El Salvador: Competition watchdog warns against restriction to non-digital televisions

After the announcement issued by the government of El Salvador that will seek to block the import of televisions that do not have the ability to receive digital signals, the Superintendence of Competition (SC) has issued a statement warning that this could violate the rights of users .

The process of transition to digital terrestrial television began a year ago, allowing to transmit images and sound in high definition with low spectrum consumption in radioelectric, but is still not available for a majority of Salvadorans.

The Ministry of Economy has designed a preliminary bill to prevent the entry of new outdated televisions, considered “scrap technology” and not compatible with the digital television standard. Luz Estrella Rodríguez, Minister of Economy, said that “the best thing for the country is that we start bringing all the TVs that adapt to this technology …”

However, the Superintendence of Competition recommended the executive not to present such a draft, since it would damage the rights of information and free choice, in addition to causing competitive distortions in the market and affecting the discipline in imports.

Full Content: El Mundo

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