Background
The first meeting was held in 2010, which coincided with the 15th anniversary of COLSECOR. It took place the same year the Audiovisual Communication Services Law n°.: 26,522 was passed and judicial obstacles were imposed on it prevented its full application. Nearly 300 participants attended that first call. In agreement with the process of change that came with the implementation of the Audiovisual Communication Services Law, COLSECOR meetings in 2011 and 2012 were key instances to inform the cooperative cable operators’ sector and provide visibility. With the presence of leading speakers, the specific problems arising after applying the Law were put on the agenda. The attendance in these years remained above 300 attendees. During the 2013 edition, the COLSECOR Conference was attended by more than 400 participants from different parts of the country. That year, the presence of the head of the Federal Authority for Audiovisual Communication Services (AFSCA), Martín Sabbatella, as the main speaker meant the State's recognition of the important role that cooperatives play in the construction of democratic communication. One of the challenges achieved was to install the dissemination of a social economy meeting in the mass media.
At the 2014 Conference, COLSECOR presented the progress of the implementation of value-added services in pay TV through the presentation given by its Engineering and Projects area.
In 2015, the 6th COLSECOR Conference marked an important institutional moment with the participation of the former president of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay, José “Pepe” Mujica, who traveled especially to the province of Córdoba to be present at the meeting. In addition to his keynote speech, Mujica met with a group of leaders and businessmen within the Conference’s framework.
In this sixth meeting, we also enjoyed the presence of speakers such as the director of Cooperativa de las Américas (Cooperatives of the Americas), Manuel Mariño, and Mr. Guillermo Olivetto, who spoke about consumer behavior. During the second day of the event, the program was intended to present and showcase play developments and network infrastructure. The topic, which was designed for a specific target audience of technicians and engineers of the cooperatives, was of great interest to all attendees and we even had to expand the planned room's capacity.
The 7th COLSECOR Conference that took place on Thursday, May 5, and Friday, May 6, 2016, at the Holiday Inn in the city of Córdoba, Argentina, once again featured the presence of the former president of Uruguay, José "Pepe" Mujica, who traveled to Argentina to participate in the cooperative event. In this edition, representatives of the National Communications Entity (ENACOM) – a new entity created by the National Government to replace the Federal Authority for Audiovisual Communication Services (AFSCA) and the Federal Information and Communication Technologies Authority (AFTIC) plus the head of ARSAT, Rodrigo de Loredo, gave different presentations.
The 2016 event featured the participation of athletes and TV and radio hosts from our providers ESPN and FOX Networks Group in a living format where attendees participated. The participation of the retired basketball player Fabricio Oberto and the retired field hockey player Mercedes Margalot stood out.
On Thursday, May 11, and Friday, May 12, 2017, another successful day was held in the city of Córdoba, in which topics related to the development of the audiovisual industry, convergent technologies, and their regulations were addressed. The need for a new legal framework for convergent communications, new platforms, and the demand for greater infrastructure for connectivity were the core themes of the event, which brought together more than 400 participants over the two days.
The event was attended by national government officers, including the head of the National Institute of Associations and Social Economy (INAES), Mr. Marcelo Collomb, and the Vice President of ENACOM, Silvana Giudici, who participated in the opening. In addition, Mr. Héctor Huici, Secretary of Information and Communications Technologies of the Ministry of Communications of Argentina, and Rodrigo de Loredo, President of ARSAT took part in the event.
Representatives of several TV channels participated, highlighting LN+ and the presentation of the Perfil.com multimedia project, as well as Jesús Rodríguez, General Manager of HBO LA Networks, and Alejandro González Bosch, Added Value Senior Manager and Affiliate Sales Manager of FOX Networks Group.
Horacio Martínez, CEO of Datco Group, Leonardo Gioino, CEO of Pontis Technologies and Ricardo Lima, Executive Director of BOLD S.A. Uruguay participated in the technology panel presenting solutions linked to COLSECOR.
Among the talents were Martín Altberg, host of Sportscenter and Scrum, and Diego Albanese, former player of Los Pumas, from ESPN and Diego Latorre along with Raúl Taquini from FOX Sports.
On May 10 and 11, 2018, the 9th COLSECOR Conference was held. It was broadcast by streaming during both days and on a minute-by-minute basis on RRSS.
The Day began with a lunch sponsored by FOX and with the presence of Fernando Tornello, Formula 1 journalist, and Maxi Palma, sports journalist from Fox Sports. Later, we had the presence of Professor Hugo Juri, Chancellor of the National University of Córdoba (UNC), and Gastón Recondo, sports journalist of TyC Sports. Sensa, COLSECOR's new content platform, was presented.
José Pepe Mujica -former President of the Eastern Republic of Uruguay- was at the presentation of the COLSECOR Foundation.
Additionally, Jorge Fontevecchia, President and CEO of Perfil Network spoke about virtual colonialism; Felipe De Stefani, General Manager of Turner Argentina, talked about the opportunities for our industry in the face of the paradigm shift in media consumption; Mr. Ariel Fernández Alvarado, President of CATEL and Luis Delamer, Director of Strategy, Regulation and Wholesale Business of Telefónica in Argentina participated in the OMV Panel and Rodrigo de Loredo was present. Gonzalo Sternberg, Senior Regional Director of HBO, presented the contents of its signals.
The second day began with a food tasting by Felicitas Pizarro, chef of the El Gourmet signal. Later, we had the presence of Héctor Huici, Secretary of Information and Communications Technologies, Alejandro Pereyra from ENACOM, and Eduardo Fontenla, Director of the National Institute of Associations and Social Economy. Mr. Martín Becerra spoke about Asymmetric Convergence; Juan Massuh, Senior Marketing Manager of Fox Networks Group presented the programming; Ariel Droyeski, Commercial Director of BOLD, Leonardo Gioino, CEO of Pontis Technologies and Eng. Nicolás Acosta, Head of Technological Development at COLSECOR, introduced the technical details of Sensa.
The 10th Conference took place on May 29 and 30, 2019, in the rooms of the Holiday Inn Hotel, with the presence of major exhibitors from the communications and technology sector.
During the first day of talks and debates, the person in charge of welcoming attendees was José Néstor Lino, President of the solidarity economy entity who stated that: "Cooperatives must identify new problems, co-exist with them and stay updated in the face of present circumstances.”
Among the talks held on the first day of this event, the highlights were the exhibition of the sports channel ESPN with the presence of the journalist Martín Altberg and the rugby player Horacio Agulla, the presentation of Gastón Utrera, President of Economic Trends, as well as the presentation given by Paola García Rey, from Amnesty International about the reproduction on social networks of what is known as "Fake News".
Also, on that first day of exhibitions was the presence of the renowned writer and journalist Beatriz Sarlo, who gave her opinion on “The Exhibition of the Self” and “The Society of Intimacy, what is Public and Private as a Strategy”.
The second day of this traditional event also brought good news, with the reciprocity agreement signed between the COLSECOR Foundation and FACE Córdoba. In addition, the Director of the National Communications Entity (ENACOM) -Agustín Garzón- and the Secretary of Information and Communications Technologies of the Nation -Héctor Huici- gave a presentation.
"We are obsessed with something. We want each cooperative to continue investing to advance in convergent services. The virtuous characteristic of the cooperative is the self-representation of its members", concluded the President of COLSECOR José Néstor Lino.