Subject: Response to RCTV President's Request for U.S.

C O N F I D E N T I A L STATE 015974 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 2035/02/22 TAGS: PHUM PREL PGOV KDEM VE EINV SUBJECT: Subject: Response to RCTV President's Request for U.S. to Press U.S. Cable Operators to Restore its Signal REF: A) CARACAS 109 Classified by: Derived from: DSCG 05-1 (b),(d) WHA/AND, State ¶1. (C) In response to Posts request for guidance regarding RCTVs request that we approach DirectTV, Net Uno, and Inter to discuss the possible restoration of their RCTV programming, the Department has determined that: The U.S. Government will not take a legal position on the interpretation of a Venezuelan law or regulation, or on any contracts between RCTV and its cable carriers. Therefore, we cannot make a legal determination on whether or not the cable operators in question did or did not have a legal basis for removing RCTV programming. Nor can we assert that the cable operators acted illegally. RCTV and the cable operators may well have a commercial dispute, and we do not believe it is appropriate for the USG to take a position with regard to that dispute. ¶2. (C) Regarding Posts request for the Department to verify if these companies are U.S. owned, we have determined that DirecTV (a satellite company, not a cable operator) is a U.S. company with a legal presence (including facilities and licenses) in Venezuela. DirecTV has confirmed to us that they were ordered by Conatel to remove RCTV and that DirecTV has fully complied. NetUno has offices in Miami but appears to be incorporated in Venezuela. Inter appears to be a Venezuelan company. According to its website, it was founded in 1996 in Barquismeto under the name Intercable. We have no further information on Inter. CLINTON