AP Exclusive: US tries to enlist DirecTV in the fight against Venezuela's socialist President Maduro, APjoshgoodman reports.
A DirectTV dish stands on home in the Catia neighborhood of Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2020. Venezuelan President Maduro’s opponents want AT&T’s DirecTV unit to restore a number of channels it was required to take down from its lineup. But forcing AT&T to do the political bidding of Maduro’s foes could lead to retaliation and likely exit from a market where it has a whopping 44% market share.
The meeting followed months of outreach to AT&T by Venezuela’s opposition, according to the five individuals. Under a plan being promoted with the Trump administration, DirecTV, Venezuela’s largest pay TV operator, would restore to its lineup a half dozen international news channels that local regulators have banned in recent years, according to the five individuals.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo was briefed and expressed initial support for the plans to enroll DirecTV to help undermine Maduro, according to two individuals with knowledge of the discussions. A key to Maduro’s staying power is so-called communicational hegemony: dozens of government-controlled newspapers, social media accounts and TV channels that have replaced the once highly confrontational private news outlets with around-the-clock coverage of Maduro.
“The pay TV operators aren’t the ones giving the orders,” said Marianela Balbi, executive director of the Caracas-based Institute for Press and Society, “but they are accomplices in censorship.” But in Venezuela, like in the U.S., DirecTV is required to carry several broadcast networks, including Globovision.
As a result, Venezuelans haven’t joined the cord-cutting wave seen elsewhere and pay TV remains a dominant source of news and information. The company may also be committed to its satellite broadcast center, which sits atop a verdant hill overlooking Caracas, the executive said. DirecTV beams about a third of its programming to several parts of South America from this location, according to corporate filings.
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