After a long and stony silence, CBC has sent out a release giving its side of the story on why it’s not carrying Channel 7 and KREM in certain communities. First, it discloses that CBC has entered into an agreement with Telemedia to expand its cable network’s coverage. And basically it goes unto say that if Channel 7 and KREM Television want to get their signal into the villages of Mahogany Heights, La Democracia, Frank’s Eddy Village, St. Matthew’s Village, Cotton Tree Village, St. Margaret’s Village and Armenia, they’ll have to make an arrangement with Telemedia.
So then why were the signals put onto their cable between June and the end of July, and then abruptly taken off effective August first? Well, CBC says that the testing phase ran between June first and July 31st – which might also be called the time when CBC was connecting those villages without a license to do so. And speaking of the license, conveniently that so-called “testing” ended two days after CBC got a license to put cable in those villages. If they had taken the signals off before the license was granted, it seems fair to speculate that the granting of that license would have been considered differently.
But while they have the license, it’s still being carried on BTL’s fiber optic lines, and a release from that company broadcast on its Channel 5 mouthpiece last night says that Channel 7 and KREM have to pay Telemedia if they want their signals carried on its network. And BTL would have us pay for what we’ve been able to find out, CBC is not paying, and what we can surely tell you is that HBO, Showtime, and the other 115 foreign channels are not paying either. And that’s where it’s at tonight. The Broadcasting Authority will meet tomorrow to review the situation.
