The text adopted establishes the entry of telephone companies into the market for pay TV services. In addition, a third of the channels showing movies, series and documentaries will be Brazilian.

The Committee on Science and Technology, Communications and Computer Sciences concluded on Wednesday (9th) to vote on the bill establishing new rules for pay TV (PL 29/07). The approved text has kept the most controversial points of the proposal - the quotas of national production and promotion for this kind of production. The main text of the bill was approved last week.

In the opinion of the rapporteur, Deputy Paulo Henrique Lustosa (PMDB-CE), the new rules for the sector will benefit consumers because there will be more competition with the entry of telephone operators into this market and thus lower prices for the service.

National Programs
The quotas of national programs , said the rapporteur, will develop the audiovisual industry in Brazil. "We can not overlook the fact that Portuguese is spoken only in a few countries, which reduces our ability to compete globally. So we have to establish that at least in our market our production takes precedence and has priority. This, in our opinion, will not be done at the expense of increasing service costs for the public. "

In the rapporteur’s view, "the entry of a whole new contingent of consumers - who are not now receiving this service since the infrastructure is not available because there are limitations on new investors - will lower costs because there will be economies of scale."

A third of the channels
According the approved bill, a third of the channels showing movies, documentaries and series offered in pay TV packages will be Brazilian. In addition, three and a half hours of programming in prime time on all channels that transmit these types of programs and half of all independent productions should be Brazilian. The text also provides for 11% of the resources that companies already pay in supervision fees to be transferred to the promotion of audiovisual production.

The President of the Committee on Science and Technology, Deputy Eduardo Gomes (PSDB-TO), was happy with the rapid approval of the bill.
"It was not just a project that had a fast passage in his second examination here in the committee. It opened here, with its working group, a door for discussion with all sectors involved. I can not say it is perfect, but in the procedures it will go through after today, if just 20% of the effort that was made here is applied, it will be successful”, he said.

Procedure
The bill establishing the new legal framework for pay TV, which is conclusive in nature, will now be considered by the Committee on the Constitution and Justice and Citizenship.

Reporting - Geórgia Moraes
Edition - Newton Araújo
Translation – Adriana Resende