Israel Council for Cable TV and Satellite Broadcasting chair Dr. Yifat Ben Hai Segev has launched a scathing attack on HOT Telecommunication Systems Ltd. (TASE: HOT) and Bezeq Israeli Telecommunication Co. Ltd. (TASE: BEZQ) unit DBS Satellite Services (1998) Ltd. (YES) for raising their prices.
Cable TV provider Hot is set to announce a 5% price rise for many of its packages, while last Thursday, Yes announced that its VOD service would cost subscribers NIS 29.90 per month instead of the current NIS 24.90.
Ben Hai Segev told "Globes," that the price rises are "greed for its own sake" and that the Council would be convening to discuss the latest developments. The price rises, it should be stressed, need to be approved by the Council. Yes has already filed a request and Hot will be doing so in the coming few days.
Ben Hai Segev said, "After looking over the financial reports of both Hot and Yes and paying attention to what is happening in Europe and the US, their EBITDA is much above what is acceptable around the world as are their operating profits and revenue. If we add to that Bezeq's announcement yesterday that it is revising its profit forecast (upwards), then the most recent price rise is greed for its own sake due to the absence of competition in the market."
She added, "The committee examining the market headed by Minister of Communications director general Shlomo Filber plans to discuss ways of opening the market to competition and to the best of my knowledge the Ministry is considering giving a triple license to another service provider."
Ben Hai Segev said, "If the market was competitive, then Yes would not have put its prices up fivefold since 2010. There is no connection between the price and performance by either Hot or Yes, it's just greed. It's good that they are profitable but they are simply insatiable with their war against the council not to raise the percentage of original productions, here too there is greed because we are seeing a rise in the level of profitability and opposition to sharing it with the public."
Yes said, "The company has not put up the price of packages for three years and is not doing so now, and the last time the VOD price was revised was more than a year ago. The current rise of NIS 5.20 reflects the substantial rise in production costs abroad and the many free services added to VOD over the past year."
Published by Globes [online], Israel business news - www.globes-online.com - on November 16, 2015
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