Go-ahead for revised law on digital TV

Date: 02/10/1997

SPAIN'S hotly-debated digital television law is likely to get a belated go-ahead from the European Commission next week, even though the institution's lawyers still have doubts over its legality.

The move, which is expected to be confirmed next Wednesday (8 October), follows Spanish government changes to the original legislation prompted by Commission warnings that it fell foul of EU single market rules.

Internal Market Commissioner Mario Monti is apparently in favour of approving the law next week, bringing an end to a dispute which has dragged on throughout the year and risked souring relations with Madrid.

Sources say Monti is aware that his services are still unhappy with aspects of the Spanish law, in particular the requirement for digital TV ventures to join an official list of operators and win 'prior certification' for their chosen decoder equipment systems from the Spanish authorities.

But they predict that instead of rejecting the amended legislation, the Commissioner will simply deliver a rebuke to Spain for the way it has ignored EU internal market rules and brought the issue to the brink of legal action.

Sources say top political aides to other Commissioners support a quick resolution of the issue and Commission President Jacques Santer is understood to have entered the fray last week, telling Spanish Prime Minister José Mar'a Aznar to expect a swift decision.

Canal Satellite Digital, led by France's Canal Plus, had argued that the original Spanish law imposed standards which outlawed the 'simulcrypt' scrambling system used in its set-top boxes for pay-TV. It claimed that this unfairly favoured the system used by rival Via Digital venture led by Spanish telecoms operator Telefõnica and state broadcasting company RTVE.

In July, the Commission issued Madrid with an ultimatum to change the law or face a legal challenge in the European Court of Justice.