Sunday, October 11, 2009

Coming Soon To A Country You Live In

clipped from www.bloomberg.com

Oct. 10 (Bloomberg) -- Argentina’s Senate approved a
government-backed bill that puts new limits on television and
radio ownership and will probably force Grupo Clarin SA, the
country’s biggest media company, to sell off assets.

The Senate handed President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner
a victory, passing 44-24 a law she said will “democratize” the
airwaves. After a session lasting almost 20 hours, senators
approved the 164 articles of the bill without change. The
central provision of the law limits ownership of cable and
broadcast operations in a single market. In pushing the bill,
Fernandez said Clarin holds 73 percent of Argentina’s radio,
television and cable licenses.

Critics of the bill, such as Senator Luis Petcoff Naidenoff
of the Radical Civic Union party, said its aim was in fact to
“silence voices” of dissent after Fernandez and her husband,
former President Nestor Kirchner, began accusing Clarin of bias
in covering their policies.