Cable TV War Comes to End in Bulgaria

Bulgarian Cable Operator Bulsatcom and the largest private TV Channel bTV have ended their war by signing late Wednesday evening an agreement to gradually reinstate broadcast of bTV channels by Bulsatcom.

The two parties, which officially made the announcement, have made mutual compromises in order to have the programs aired again without increasing prices for end consumers.

Prime Minister, Boyko Borisov, became personally involved in the dispute, calling on the sides to resolve their issues ASAP and initiating a dialogue between them and the Commission for Communications Regulation.

It was announced meanwhile that TV7 has also reinstated its signal for Bulsatcom.

The war between major cable provider Bulsatcom and two top TV channels started in December 2012.

On January 12, TV7 took off its channels from Bulsatcom on grounds of the failure of the 2-week-long negotiations and Bulsatcom bullying TV7.

TV7 advised its viewers to switch to honest cable operators in order to be able to enjoy its programs.

On January 2, Bulgaria's largest private TV network, bTV, took off once again its channels from the cable provider.

The grounds were breach of contract on the part of Bulsatcom by failing to pay dues and quoting a lower than real number of users to reduce fees. The dispute is not settled at the moment and the outcome remains unclear.

The TV first stopped airing its programs for Bulsatcom customers on December 22, but reinstated the transmission two days later, all while stressing this was a temporary measure, just so that viewers can still enjoy the programs during the holidays.

Negotiations failed in the last work day in Bulgaria for 2012 – December 28. bTV insists the cable operator owes them money, while Bulsatcom firmly rejects the claim.

bTV was followed by TV7, which declared they would not be renewing their contract with Bulsatcom on the same grounds.