The three Uruguayan Cable TV companies based in Montevideo −TCC, Nuevo Siglo and Montecable- have already been granted regulatory approval to form a consortium. As a result, they will start joint operation of both Pay TV and fixed Internet services. The application was submitted by the three companies on April 30, but it was not until last week that the news became publicly known, when it was revealed by Eduardo Preve, a journalist at local radio station M24.

The consortium was approved by the Department of Industry, Energy and Mining (MIEM), by the Communications Regulatory Agency (Ursec) and by the Executive Branch. The resolution signed by Uruguay’s President Luis Lacalle Pou reads as follows: “Companies Monte Cablevideo S.A. (Editor’s note: Montecable), Riselco S.A. (Editor’s note: Nuevo Siglo) and Tractoral S.A. (Editor’s note: TCC) are hereby authorized to jointly operate Pay TV and data transmission (Editor’s note: fixed Internet) services in a consortium, pursuant to the licenses previously granted to them.”

The report issued by Ursec includes the following explanation: “The transaction does not increase concentration in the entertainment market on Uruguay’s audiovisual media. The transaction does not imply that the new consortium will gain significant market power, given that the relevant market at issue consists in the sum of Pay TV and streaming services and the transaction involves 94,222 subscribers, out of a total of 496,127 subscriptions (19%).” Although Ursec asserts it considers that Pay TV operators and streaming services belong to the same market, the total number of subscribers stated in the resolution refers to Pay TV users only.