Last night, we told you how Concord Media Group (CMG), the Belizean company that purchased the broadcast rights for the Tokyo 2020 Summer Olympic Games, was offering Belizeans an opportunity to see the Olympics free of charge. They have opened up access through Omnistreamz, a mobile app and online portal.
But, while you can see it on your computer or phone, you can't see it on Cable TV - and tonight, the Belize Cable Television Operators Association is raising a dispute about the validity of Concord's exclusive broadcast rights.
Yesterday, Concord asserted that the association never even tried to negotiate with them, and went straight to the regional rights holder, International Media Content Limited or IMC.
In a press release today, the Cable Operators counter that by saying that's the only option they had under the law.
The association says, quote, "The BCTVOA made every effort on its own to properly acquire the rights to broadcast the content via cable television from IMC, but it was faced with prohibitive licensing costs." End quote. We are told those licensing costs were in the range of 40 thousand US dollars - which, based on our experience as a former rights holders - is not so prohibitive.
And while the Association has sub-purchased rights which Channel 7 and Channel 5 negotiated, they point to the Broadcasting and Television Act which says that it is unlawful for anyone "other than the Association" to be the licensee or assignee of…(a) broadcast…and offer it for distribution to the association or any of its members. And while that's what the law says, based on this Channel's experience as a former rights holder - we can say this has never been effectively enforced - and we suspect, it cannot be without a legal challenge.
Still, the Association says that it will not support what it perceives to be a contravention of this law.
