VENEZUELA  NEWS  BULLETIN

**** China Digital TV Wins Satellite TV Contract in Venezuela
**** UNASUR: An Emerging Geopolitical Force
***** Venezuela needs to explain brief of new Center for Situational Study (Cesna)

China Digital TV Wins Satellite TV Contract in Venezuela
Fri May 28, 6:00 AM

 
BEIJING, May 28 /PRNewswire-Asia/ -- China Digital TV Holding Co., Ltd. (NYSE: STV) ("China Digital TV"), the leading provider of conditional access systems to China's expanding digital television market, today announced that it has entered into a contract with CANTV, the leading integrated telecommunication service provider in Venezuela, to install various systems and solutions on CANTV's direct-to-home (DTH) satellite platform.

CANTV is the largest integrated telecom operator in Venezuela and has been developing its IPTV services since 2009, expecting to deliver IPTV beta tests in 2010.

China Digital TV has been engaged to install a conditional access (CA) system, a subscriber management system (SMS), and electronic program guides (EPGs) on CANTV's DTH satellite platform to enhance the operator's IPTV network. The DTH platform is expected to begin beta testing in the third quarter of 2010 and be fully operational in early 2011. It is expected to cover the entire territory of Venezuela, servicing more than 600,000 paying subscribers by 2015.

Tracy Yue, general manager of China Digital TV's overseas business, commented, "We are delighted to win our first contract in Latin America, which shows the solid progress we are making in overseas market expansion. This encouraging achievement also demonstrates the strong demand for China Digital TV's products and services in emerging markets. We will continuously optimize our solutions during the implementation process according to the needs of CANTV, and assist CANTV to enhance its competitiveness in Venezuela's emerging pay-TV market."

Alfredo Munoz, manager of multimedia operations at CANTV commented, "We are excited to partner with China Digital TV, whose solutions have demonstrated great success in China, the world's largest TV market by viewership. China Digital TV's excellent security technology, anti-piracy solutions, and high-quality service enjoy a high reputation among industry players in the China market. We are very confident in our partner's ability to provide the advanced technologies and solutions necessary for the success of our groundbreaking DTH project."

Safe Harbor Statements

This announcement contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended. Such forward-looking statements are made under the "safe harbor" provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995.

These forward-looking statements can be identified by terminology such as "will," "expects," "anticipates," "future," "intends," "plans," "believes," "estimates," "may," "should" and similar expressions. Such forward-looking statements include, without limitation and comments by management in this announcement about trends in the CA systems, digital television, cable television and related industries in the PRC and China Digital TV's strategic and operational plans and future market positions. China Digital TV may also make forward-looking statements in its periodic reports to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, in its annual report to shareholders, in press releases and other written materials and in oral statements made by its officers, directors or employees to third parties. Statements that are not historical facts, including statements about China Digital TV's beliefs and expectations, are forward-looking statements. Forward-looking statements involve inherent risks and uncertainties. A number of factors could cause actual results to differ materially from projections contained or implied in any forward-looking statement, including but not limited to the following: competition in the CA systems, digital television, cable television and related industries in the PRC and the impact of such competition on prices, our ability to implement our business strategies, changes in technology, the structure of the cable television industry or television viewer preferences, changes in PRC laws, regulations or policies with respect to the CA systems, digital television, cable television and related industries, including the extent of non-PRC companies' participation in such industries, and changes in political, economic, legal and social conditions in the PRC, including the government's policies with respect to economic growth, foreign exchange and foreign investment.

Further information regarding these and other risks and uncertainties is included in our annual report on Form 20-F and other documents filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. China Digital TV does not assume any obligation to update any forward-looking statements, which apply only as of the date of this press release.

About China Digital TV

Founded in 2004, China Digital TV is the leading provider of CA systems to China's expanding digital television market. CA systems enable television network operators to manage the delivery of customized content and services to their subscribers. China Digital TV conducts substantially all of its business through its PRC subsidiary, Beijing Super TV Co., Ltd., and its affiliate, Beijing Novel-Super Digital TV Technology Co., Ltd., as well as subsidiaries of its affiliate.

ABOUT CANTV

CANTV (BVC: TDV-D) is the first telephone service enterprises in Venezuela, founded in 1930. The company was re-nationalized in 2007. As of December 2009, CANTV's customer base numbered 13.43 million mobile subscribers, 5.63 million fixed telephony subscribers and 1,264,000 broadband subscribers.

    For investor and media inquiries, please contact:

    In China:

     Eric Yuan
     China Digital TV
     Tel:   +86-10-8279-0021
     Email: ir@chinadtv.cn

     Cynthia He
     Brunswick Group LLC
     Tel:   +86-10-6566-2256
     Email: che@brunswickgroup.com

    In the US:

     Kate Tellier
     Brunswick Group LLC
     Tel:   +1-212-706-7879
http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/28052010/31/link-f-prnewswire-china-digital-tv-wins-satellite-tv-contract-venezuela.html

     Email: ktellier@brunswickgroup.com

SOURCE China Digital TV Holding Co., Ltd.
http://ca.news.finance.yahoo.com/s/28052010/31/link-f-prnewswire-china-digital-tv-wins-satellite-tv-contract-venezuela.html

Published: Friday, June 04, 2010Bylined to: Patrick J. O'Donoghue

Venezuela needs to explain brief of new Center for Situational Study (Cesna)

VHeadline News Editor Patrick J. O'Donoghue reports: ABC digital and Radio Netherlands report that the Venezuelan government has created a situational center specifically to "collect, compile, collate and analyze information of national interest which could be declared classified."

