Owners of anti-Chavez TV to launch new channel, seek return to Venezuela’s television sets

Anti-Chavez TV seeks return to broadcasts

CARACAS, Venezuela — A television company that was booted off Venezuela’s airwaves and even cable announced plans Monday to resume broadcasting, saying it will meet government regulations while keeping a tough editorial line on President Hugo Chavez.

Company president Marcel Granier told a news conference that Radio Caracas Television Internacional will try to make a comeback on cable after agreeing to meet government rules on carrying official broadcasts.

He also said his operating company, Empresas 1BC, hopes to launch a sister channel, RCTV Mundo, aimed at international audiences.

RCTV broadcast some of the country’s most critical comment on Chavez’s government before officials revoked its on-air license in 2007, alleging it had supported a short-lived 2002 coup against the president.

It switched to cable, but the state-run telecommunications agency last month ordered cable companies to drop RCTV Internacional, saying it had defied the new rules requiring local cable channels to carry mandatory government programming, including some of Chavez’s speeches.

Press freedom organizations condemned RCTV’s removal from the airwaves and cable, saying it was part of a broader effort to silence government critics.

Granier said RCTV would maintain its tough editorial line if allowed to resume broadcasts, but conceded he was not sure the channel would be allowed to return.

“We’re ready for any type of injustice,” he said.

Granier insists that RCTV’s removal from cable was illegal. He said that Empresas 1BC requested permission from Venezuela’s telecommunications agency to return to cable “under protest.”

Diosdado Cabello, director of the agency, indicated the station would not be blocked if it obeys the law and praised Granier’s announcement it would meet regulations: “This merits an applause. They are recognizing the law.”

Under rules approved in December, two dozen local cable channels, including RCTV, must carry government programming when officials deem it necessary, just as channels on the open airwaves already do. Chavez regularly uses that legal power to order broadcast TV and radio stations to carry his marathon speeches, which can last up to seven hours.