Telemedia responds to allegations of cable ban

If you have been following the news, you would have heard loud noises that Telemedia and the cable company C.B.C., have colluded to cut off cable services from communities on the western highway and parts of the southern highway. Well that’s one side of the story, and today Telemedia fired back with a release of its version.

The release states and we quote:

“In recent months Telemedia has spent a considerable amount of time and money in expanding and enhancing the capability of its fiber network in order to facilitate the carriage of TV, including local TV programmes. As a result of that investment, TV is now being delivered to a number of communities that previously had little or no service, including Mahogany Heights, Democracia, Frank’s Eddy, St. Matthews, Cotton Tree, St. Margaret’s Village, and Armenia. This has resulted in a significant improvement to the quality of life for residents of those communities.

The conclusion of the testing phase for the new fiber transmission links resulted in the removal of the test signals along portions of Telemedia’s newly expanded network, and a number of local TV stations that had approached Telemedia some time ago are already concluding their commercial discussions with Telemedia for the enhanced coverage for their service. With the new network expansion, and the new communities now receiving TV service, there is an increased opportunity for those commercially run local TV stations such as Channels five and seven to earn additional advertising revenues. It is therefore only fair that if such stations wish to use the expanded Telemedia fiber network, they discuss new commercial terms with Telemedia and they contribute fairly to the additional cost associated with the new network.

Telemedia ends its release by saying that it actively supports an inclusive society, with improved access to television, local events, educational programmes and local news for all Belizean citizens.”