The new body is called the Center for Situational Studies of the Nation (Cesna) and will be affiliated to the Interior & Justice (MIJ) Ministry.

The setting up of Cesna was announced in the Gaceta Oficial on Wednesday but there has been no mention of it in pro-government media.

It is presumed that Cesna will interact with the National Intelligence Service (Sebin), formerly the dreaded DISIP. Most ministries and public services have a media department or press team, which collects news cuttings related to their own office. Miraflores Palace has a similar department that collects and collates media cuttings which are passed on the President for his briefings.

The new organ is believed to have been created to beef up state and national security. A more sinister element comes to light and requires explanation in the following sentence that: Cesna "could declare of reserved, classified character or for limited release any information, event or circumstance, which it becomes aware of in the exercise of its duties."

President Chavez is expected to elaborate on the precise functions of the new intelligence organ during his Sunday radio address and release the name of the person or persons who will run Cesna.

According to the Dutch report, Control Ciudadano NGO director, Rocio San Miguel is leading opposition to the decree, alleging that it will limit access to public information and is a direct attack on freedom of expression. She slams presidential decree No.7.454 creating Cesna as unconstitutional.

Patrick J. O'Donoghue
news.editor@vheadline.com
http://www.vheadline.com/patrick http://www.vheadline.com/
readnews.asp?id=92810  

UNASUR: An Emerging Geopolitical Force

By Alex Main - CEPR, June 4th 2010

Earlier this month, as the US loudly complained about Venezuela’s decision to purchase arms from Russia, South America’s ministers of defense came together in Guayaquil, Ecuador and put the finishing touches on an agreement to develop common mechanisms of transparency in defense policy and spending. The agreement, which also calls for the creation of a multilateral Center for Strategic Defense Studies, is the most recent example of the growing effectiveness of the Union of South American Nations (Spanish acronym UNASUR) as a forum for addressing the most urgent and sensitive issues on the regional agenda. Though the group remains unknown to most of the US public - and is rarely referred to by US policy makers - it has, in the space of a few years, emerged as one of the Western Hemisphere’s leading multilateral bodies and, in the process, is rapidly undermining the regional clout of the Washington-based Organization of American States (OAS).

UNASUR first began to take form in 2004 when South American leaders signed the Cusco Declaration that committed their governments to creating “a politically, socially, economically, environmentally and infrastructurally integrated South American area.” Despite the diverging political agendas of the region’s governments, the leaders agreed on prioritizing the group’s role as a geopolitical actor or, in the words of the declaration, pursuing “concerted and coordinated political and diplomatic efforts that will strengthen the region as a differentiated and dynamic factor in its foreign relations.”

In May 2008 UNASUR was officially established with the signing of a constitutive treaty in Brasilia. In September of the same year the group achieved its first diplomatic milestone when it successfully defused South America’s most serious political crisis of the last five years: the attempted violent destabilization of Evo Morales’ government in Bolivia. President Michele Bachelet of Chile, the pro-tempore president of UNASUR, convened an emergency meeting of South American heads of state in Santiago that quickly issued a unanimous statement strongly condemning the attacks against Bolivian democracy and announcing the creation of a commission of “support and assistance” to the Bolivian government. Soon afterwards, Bolivia’s opposition groups abandoned their violent tactics and agreed to enter negotiations with the Morales government.

Though the US administration has been actively promoting the OAS as a defender of democratic stability in the hemisphere, that organization played no role at all in the peaceful resolution of the 2008 Bolivian crisis, due no doubt in part to the US’ ambivalent position towards the opposition’s destabilization campaign. In the nearly two years that have elapsed since UNASUR’s successful diplomatic intervention in Bolivia, the group has continued to demonstrate its ability to take on the region’s thorniest issues, independently of the OAS and Washington.

In August of 2009, a special UNASUR summit was held in Argentina to discuss a highly controversial agreement that expanded the US’ military presence in Colombia and was perceived as threatening to Colombia’s neighbors, particularly Ecuador and Venezuela. Though tensions have continued to flare over the agreement, the summit paved the way for dialogue and gave further impetus to UNASUR’s Defense Council in which Latin American defense ministries engage in open discussions on national and regional defense projects. The Council’s latest achievement was the Guayaquil agreement mentioned above.

UNASUR also adopted a position of staunch opposition to the coup in Honduras, refusing for instance, to recognize the elections held last year under the de facto government. While Peru and Colombia – the two UNASUR governments most closely aligned to the US – eventually joined Washington in recognizing the elections, the rest of the 12-member bloc still refuses to recognize the legitimacy of the new Honduran government despite the US administration’s best efforts to change their minds. Even Chile’s new right-wing president, Sebastian Piñera, has reportedly backed UNASUR’s official position on Honduras. As a result of this collective resolve, Spain was forced to backtrack on its decision to invite the Honduran government to participate in a Latin America-European Union summit held in Madrid on the 17th and 18th of May.

On May 4th, UNASUR sent another clear signal of its intention to continue charting an independent course with the unanimous election of former Argentinean president Nestor Kirchner to the post of Secretary General of the organization. During his presidency, Kirchner opposed the US-sponsored “free trade” agenda in Latin America, rejected the Washington Consensus and International monetary Fund-led economic policies, and successfully steered his country out of the worst economic recession in its history. President Lula da Silva of Brazil welcomed Kirchner’s designation as Secretary General and said that it would lead to a further “stage of transformation” for the regional bloc.
Source: Center for Economic and Policy Research

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