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Things You Need to Know About TV Subscription

28.07.2015

The National Authority for Management and Regulation in Communications of Romania (ANCOM) imposed on the providers new obligations of informing the users as regards the subscriptions to TV programme retransmission services. Before signing the contract, the operators have the obligation to notify, at their work stations, the minimum number of channels included in the chosen subscription, as well as the full list thereof, in print or on a durable support. Apart from that, they must also include information on the tariffs charged for equipment lease or provision , as the case may be, in the itemised bill. In Romania, almost 7 million households have access to paid TV retransmission services, according to the latest statistics published by ANCOM (see infographics here).

When consulting the subscription offers to TV programme retransmission services on the operators’ website (whether it is cable, DTH or IPTV subscriptions), the users must find the following information:

the services coverage area;
the list of the TV programmes retransmitted and included in each tariff plan, as well as the fact that this list may be modified during the execution of the contract, as the case may be;
the service installation fees, as applicable;
tariff differences for each version of the minimum contract period (1 year, 2 years, promotional period), as applicable;
details regarding the possible penalties the users can be charged with, in case of the contract termination within the minimum contract period;
possible restrictions applicable to equipment included in the tariff plan offered by the provider;
the validity period of each tariff plan (the date of entry into force, the availability date for concluding the contract, respectively), as well as the validity period of discounts and promotions offered within this tariff plan, in case such promotions and discounts are offered.

In case this information is not available on the providers’ websites, or the users do not receive such information regarding the television services, upon request, they may address ANCOM – more details here.

According to the new obligations imposed by ANCOM, the providers of audiovisual programme retransmission services must issue, upon subscribers’ request, the itemised bills which may include information such as:

the billing cycle;
monthly flat rate for the subscription;
connection/ installation/ reconnection/ disconnection fees, as applicable;
discounts and free services the subscribers have benefited from and how they are granted, as the case may be;
a telephone number where the user can request additional information regarding the itemised bill.

ANCOM Decision no. 158/2015 on the obligation of informing the end-users entered into force on 27 June 2015 and establishes the types of information the providers need to make available to the end users and also extends on the providers of Internet and TV programme retransmission services the obligations of informing the end-users, in addition to the telephony providers who are already subject to such obligations ever since 2009.

Further information on the TV subscriptions are available on the ANCOM webpage, here.