The municipality of Amstelveen has settled a dispute with the Dutch cable operator Casema to the tune of €4 million. After selling the network in 2000 to Casema for €39 million, the city prevented the cabler from raising its prices. In the contract it was stipulated that pricing could be regulated by the city as long as there were no alternative means of seeing television available. Casema argued that alternatives have been available, in the form of the DTH platform Canal Digitaal and DTT operator Digitenne. After a court ruling that accepted these alternatives, the operator and the city agreed to a €4 million settlement. Casema will now raise its monthly fee from €10.18 to €13.70 for this year, to be followed by another hike to €15.90 in 2009. Casema is still fighting similar situation in a few other municipalities.
About Robert Briel
Arnhem-based Robert covers the Benelux, France, Germany, Austria and Switzerland as well as IPTV, web TV, connected TV and OTT. Email Robert at rbriel@broadbandtvnews.com.