Latin America Focus B r a z i l R e p o r t Pay-TV Trade Show Establishes Triple-Play V e n e z u e l a R e p o r t Chavez’s Pet Station, A Ratings Failure In late May, Venezuela’s private television station Radio Caracas Television (RCTV) was replaced by state-funded Televisora Venezolana Social, or TVes (see VideoAge’s May 2007 issue for more details). The name is pronounced “te ves,” which means “you see yourself ” in Spanish. Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez reportedly pulled the plug on the popular RCTV due to the station’s harsh criticism of the government. Chavez accused RCTV of supporting a coup against him in April 2002, as well as an oil strike in 2002-2003. After going off the air, RCTV started broadcasting on cable, satellite and even over the Internet. Chavez hopes the new station, TVes, will usher in a government-approved era in Venezuelan broadcasting. The 24-hour channel, which broadcasts sports, children’s programming, movies, news, music, drama and cartoons, began broadcasting with the national anthem, and continues to play the anthem three times a day every day (at 6 a.m., noon and midnight). The Venezuelan government claims that the new station aims to portray the identity of Venezuelans, but according to general news reports, TVes hasn’t caught on with actual Venezuelans. The station has even struggled to reach 10 percent of RCTV’s viewers. A scene from an ABTA panel Brazil is well prepared to handle new technologies and prove to the world that it can face convergence with confidence. At least that was the idea conveyed at ABTA 2007, the 15th annual conference and exhibition dedicated to the Latin American pay-TV, electronic media and digital services market, held last August in São Paulo, Brazil. More than 90 speakers discussed topics such as convergence, the impact of digital free- and pay-TV and the new programming rules in Brazil. Among the 50 exhibitors were Hallmark Channel, HBO Brasil, MGM Networks Latin America, Pramer SCA, Cisco, Fox Latin America, Disney & ESPNMedia Networks de Brasil, Sky and Turner. As an exhibitor, Brazil-based, multi-service provider TVA, took the opportunity to celebrate a 20 percent increase in subscribers, and showed an interactive remote control created for its TV, pay-per-view, Internet and VoD programming that gives access to convergent services for high-definition channels. One of TVA’s most interesting innovations shown at ABTA was a new service free to customers, called Programming Alarm, which notifies subscribers when their favorite program is about to start. For its part, MGM Networks Latin America celebrated its 10-year operation in Brazil and announced the transfer of its programming to a digital platform. Also in a festive mood was Sparrowhawk Media, which celebrated its Hallmark Channel hitting the onemillion-subscriber mark in Brazil, and looked forward to the launch of its new children’s animation channel, Kids Co. There were spates of announcements as well. Spain’s Telco, Telefonica Brazil – which is also a digital TV operator offering more than 60 digital channels and the option of premium services — announced, among other things, that they are currently carrying out trials on optic fiber in São Paulo in the hopes of offering clients IPTV. They also showcased a device called Telefónica Trío, which allows users to obtain triple-play services: telephony, broadband Internet and TV. Similarly, Fox Latin America Channels representatives announced the acquisition of 51 percent of Telecolombia — which will be renamed Fox Telecolombia — and celebrated the entry of the Sci-Fi Channel into Sky Brasil. Turner introduced its new sports channel, Woohoo, and shared its new project, Cartoon Networks Games, which consists of interactive TV games wherein a digital decoder remote control turns into a joystick. On the recreational side, Latin American pay-TV and satellite network distributor Pramer hosted an exclusive lunch for operators in the region, in order to boost the penetration of the Film and Arts channel. Among the speakers at the trade show were Mauricio Ramos, CEO of VTR; Rómulo Pontual, vp of CTO, which is part of DirecTV; Luiz Eduardo Baptista, president of SKY; Antonio Valente, president of Telefónica; Alberto Pecegueiro, general director of Globosat. These and others participated at 12 thematic sessions, which were attended by 758 participants. The event attracted 11,147 people, and was sponsored by Globosat, NET Brasil, Canais Abril, SETA (Sindicato das Empresas de TV por Assinatura) and Brasil Telecom. V I D E O • A G E OC T O B E R 2 0 0 7 56 President Hugo Chavez
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