Portugal rejects bids for 5th channel

Portugal's broadcasting authority ERC has rejected the only two bids submitted in answer to the tender for the fifth free-to-air terrestrial TV broadcaster.
ZON Multimedia has had its bid rejected due to a lack of technical and human resources, the authority said. Mediaset's Spanish national private TV channel Telecinco has also had its bid rejected, in this case due to a lack of economic and financial viability, the ERC said.

The two bidding groups have now some eight days to answer the decision, with a final decision due to be taken at the end of this month.

Meanwhile, Portugal's DTH market registered growth of 4.5% in Q4 last year in relation to the previous quarter according to latest data from regulator ANACOM. The country's DTH market now stands at 21% of pay-TV.

In particular the Northen region leads the figures with 192,000 dishes followed by the Centre region with 169,000 and the Lisbon area with 66,000.

The study also highlights the decrease in cable subscribers, down 0.7% in relation to the previous quarter. And finally the report underlines a progression of 36% in the clients of other telecommunication technologies, especially fiber optic networks.

© Rapid TV News 2009