The villages of La Democracia, Mahogany Heights, Cotton Tree, Armenia, St. Margaret’s and Dangriga Town are without CBC cable tonight. That’s after Telemedia pulled the plug on the cable network this afternoon at 3:00. Telemedia gave CBC an ultimatum yesterday morning, instructing the company to take Channel 7 and KREM off the cable service in those communities, or face the certainty of being removed from the Fiber Optic network by 3:00 pm yesterday. That deadline was extended by 24 hours to give some time for negotiation but – when nothing was worked out to suit Telemedia’s dictates, the plug was pulled as promise a few minutes after 3:00 pm.
With it, over 3,000 cable viewers lost access to CBC cable – all 120 channels. There are only about 400 subscribers spread out across the village communities, but Dangriga Cable Vision, which buys CBC’s Cable Service - has over three thousand subscribers. When we checked this evening their 120 channels had been cut down to about 15 – and none of the local channels, neither 7 nor 5 nor KREM nor LOVE were on air. We’d imagine that without any TV tonight, those communities must feel like the grass being trampled beneath the elephants.
But CBC’s position is that it has no choice; it is obeying the terms of its license that it must carry local signals. But Telemedia doesn’t want to hear that. The phone company says that by choosing to carry 7 and KREM, CBC is breaching its contract with them. Telemedia wants Channel 7 and KREM to enter into separate commercial arrangements to have their signals carried on CBC Cable. Here at Channel 7, this company’s position is that there’s no way we can pay Telemedia to have CBC carry our signal. And as for paying Telemedia for use of its fiber, we presently pay $38,000 annually to have our signal carried on that network and we have been doing so for over a decade.
So what’s next? Well tough to say right now. The priorities are two: first to get cable service back to those communities and second to make sure that the rule that CBC paid so dearly to abide by is followed across the board. As regards the first, CBC cable, we are told will be pursuing its own options to distribute its signal to those communities.
As for the second priority, The Broadcasting Authority will also be meeting soon to examine the CBC situation and to discuss strategies to make sure that other national cable companies are also forced to carry all local signals. Presently there are three national cable companies – that is companies that cross district borders. Those are CBC, Baymen and Centaur cable.
