ABTA has taken another key step in the pay-TV business model review begun March 25. At a meeting on Thursday, April 4, the association?s executive discussed the role of Accenture and agreed that a firm of outside consultants is in no position to dictate solutions to the industry. All the operators represented at the meeting expressed their commitment to the changes. Some programmers are also involved. Thus if Accenture continues to provide services of any kind to ABTA, its activities will be confined to coordinating meetings of operators. Sources told PAY-TV News that operators see programming as the main issue in the present context. Neo TV and Net Brasil may even join forces in the not too distant future, although there seems to be no consensus on that. Some operators want to change not just the form of relationships with programmers but also the way channel lineups are put together. They should be more closely tailored to the interests and preferences of Brazilian viewers, operators argue. ?This is the only way to show pay TV has value,? says one.
New business model
