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THE
country’s largest group of cable television operators
will take legal steps to stop the commercial launch of
the PLDT (Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co.)
group’s mobile TV service.
This as
the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) said it
received a proposal to classify mobile TV service as a
value-added service (VAS).
360Media
Corp., a wholly owned subsidiary of MediaQuest Holdings
Inc., is extending the free preview of its myTV service
until October 15. If there will be no announcement from
the PLDT group on or before Monday next week then myTV’s
commercial launch will push through.
According to the Philippine Cable Television Association
(PCTA), there are a number of legal issues which should
be brought before the NTC so that regulators would be
guided prior to the issuance of the draft rules and
regulations for such service.
First,
cable TV officials cited the entity providing myTV.
According to the PLDT group, myTV is being offered in
partnership between Smart Communications Inc. and 360
Media Corp., formerly GV Broadcasting Systems Inc., a
licensed broadcast company.
GV is
under MediaQuest, which, in turn, is the investment
vehicle of the PLDT Beneficial Trust Fund whose assets
are owned by the trustees of the fund.
NBC, a
frequency modulation (FM) radio station operating in
Metro Manila at 92.3 MHz and the UHF channel MTV, are
investments of MediaQuest.
“Is
Smart providing the service? They say it’s not. Then
who? Is it 360 which is used to be GV? Is it NBC? Both
NBC and GV cannot offer mobile TV service because their
licenses are only allowed to offer analog broadcast.
They have one UHF channel each in Metro Manila but not
outside of Metro Manila,” said an official of the PCTA.
The
group also pointed out that even if NBC and GV were
issued demo permits by the NTC to conduct test
broadcasts, they are still not supposed to offer the
service after September 11. This is because their demo
permits have already expired. “From analog to digital,
they should seek first a permit from the NTC. What the
NTC issued is only temporary permit. Now, GV and NBC’s
demo permits expired on September
11,”
said the PCTA official.
Also,
the NTC has yet to issue the guidelines on mobile TV
service.
“The
NTC said it still awaits the technical and legal
recommendation from various department heads within the
commission. There are also no rules issued yet, so
therefore there should be no offering of mobile TV
service yet,” added the PCTA official.
NTC
commissioner Ruel Canobas said the committee on mobile
TV will come up with the technical and legal
recommendations on the implementation of the service.
The committee, whose members are from the NTC, will look
into the controversial offering of MyTV, the mobile
television service of the PLDT Group.
“What is
clear so far is that no party can commercially launch
mobile TV service yet in the absence of the guidelines,”
said Canobas.
The NTC
chief said the group on mobile TV is also studying a
proposal to classify the service as a VAS. “Yes, there
was a proposal like that. But it did not come from the
NTC. That is being studied by the group,” said Canobas.
If the
PLDT group will push through with the commercial launch
of myTV next week then the group will be forced to take
legal action. PCTA has close to 300 members, including
SkyCable.
PCTA
president Allan Dungao had said that the group’s lawyers
are now preparing a complaint against the PLDT group.
“On the
economic aspect of the service, we, the cable TV
companies, are not threatened by it. But when we talk of
the legal aspect, there are certain issues which we
would like to raise,” said Dungao in an earlier
interview.
PLDT
spokesman Mon Isberto likewise said mobile TV service
can’t be implemented on a commercial basis yet until the
guidelines are out.
He also
said that there is nothing illegal or irregular about
myTV because the service is still being offered on a
promotional basis.
360
Media Corp. plans to charge subscribers P488 a month.
This fee will be on top of the regular postpaid airtime
plans. Prepaid subscribers, meanwhile, need only
maintain P1 airtime load on top of the P488 monthly fee
to avail themselves of the service.
Smart
subscribers with mobile TV-capable handsets can now
view 10 channels including CNN, MTV Philippines, Cartoon
Network, National Geographic Channel, Pinoy Box Office,
History Channel, Solar Sports, Basketball TV, ETC and
Jack TV. Initially, myTV can be viewed in Mega Manila,
Cebu, Davao, Tagaytay, Batangas,
Baguio
City. Boracay and Cagayan de Oro City, will soon be
covered. myTV can be accessed using the Nokia N92 and
soon on Nokia N77.
myTV is
being offered by 360 Media in cooperation with Smart,
which will handle the billing, sale and distribution of
mobile TV-capable handsets.
MediaQuest poured in $30 million to jump-start the
mobile TV service. The company, which focuses on media-
related investment opportunities, is earmarking $50
million for the next three years to fund the operation
of its mobile TV. |
