More users, new TV signals, own journalistic or sports content, more speed of internet services through fiber optics in neighborhoods where other companies do not reach or the possibility of watching Colón and Unión through Cablevideo, on a screen in Thailand, portability through.
Juan Antonio Priano’s company is celebrating the challenge of investing, of not stopping, of evolving in an Argentine economy that always adds singularities to a dizzying technological world.
“My children, fortunately, encouraged me to relaunch,” says Priano, accompanied by photos of Martín, Francisco and Virginia. His office is in a unique house – of Norman architecture – on the boulevard, which he recycled several years ago. Just as he did with Cablevideo after his analog stage of almost 20 years and a brief retirement.
After the “21st Century reboot”, the company has a new logo. It rescues the family and regional imprint with a history of 40 years; It capitalizes on the capacity of people “who had been left without work” and adds “professionals” up to date with the present challenge.
“In 2004, people began to talk about a new phenomenon, which was the Internet. Until then, cable television was the star; it had to compete with multinationals and we said… ‘if we come back, we will do it with the best.’ We were the first company that put fiber optics for distribution in the neighborhoods; we experienced a paradox: we arrived – for example in the Centenario neighborhood – where the competition withdrew because they were not interested in the area, because it was conflictive and because after the flood it had become more dangerous.
Priano explains that the new time “demands updates”, internet speeds of 100, 300 and even 1000 megabytes.
– When you say updates, it means investments.
– You can’t dodge, people demand it. Before it was about sending an e-mail; Today movies are downloaded, father and mother work and use networks, children study or play. It all has to do with bandwidth. You can’t miss the train.
– You are a local actor competing with multinationals.
– Large companies logically have access to financing that is unthinkable for us. But people’s response once again made us grow much faster than we had planned. That is why today we cover an area that goes from Coronda, passing through Desvío Arijón, Sauce Viejo, Santo Tomé, Recreo, Laguna Paiva, Monte Vera, Pilar, Humboldt. We meet the needs of a large number of people who have -perhaps- an equivalent or greater dependence on the Internet than on electricity.
– Is the central line of the business the Internet? Are television contents moving to another level?
– The death of television has been decreed for many years and it has not happened. It is verified that just over 80% of people continue to consume what interests them through the television screen. Another 17% is divided between the phone and the tablet or computer. Television continues to provide two main areas: information and sports. The rest is consumption of another type. I’m talking about the internet but the subscriber package is the combo: television and internet.
– Does it occur in all age groups?
– We are the only company that has a special rate for retirees. Substantially cheaper, in the order of 60%. This year with so much inflation crisis, we have not increased it. This sector of subscribers usually only has television as a priority. But in general, 85% of people have both services.
– Cablevideo has a merit: it invests in the production of content from the area, which an outside provider does not offer.
– The history of the company was to have its own signs. The others don’t have them because they are not interested commercially. It is the same reason why today local productions almost disappeared on television channels and are mere repeaters of the national networks. In our case, regardless of whether the law of the day required it or not, we always did it. We now have two signals, Veo Santa Fe and Veo Santo Tomé, that cover the metropolitan area. And we do it with our own people, from the technical to the journalistic. We try to bring together people with years of experience in television journalism, with new people who find it difficult to find a medium that gives them work. We are the company with the largest number of television hours in journalism and sports.
– Does the business and political-institutional ecosystem understand the value of funding regional content?
– Sometimes it depends on the political color or the cronyism of the moment, on commitments that are above what the company is doing to make local content disseminate. Companies are not treated in the same way when they have very strong local investment. There is a large part of local journalism that depends on official advertising and otherwise dies… in this particular year we have seen people who could not get started. We have been magnanimous in the costs of the apartments, because we understand that otherwise there are people who cannot live. The governments in power must take into account that this is also a source of work.
The power of football
– At some point, whoever managed football television, at the same time came with cable and distorted the market.
– That company relied on the football monopoly, through which it built its main internet and television division; originally he didn’t pull a meter of cable. Today, first-class football is owned by two other companies: Warner, which is Turner, and Disney, which is ESPN. What is happening currently? That the possession of television rights has become so concentrated, that before there were 30 signal providers, and today 80% are concentrated in two or three groups, and there is less negotiation capacity. It becomes very difficult to compete.
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– I’m not saying it can’t be done, but it isn’t done. In Europe, Barcelona or Real Madrid have their own channels and negotiate with whoever has the rights to the business. Then the fan subscribes to his team’s channel. But there is always concentration.
– Democratizing access to content is always very problematic.
– What we can say in the case of Santa Fe is that by the time we returned, since there was only one company from outside, the local subscription was substantially more expensive than the one the same company had in a richer market like Buenos Aires. . Our appearance caused the subscription to drop a lot compared to the national price. Therefore, sometimes this discussion about the regulatory power of the market… is debatable. I honestly say it, if we weren’t in Santa Fe – where our pass is the cheapest – the real prices would be more expensive.
See Santa Fe from anywhere in the world
“It is something new and practical. On the telephone or on a television or PC through a small device, just by having an internet connection from the company in any country – there is no limitation of jurisdiction – you can access all of our offer of channels, plus all our streaming platforms… you can watch the Colón or Unión matches calmly in Thailand.”
Priano pointed out with special enthusiasm Joy – a box or application for cell phones – that makes it possible to have Cablevideo’s offer “on demand.”
“This implies a strong investment in hardware and in development made in Argentina, with people from us and from Buenos Aires. It is something that is constantly updated; we have a carousel of movies that can be recorded and more than 5 thousand titles that can be recorded. access without charging an additional fee. Our subscription includes it, to view on your phone or any screen.
