The Media law does not allow to generate controversy in the political and social arena, although the decision of the Multicolor Coalition to vote in favor of its approval has already been taken; this generated the rejection by the Single Telecommunications Union (Sutel) which will carry out a 24-hour strike, in addition to a mobilization.
The decision by the ruling coalition has already been made and the Colorado Party will take a leap of faith by supporting the initiative, despite being against it Article 72 which, according to them, limits freedom of expression. However, their vote is conditioned by the hope that the Executive Power will veto it once the law is approved.
This prompted a response from Sutel, which decided to carry out a 24-hour strike on Tuesday, beginning at noon, in conjunction with a rally at the Antel Tower at 1:00 p.m., followed by a march to Parliament, where the law will be voted on.
The union’s explanation
The leader of Sutel, Florence Leymonieexplained that the rejection of the media law has several aspects, although there is one that stands out among them all. “The rejection of the media law has to do with a number of aspects, due to the structure of prior censorshipmainly due to the Article 72 which establishes exactly that,” he remarked to Radio Monte Carlo.
“On the other hand, there is the economic dimension. The economic structure that is generated by mass media is more concentrated,” he explained, referring to the permission granted by the Executive Branch to cable operators.
“Legislation is passed without taking into account Antel, There are even articles that establish certain impediments for Antel to develop certain business areas,” the leader criticized.
Leymonié also criticised the way the bill was dealt with. “First, it entered the Senate as a matter of seriousness and urgency, and last week we learned from the information that the Coalition had finally obtained its majority to deal with the bill in the House, two steps away from the national elections,” he added.
Against the authorization of cable operators
Regarding the rejection of the new law, the union presented last week revocation resource before the government against the authorization granted to the companies Montecable, New Century and TCC, to merge into a consortium to operate in Montevideo and thus compete on better terms against streaming services.
“First we presented the appeal in a timely manner. Now we are working on the grounds, looking at elements of the defense of competition, of the media law,” the president of the union told El Observador. Gabriel Molina. “We consider it a serious negligence from the directory of Antel not defending the company,” the leader added.
After 180 days if the Executive does not issue a response, the union can request the annulment before the Administrative Litigation Court.
Sutel had issued a statement days ago where it stated that “more than a consortium, it is a monopoly that the current government creates to give power to these companies in the context of fierce competition against Antel”. The biggest problem pointed out by the workers is that the state telecommunications company is the only one that has optical fiber in the country, which will force it to offer its infrastructure at any price to the cable operator consortium, which in turn will be its direct competitor.
Source: Ambito
