The Dutch the media authority Commissariaat voor de Media (CVDM) has ruled that the cabler Ziggo is allowed to drop channels such as BBC2 and ZDF from the basic analogue tier.
The country’s largest operator brought the number of analogue channels down and in the process dropped a few international public broadcasters such as BBC2 and Germany’s ZDF.
A number of Programme Advisory Councils, which are allowed to determine the basic analogue offer, protested about this move and started a procedure with the media authority. They complained that Ziggo removed channels such as the BBC and ZDF, which they had advised to put in the basic package.
Although the councils’ advice is binding, cablers can decide otherwise if there are sound reasons. The CVDM has now ruled that viewers’ viewing patterns are a good reason for the operator to make changes to the basic tier. Indeed, Ziggo has argued that they just put the best watched channels in basic analogue.
