Colombia’s two commercial channels, RCN and Caracol, say the Government
is charging an “exaggerated” fee for the extension of their broadcast
license.
Caracol director Paulo Laserna told newspaper El Espectador — a sister company of the television station — the US$82 million for the ten-year extension is “absolutely absurd” and rejected the lack of transparency about how the government came to the price.
“US$80 million is madness being in a recession and with a new competitor. It sounds very strange they never gave a bottom price for the bidding for the third channel. What lacks here is transparency, the studies made aren’t serious,” Laserna said.
According to the director, private television in Colombia “is heading towards bankruptcy” if the stations have to pay that much money.
Gabriel Reyes, director of RCN says the fee is “absurd.” “Ten years ago we paid 117 billion pesos for an exclusive position and now they want to charge nearly 500 billion pesos in a framework of open competition,” he said.