UPC retreats from the Cable Communication Association

UPC Romania announced on Monday that starting with February 1 it is no longer a member of the Cable Communications Association. The decision to drop membership to the CCA came as a result of reevaluating the institution’s objectives and recent activity, which are no longer complementary with UPC objectives and values.

In this context, UPC Romania wants to mention that recent declarations of Radu Petric, CCA president, do not reflect UPC Romania’s position or point of view.

Contacted by wall-street.ro, Radu Petric said that UPC offered no explanations for their decision. The CCA website has not been updated and still lists UPC as a member of the association.

Last week, after CNA published the list of must-carry television channels, Radu Petric was quoted as saying:

“I can not imagine how Digi 24 would degrade the interests of the other cable operators. This problem is unfathomable to me. (…) As is often the case, CNA proves it follows partisan interest (…) Since it’s on the must-carry list, it has automatically earned the right to be retransmitted without any kind of technical or financial limitations”, Radu Petric said.

Digi 24, RCS&RDS’s news channel, which up until now was broadcast exclusively as part of the operator’s subscription packaged, declared it’s free for retransmission and as such entered CNA’s list of must-carry channels. In other words, from now one all the other cable operators must transmit the news channel of a director competitor. This move has caused significant concert on the market, UPC’s lifting its CCA membership being the latest consequence.