broadcast foreign channels – a move the operators believe will eventually force them to pay the TV stations for carrying their programming. The Government is doing this hoping it will buy favorable coverage for the July 15 elections. The law was suspended, then re-imposed, and after the cable operators stopped all broadcasting for one hour this weekend, the Government suspended it again.

Cable operators announce one hour TV blackout to protest pressure from the Government

The obligation imposed on the cable operators is not removed, but simply postponed until November. This is not a permanent solution to the problem. The unconstitutional changes to the law remain in effect and we will have new crises by the end of the year. We believe that the cable operators are working in accordance with the law and we hope that we will not be forced to defend our rights through new protests, the Chamber, which represents the cable companies, said.

Meanwhile, Minister Damjan Mancevski took the side of the TV stations, and called on the AEK electronic communication agency to go after the cable operators for their hour long TV blackout.

It is my understanding that the agency is acting to uphold the law and there will be measures taken in accordance with the law. Citizens who subscribed to the cable companies have suffered a violation of their contracts with the blackout and they can go to the AEK to have their complaints processed, in addition to the institutional response, which is coming, Mancevski said.