The union of Cable providers in Lebanon (I didn’t know they had a union) decided to take down LBCI yesterday as a sign of protest against the decision taken by 8 local TVs to make them pay a fee for broadcasting their shows. LBCI, Future TV, Tele Liban, NBN, Al Jadeed, Manar, OTV and MTV all set new broadcasting rules by asking cable providers to pay 4 dollars for each subscriber, and asking all cable providers to sign official documents that grant them broadcasting rights.
Honestly speaking, I think it’s about time someone regulated this whole process and put an end to illegal cable providers in Lebanon. I rarely watch TV but I remember I had to call the cable guy almost every Sunday when I was at my parents to be able to watch Formula 1 or some football game. The quality of the image is bad, they control what you’re watching and rarely answer the phone when needed. Moreover, the fact that they are able to randomly shut down LBCI just to protest is quite absurd and unheard of.
Some may argue that we shouldn’t have to pay to watch local TVs but they need to monetize to survive in this market and having illegal cable providers rebroadcast all their shows for free doesn’t make sense, specially when there are affordable and legal providers like Econet and Cable Vision.
النتيجة معروفة سلف. رح يحَملوا الأربع دولارات، أو قسم منها، للمواطن متل ما بيصير دايماً. لأنو الدولة ما رح تقدر ع مافيا أصحاب الكايبل وأكيد ما رح توقف ضد التلفزيونات. ومين بيعرف؟ بكرا بتقلّ الإعلانات أكتر و”بتضطر” المحطات تزيد المبلغ
هيدا الإجماع بين المحطات مش منطقي. ما بيعطي مجال للمنافسة. صارت المحطات ساعة اللي بدها تفرض السعر اللي بيناسبها. لازم يعطوا المواطن الحق ينقي المحطات اللي بدو ياها وهيك بيصير في تنافس ع الجودة
Hi Najib, I know that you usually research topics before writing about them. Let me correct a couple of facts :
1- The providers are licensed by Osn and bein sports, are registered and pay their taxes to the government, thus using the word illegal is wrong
2- since the local channels are available for free in the air and not scrambled then the providers can’t pay fees for something that is broadcasted for free to air, especially if the amount asked is 30 percent of their fees and they wouldn’t want to cascade this amount for their clients to pay as the channel is available for free.
I hope this clarifies the issue, and I would appreciate your feedback. Thanks
Michel
I am aware most of them r licensed by OSN but there s no control over their practices. I got offered special receivers to get HD for free and we get free channels where the cable guy puts the latest movies he got from an illegal dvd store or the internet. Let’s not forget the channels they create to advertise for their friends and family.
Again I’m not saying the local TVs r right but things can’t stay this way. What gives them the right to block lbci only for example?
Wow, Future and Manar agreed on something. I’m surprised neither of them used this against the other as trying to strip Lebanese of their right to watch TV…
U’re one positive person
LOOL good if they take them all off, they’re rubbish
It is not random or absurd. It serves a purpose, that of protesting which is a democratic exercise.
I don’t support illegal cable providers (I don’t oppose them either, but that’s besides the point).
Affordable and legal providers. I don’t know about affordable.
I tried contacting CableVision a few months ago to get subscription for 2 tvs we have at the house. The price was around $450 for each (more or less I really can’t remember the exact amount) but I remember thinking $900 for TWO tvs, that’s absurd.
So I am interested in obtaining LEGAL television, for the simple reason that the quality is better and it’s an overall more enjoyable experience, however I wouldn’t wanna pay a down payment on a car just to get to watch TV on two television sets.