Guerrero Olivos’ (Chile) litigation practice group was counsel to TuVes, a satellite digital TV provider, in a proceeding initiated by Televisión Nacional de Chile (TVN), the Chilean state-owned TV public channel, to establish if satellite owners and cable service providers have rights to freely transmit public digital TV channel signals on their systems.
In this case, our litigation group had a highly successful performance, winning in first instance and also before the Santiago Court of Appeals. TVN did not pursue the appeal originally filed before the Supreme Court and, thus, this ruling is now final. This matter (digital TV access) is quite new in Chile; therefore this advice has been of great importance and innovation. Besides, this final judgment set an important precedent.
Indeed, TVN challenged TuVes on the latter’s right to transmit the new digital TV channel launched by TVN. This litigation created a public controversy on whether or not satellite owners and cable service providers may freely transmit public digital TV channel signals on their systems. The Chilean Courts ruled in favor of said providers.
This practice of open-access distribution was followed by all entities in the industry, since this high court decision set an important precedent.
