Yettel, a major Serbian telecommunications provider owned by e& PPF Telecom Group, has pulled the independent news channels N1 and Nova S from the packages of certain subscribers.
The company claims they are testing a new “modular” approach to TV packages, which theoretically allows users to choose what they watch and pay only for those selections. However, there is a catch: if a user chooses to drop N1 and Nova, their monthly bill is reduced. The move raises a troubling question: what is the price of media freedom, and do providers really think their customers are that naive?
“The operator is clearly systematically shutting down N1 and Nova just to see what they can get away with,” reads one of the many emails sent to our newsroom by distressed viewers. These users are alarmed that Yettel has unilaterally cut off certain channels, specifically N1 and Nova, without their consent.
“When I called customer support, I got an unbelievable answer. They told me the channels were shut down ‘for testing purposes’ and ‘for the sake of people who don’t want to have them,’” said one subscriber to the EON Premium package, adding that the agent immediately offered to lower his bill if he agreed to go without those channels.
The user, who specifically wanted those channels, reacted sharply and N1 and Nova were restored to his service within the hour. Others have not been so lucky. Ana Stevanovic, a former MP and former member of the Parliamentary Committee on Culture and Information, received an email from Yettel informing her that her channel list was being modified as part of a “pilot project” launched on August 28. The project, which is set to last a year, is allegedly designed to create “more flexible, modular TV packages.”
“I called customer service and asked: if this is about the modularity and flexibility they claim to offer, can I swap out other channels instead? Can I drop Pink, Informer, or RTS [pro-government and state channels] and keep my price the same, but they told me that’s not an option,” Stevanovic said.
The details provided by Yettel’s customer support far outweighed what the company was willing to say officially. Our newsroom sent five specific questions to the company, of which they only answered one – ignoring the most critical query: why were N1 and Nova the only news channels singled out for removal?
“This pilot project will last 12 months and includes a combination of channels from various providers and categories, including news, children’s, and entertainment programming. The project involves a very small portion of our user base, and participants were selected at random,” Yettel stated.
The participants may have been chosen at random, but it is naive to believe the selection of channels was accidental, Stevanovic said.
“To have someone cut off channels that are seen as benchmarks for professional journalism, without giving you any other choice, leaves a very bitter taste. It feels like you are being manipulated. I truly feel that the media space is being narrowed against our will,” she added.
For those now considering switching to a different provider in protest, the effort may be futile, as those other providers don’t include N1 or Nova in their channel lineups anyway.
Source: N1
