Puerto Rico to try to regulate satellite tv providers

[DUGGAN00969]

This article about Puerto Rico's new laws with regards to Satellite Tv service appeared today.....

TRB oversees satellite TV service under new law
By : JOSÉ ALVARADO VEGA
josea@caribbeanbusinesspr.com

Gov. Luis Fortuño has signed legislation empowering the Puerto Rico Telecommunications Regulatory Board (TRB) to regulate satellite television service for nearly 400,000 local subscribers — more than half of the island’s total pay TV subscribers.

Law 11, enacted by the governor last week, amends the Puerto Rico Telecommunications Act of 1996 (Law 213) to allow TRB to oversee the establishment of “direct broadcast satellite” television carriers on the island, including the terms and conditions of contracts with subscribers.

Satellite television subscribers make up 58 percent of the 664,794 pay TV customers in Puerto Rico. The island’s three satellite television carriers — Claro, DirecTV and Dish Network — have a total of 386,000 subscribers, which outnumber the approximately 278,794 subscribers to cable television carriers OneLink, Liberty and Choice Cable, according to TRB figures.

The new law requires satellite television providers to register at TRB, which is authorized to take up complaints lodged by subscribers against these carriers for matters relating to service and the terms and conditions of contracts. It requires the board to draw up regulations within 90 days after the law went into effect on Feb. 18 to specify the form and content of the registration application for carriers.

The law says that the registry for satellite television service providers will have “the sole purpose of providing information that the board understands is necessary to resolve complaints related to service and the terms and conditions of contracts.” It says that the registry applications must be submitted to TRB within 90 days after the day such regulations take effect.

Moreover, Law 11 requires satellite television providers to submit their procedures for the resolution of disputes with subscribers, for TRB approval within 90 days of having been registered. These procedures, the law says, must apply dispositions in Article 12 of Law 213 related to complaints and the jurisdiction of TRB to revise and adjudicate such complaints, as it is currently done with cable television carriers and other telecommunications carriers.

The justification for the legislation, originally filed as House Bill 2277 by New Progressive Party Rep. Paula Rodríguez Homs, says that many satellite television subscribers had been airing numerous complaints concerning unjustified increases in their monthly bills.

TRB Chairwoman Sandra Torres, who endorsed the legislation, said the complaints had been lodged mostly against Dish Network, which in contrast with the other carriers doesn’t have local consumer service offices and only has a phone number to address complaints or service requests. She said that subscribers often encounter a busy signal and can’t get through.

“The Department of Consumer Affairs handed us complaints related to satellite television, but the most we could do was to mediate in favor consumers. We did not have the legal authority to enforce the law in defense of their rights,” said Torres, who noted that the states have assumed regulation of satellite television service and consumer affairs, given that the law creating the Federal Communications Commission does not cover the area.

Torres said Dish Network had asked TRB for a “special settlement” similar to those it has reached with the state Justice Departments that had sued the carrier for similar problems there, but the board turned down this offer. She acknowledged that the company had lobbied heavily against Law 11 since the first hearings on it in 2009.

Englewood, Colo.-based DISH Network Corporation (NASDAQ: DISH), through its subsidiary DISH Network L.L.C., provides service to more than 14.1 million satellite TV customers, as of Dec. 31.

Torres said that, as with other cable TV carriers, consumers would have to exhaust satellite carriers’ administrative process to handle complaints, and would then have 20 days to file the complaint at TRB if they are not satisfied with how they were handled by the carrier.

She said that TRB handled 303 complaints against satellite television carriers in fiscal year 2009 involving problems with television signals and abrupt hikes in billing charges

 

[DUGGAN00969]

It also appears there may be a question of taxes having been collected by Dish Network on behalf of Puerto Rico......excuse the rough translation from the original article which was in spanish.......

Dish Network charged IVU and not paid to the Treasury
Get agreement "in camera" with the agency


The representative Paula Rodríguez claimed that Dish Network did not pay the SUT which kept consumers. (File / END)
By Andrea Martinez / amartinez@elnuevodia.com

The announcement of Law 11 to regulate satellite television, it emerged today that the company Dish Network earned from the sales tax and use (IVU) to their customers and not remitted to the Department of Finance, as required by law.
This was revealed by the representative Paula Rodríguez Homs, Arecibo district, adding that it was in January 2010 that Dish Network reached an agreement "in camera" with the Treasury to return an undisclosed sum for the taxes withheld in error. The UTI came into force in November 2006.
"They would not say how much was contributed in cash (to finance)," said the lawmaker, who also indicated that it was once thought to refer to the Department of Justice this practice of Dish Network, an action that was not completed.
The justification of the Treasury for not providing information on the agreement, the representative José Chico explained that the agency states that "customers have no right to disclosure of their returns." But he said that an estimated $ 2 million the amount of retroactive taxes and fines paid Dish Network, but that figure was not confirmed.
With the signing of Act 11, the Telecommunications Regulatory Board has the power to control the terms of the contracts to give and receive satellite television services.
The president of the JRT, Sandra Torres, 380.000 set at the number of consumers of DirecTV, Dish Network and ClaroTV that benefit, being able to sue the Board for lack of service, excessive charges and dissatisfaction with the terms of their contracts.
The prosecutorial power JRT was already providing the service on cable television.

 

[dbs2000]

It also appears there may be a question of taxes having been collected by Dish Network on behalf of Puerto Rico......excuse the rough translation from the original article which was in spanish.......

Dish Network charged IVU and not paid to the Treasury
Get agreement "in camera" with the agency


The representative Paula Rodríguez claimed that Dish Network did not pay the SUT which kept consumers. (File / END)
By Andrea Martinez / amartinez@elnuevodia.com

The announcement of Law 11 to regulate satellite television, it emerged today that the company Dish Network earned from the sales tax and use (IVU) to their customers and not remitted to the Department of Finance, as required by law.
This was revealed by the representative Paula Rodríguez Homs, Arecibo district, adding that it was in January 2010 that Dish Network reached an agreement "in camera" with the Treasury to return an undisclosed sum for the taxes withheld in error. The UTI came into force in November 2006.
"They would not say how much was contributed in cash (to finance)," said the lawmaker, who also indicated that it was once thought to refer to the Department of Justice this practice of Dish Network, an action that was not completed.
The justification of the Treasury for not providing information on the agreement, the representative José Chico explained that the agency states that "customers have no right to disclosure of their returns." But he said that an estimated $ 2 million the amount of retroactive taxes and fines paid Dish Network, but that figure was not confirmed.
With the signing of Act 11, the Telecommunications Regulatory Board has the power to control the terms of the contracts to give and receive satellite television services.
The president of the JRT, Sandra Torres, 380.000 set at the number of consumers of DirecTV, Dish Network and ClaroTV that benefit, being able to sue the Board for lack of service, excessive charges and dissatisfaction with the terms of their contracts.
The prosecutorial power JRT was already providing the service on cable television.

OOPS, I forgot to pay my taxes, it's only two million plus. I'll tell the local IRS the same and see what they say and do.