VideoAge International September 2018

September 2018 10 Argentina’s Jornadas unique because it will offer a new opportunity for event co-organizers — the Argentine Association of Cable Television (ATVC) and the Argentine Chamber of Producers and Programmers of Audiovisual Signals (CAPPSA) — to break with the old mold and instead focus exclusively on the interests of the cable TV sector and on the debate about the “new order” post scandal. The two associations have confirmed five conferences related to the current environment. It is expected that some of these conferences will reflect the aforementioned scandal —which has a plot so intricate and so complicated that not even a Netflix scriptwriter could have penned it. The embezzlement of public money — quantified at approximately U.S.$40 billion — involves the power marriage of Néstor (who died in 2010) and Cristina Kirchner, who both presided over the country during three periods (2003-2007, 2007-2011, and 2011-2015), as well as a large number of former ministers and former government officials. There have also been incubators, in the sense that the two periods of President Carlos Menem in the previous decade created the environment that allowed for the current scandal. Those five administrations have directly and indirectly impacted the cable-television and telecommunications sectors, but there still aren’t adequate regulations in place today to prevent such a failure from happening again. It was this lack of rules that fostered obsolescence, delayed spectrum re-allocation, and reduced investments. The multiple cable, satellite, and telco offers (triple-, quadruple-, and quintuple-play) will now be difficult to implement due to the country’s difficult economic situation, which could be leading to losses of cable subscribers. High operating costs to upgrade infrastructures will also make any new developments rather unaffordable. Observers who have witnessed the course of the Argentine cable TV industry in the last two decades now hope that this year’s Jornadas might serve to foster a frank discussion of the solutions to the problems caused by past corrupt practices. The other opportunity presented by Jornadas is a chance to debate whether it makes sense to continue to support the current concept of cable television. The environment is changing with the emergence of multi-service operators, and the beginning of a new stage in the market is imminent. Cable operators are no longer just cable operators, but multiple services companies, providing cable TV, OTT, Internet, fixed telephony, and cellular telephony services. Conversely, those in the telephony and Internet sectors have become pay-TV providers. On the exhibition side, all of LATAM’s main international channels will be exhibiting, including AMC Networks, Artear, Claxson, Deutsche Welle, Discovery Networks, Disney, ESPN, FOX Networks Group, HBO Latin America Group, France 24, TyC Sports, Telearte, Televisa, Turner, TV Azteca, Viacom/Telefe, ZEE Mundo, and Red Intercable. These are in addition to a slew of hardware companies. ( By Omar Mendez, Editor in Chief of Daily Television) History and the Hilton B.A. The Hilton Buenos Aires is located in Puerto Madero, a trendy barrio (district) on the waterfront and across the Puente de la Mujer (Women’s Bridge). Both the hotel and the bridge are associated with a pioneer in the television business in Argentina: Alberto Gonzalez, who died in 2001 at 73 years old, a year after the inauguration of the Hilton Buenos Aires. In 1990, Gonzalez founded Imagen Satelital, and the following year the company launched the 24-hour film channel Space across the Southern Cone. In 1997, he sold Imagen Satelital to the Cisneros Television Group and turned to real estate development, helping to transform Puerto Madero, where in addition to the Hilton Buenos Aires, he began to build offices, a shopping mall, and other buildings, and commissioned the construction of Puente de la Mujer. The Jornadas were started during the presidency of Peronist Carlos Menem (1989- 1999), who privatized many industries and led to free-market economic policies. Menem was followed by the brief presidency of Fernando de la Rúa (1999-2001) under whom Argentina suffered the “Great Depression.” De la Rúa was replaced in 2002 by Eduardo Duhalde (who had been nominated by Congress, not elected) for just one year. In 2003, Néstor Kirchner was elected president and, in 2007 that post was won by his wife, Cristina Fernández de Kirchner, when he did not run for re-election. In 2015, Mauricio Macri was elected president. Previously, he had served as chief of government of the autonomous city of Buenos Aires and had, in the past, attended Jornadas. (Continued from Cover) The exhibition floor in the Pacifico Hall of the Hilton Buenos Aires Observers who have witnessed the course of the Argentine cable TV industry in the last two decades hope that this year’s Jornadas might serve to foster a frank discussion of the solutions to the problems caused by past corrupt practices. VideoAge ’s Dom Serafini and Daily Television ’s Omar Mendez next to Puente de la Mujer during last year’s edition of Jornadas