Caracas, Venezuela (CNN) -- Venezuelan cable television providers dropped a channel Sunday that has been critical of President Hugo Chavez, citing violation of broadcast laws.
Radio Caracas Television, which lost its broadcasting license in 2007 and became a cable-only channel, disappeared shortly after midnight on Saturday.
RCTV was the only station that did not air the entire speech of Chavez during pro-government marches earlier on Saturday.
Diosdado Cabello, director of the national agency regulating electronic media, had called on cable and satellite providers to stop offering channels deemed to be in violation of law.
Cabello said RCTV did not broadcast the Venezuelan national anthem as required and failed to provide warnings before programs featuring violence.
The channel denied the violations in a news release Sunday. It said the move to drop it was illegal and questioned the National Commission of Telecommunications' authority to regulate subscription-based TV.
Four other channels were also taken off the air, according to the Venezuelan Chamber of Subscription Television. They were Ritmo Son, America TV, Momentum, American Network TV Chile.
Chavez has accused RCTV of violating broadcast laws and supporting a botched coup against him in 2002. Before it lost its license in 2007, it had been on air for 53 years and was one of several private broadcast stations that openly criticized the government.
http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/24/venezuela.station.dropped/index.html?hpt=T2Freedom of speech is alive and well in Venezuela.
