José Augusto Pinto Moreira, president of ABTA, met Wednesday, March 27, with Eduardo Gentil, BNDES director of capital markets and new products to talk about the future of the pay-television industry in Brazil, among other things. Mr Moreira, who sees the capitalization of Globo Cabo as an important demonstration of confidence in the industry, stressed that private-sector banks are reluctant to finance investment in pay TV and that BNDES can help the industry significantly ? not necessarily by investing in the equity of pay-TV companies, but certainly by acting as a catalyst for investment from other sources and endorsing serious projects.
Eduardo Gentil replied that BNDES has never had a specific line of credit for media organizations since the Constitution contains restrictions on ownership that prevent most such companies from meeting the bank?s criteria. It has been able to make an exception for some pay-TV companies precisely because of their organizational structure, publicly traded stock and relatively transparent management policies. If the Constitution is amended in line with current proposals, however, all media organizations will probably restructure so as to be eligible for BNDES loans, Mr Gentil said.
Capitalization
