(IPYS/IFEX) – On 3 December 2006, officials who identified themselves as members of the National Commission for Telecommunications (Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones, CONATEL) forced Telemundo to suspend its transmission of the presidential elections from a hotel in Caracas. According to the network’s producer, Pablo Iacut, a military helicopter flew over the hotel as the officials […]
(IPYS/IFEX) – On 3 December 2006, officials who identified themselves as members of the National Commission for Telecommunications (Comisión Nacional de Telecomunicaciones, CONATEL) forced Telemundo to suspend its transmission of the presidential elections from a hotel in Caracas.
According to the network’s producer, Pablo Iacut, a military helicopter flew over the hotel as the officials ordered them to stop their broadcast. Iacut asked them if there was some additional permit they required in addition to those they had already obtained, but none of the officials replied. Telemundo had been covering the elections for three days without problems when their broadcast signal was interrupted.
Iacut stated that he has not been able to reach CONATEL, the organization that regulates telecommunications in the country. He declared, however, that CONATEL had pointed out to the news agency Agence France Press that no additional permits were required to broadcast the elections.
