BRUSSELS — The Telenet board decided on Thursday to abolish the contract it signed with municipal councils enforcing price cuts if the number of channels offered was reduced.

Telenet opted instead to draw up a guarantee that existing customers can switch to digital television in September for the current price of EUR 12.95.

The original agreement stipulated that Telenet had to cut subscription prices by 5 percent if it scrapped three of its existing analogue channels. That reduction could amount to 15 percent.

The price agreement was designed to protect the public interest when municipalities sold the cable network to Telenet.

However, Telenet believes the public interest is being served by its current digital television project because analogue subscribers are being given an easy and well priced opportunity to acquaint themselves with digital television.
 
Current subscribers will lose eight of their existing 34 channels when they are relocated to the digital network in September. But subscribers will be able to keep the channels if they buy a decoder.

Besides better image quality, those people who swap entirely to digital television will have a greater range of television programmes to choose from.

Meanwhile, the Telenet board also said it discussed a possible stock exchange debut on Thursday, but stressed that no decision was made.

[Copyright Expatica News 2005]

Subject: Belgian news