“Television broadcasters put cable operators at a disadvantage when compared to distribution by satellite,” said ANGA president Thomas Braun in response to statements made by the ARD chairman on HD distribution.
The German cable association is protesting against the expectation of PSBs ARD and ZDF that their HD channels will be carried by the operators without compensation, while the broadcasters are paying the satellite operators for space capacity.
In the words of the ANGA this “is an impermissible interference with established business models of private cable companies.”
The cablers are of the opinion that the free-to-air offer of both satellite DTH and digital terrestrial broadcasts is only possible because the broadcasters bear the cost. The situation is now worsening with the introduction of HD channels.
The criticism also applies to digital terrestrial broadcasts. “Both the public broadcasters as well as the private ones distribute their channels on cable networks under less favorable conditions than those which they have agreed to for satellite and DVB-T broadcasting.”
