In tomorrow's COASTRIDER
Hope In Store For TV
Telmicro Remains Optimistic - CoastRider Exclusive
Television screens up and down the Costa were blanked out following spectacular raids to a local television broadcaster’s offices last week.
Witnesses reported that it was like something out of a Hollywood action film as they saw units of the Guardia Civil and other police storm the industrial estate near to the Zoco Market where local company Telmicro Levante s.l. have one of their offices. Staff were taken outside in restraints according to reports while officers searched the premises, boxes and envelopes were taken from the building and later transferred into a van. Meanwhile the estate itself was cordoned off and visitors were only allowed in after supplying identification, and the reasons for their business, to officers manning the gates. The whole operation was a masterpiece of planning and coordination which apparently had been some time in the organising. Similar scenes but not so dramatic were repeated at other offices of Telmicro and associated companies.
The raid happened early last Tuesday morning and officers continued to search premises well into the day.
Officers were also present at the Sunshine FM studios, where the signal was interrupted for a few hours but reinstated later that day. Speaking to a source at the studios, we were told, “The police officers who were here at the studio took away some computer equipment belonging to Telmicro, but the raid had nothing at all to do with the radio station. It’s very much business as usual here.”
The great TV switch off started at around lunchtime and soon the telephone lines were red hot from anxious and confused customers wondering what was happening.
Telmicro premises were eventually taped off and secured with Guardia Civil green and white tape with notices posted on the doors saying that it was by order of the Courts in Torrevieja.
Initially there was no news as to what exactly the reasons for the raids were but reports in the Spanish press described the situation as being due to the pirating of broadcasted signals and their reselling. In addition, regional paper Información reported that officers had taken away cash to the value of €500,000 and equipment valued at a million euros from premises and homes of people involved in the company. A total of 17 people were reported as having been detained and were held overnight and into the following day with their cars still parked outside the premises near to the Zoco market. A steady stream of people visited the San Luis offices to read the notice on the office doors and to commiserate with each other over the loss of their television particularly as the Olympics are currently being screened.
The biggest question on everyone’s lips was “what should we do”. Should they try to change suppliers and if so, would their new suppliers be secure from being raided or should they wait to see what was going to happen with Telmicro. In what appeared to be damage limitation, some other suppliers removed certain channels from their listings and replaced them with alternatives until the situation becomes clear.
In the meantime, some viewers tried rival companies and others decided to sit it out rediscovering those older pleasures of reading books and talking to each other.
Local internet forums were flooded with rumour, comment and discussion about the whole issue of television on the Costa.
Friday’s edition of Spanish paper La Verdad carried the story that one of those arrested was an ex socialist councillor of Los Montesinos and an edil of the Mancomunidad of the Vega Baja which is a group responsible for the economic development of the region. Over the weekend there were further rumours emerging that those arrested had been released without charge and that Telmicro would be applying for the return of its equipment.
The provision of television channels to ex pats in the region has long been a source of confusion and cost to a long suffering clientele many of whom have been forced to change suppliers and equipment over the years at extra cost to themselves. According to readers’ opinions gleaned from the hundreds of calls we at the CoastRider have received, most customers would be more than happy to pay for a fully legal system that gave access to programmes in English covering the main areas such as sports, soaps and news.
Speaking exclusively to the CoastRider, a Telmicro source was very optimistic that the company would be back broadcasting very soon. We were also given the following statement:
“In light of the current reports on Telmicro Levante, we can confirm the following -
1. Telmicro Levante have all the relevant licenses and legal permits in order to broadcast. These legal documents were issued by the Ministry.
2. The closing of the broadcast has nothing to do with Telmicro Levante being prohibited to broadcast, however all the relevant technical material is being looked at, some of this material having been purchased in the United Kingdom.
3. Telmicro Levante will promise all its clients to be operational as soon as possible and ensuring the very best quality.
4. We know that there are other companies within this sector offering their services and we strongly recommend that you seek to see whether these companies have all the legal requirements in place in order to broadcast. I.e. boletin oficial del estado (official buletin from the state)
5. Due to the obvious upheaval caused to Telmicro Levante, on Monday 18th of august, the company visited the British Consulate to shed light on all the recent goings on and furnished them with all the legal documentation required here in Spain in order to broadcast to the British community, showing complete transparency.”
Paul Mutter