Cable TV Station Critical of Chávez Is Shut Down

A cable television channel that has been critical of President Hugo Chávez was taken off the air on Sunday after defying new government regulations requiring it to televise some of President Chávez's speeches.

Venezuelan cable and satellite television providers stopped transmitting the channel, Radio Caracas Television, after it did not broadcast a speech by President Chávez on Saturday at a rally of political supporters. "They must comply with the law, and they cannot have a single channel that violates Venezuelan laws as part of their programming," Diosdado Cabello, director of Venezuela's state-run telecommunications agency, said Saturday.

But the cable channel, known as RCTV, said the telecommunications agency "doesn't have any authority to give the cable service providers this order." It said in a statement, "The government is inappropriately pressuring them to make decisions beyond their responsibilities."