EL UNIVERSAL

From the technical viewpoint, the broadcasting equipment property of private TV channel Radio Caracas Televisión (RCTV) costs nothing, said Minister of Telecommunications and Information Jesse Chacón during a press conference at Miraflores presidential palace.

The minister was making reference to a recent complaint made by 1BC corporate chairman and CEO of the TV station Marcel Granier. Last May the senior official said that the equipment had been snatched out of the private channel to be used by the technical staff of TVES.

TVES is the state-run channel which is presently using the frequency where RCTV programming had been aired for 53 years.

"I heard some kind of high-flown remarks stating that these equipments are worth about USD 100 million. Listen, nobody is to believe that. I will tell those who are knowledgeable about this sector something: the broadcasting network used by TVES was installed in 1990. This means that these transmitters have 17-year depreciation. Those here, who are familiar with asset depreciation, know that a transmitter, which is a technological device, loses value by in a 5-6 year period. That is, in the accounting book, these transmitters amount to zero. I am speaking technically."