By Ingrid Bachmann
While Chile's president is pressured to sell his stake in a TV channel, Ecuador's Rafael Correa administration ordered the sale of parcels of shares in two TV stations that were seized by the state almost two years ago, El Universo reports.
Gama TV and TC Televisión were property of the so-called Isaías Group, owned by two brothers who were under investigation by financial regulators. The channels will be auctioned to pay debts related to the failure of a bank belonging to the group, which insists that the takeover was illegal and that the properties can not be sold, the Associated Press adds.
Since their seizure, both channels have remained on the air under governmental control. Their employees or any type of labor association related to these companies can acquire at least 30 percent of these stock options, the ANE news agency explains, citing the committee in charge of the auction.
Note from the editor: This story was originally published by the Knight Center’s blog Journalism in the Americas, the predecessor of LatAm Journalism Review.
