Three top Venezuelan DirecTV executives have been released from custody by local authorities, following the sale of the satellite TV company’s Latin American operations to Chilean investment firm Scale Capital SA and the restoration of the No. 1 local pay TV service to its 2 million customers.
In July, a Caracas court mandated the probational release of Hector Rivero, Carlos Villamizar and Rodolfo Carrano, who are accused by the Nicolas Maduro regime of fraud, "boycott" and destabilizing the economy.
The trio’s late-May arrest came as DirecTV parent AT&T shuttered its Latin American operations, under conflicting news carriage and censorship mandates from Maduro and the Trump Administration. Maduro also had all remaining DirecTV property in the country seized.
Also read: Jailed DirecTV Executives Accused of Fraud, Attempting to Destabilize Venezuelan Economy
The executives are reportedly at home. But they are restricted from leaving Venezuela and must check in with local authorities every 15 days.
As for DirecTV, Scale Capital released a statement late last week indicating that the satellite TV operator, which controls 45% of the Venezuelan market, will use legacy infrastructure to restart service in the country.
“The satellite television service will be reactivated automatically to the more than two million subscribers in the country, who will have the free service for a period of 90 days, as of this publication,” Scale Capital said.
The company has also purchased local satellite TV company Galaxy Entertainment de Venezuela, also at an undisclosed price.
Alexander Elorriaga, formerly VP and GM of DirecTV Latin America’s Caribbean region, will lead the Scale’s operation as executive president.
“The actions reported here are in harmony with the provisions of the Constitutional Chamber of the Venezuelan Supreme Court of Justice,” Scale Capital’s statement added.
