Poor coverage not CableVision’s fault

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August 8, 2012

Dear Sir,

I would like to take this opportunity to respond to a number of letters printed in The Royal Gazette this week regarding TV coverage of the London 2012 Olympics, as well as the points raised by Adrian Robson in his opinion piece, “Olympic TV of the lowest quality,” (August 6, 2012). As already reported by The Royal Gazette, “CableVision’s Hobson’s Choice,” (July 18, 2012), Bermuda CableVision was limited to one option — in its desire to bring Olympics coverage to the people of Bermuda this summer. With Bermuda being deemed as part of the Caribbean according to International Olympic Committee Market divisions, and since the exclusive broadcast rights to London 2012 for the Caribbean region were acquired by the parent company of SportsMax, International Media Content (IMC), we had no choice but to purchase the rights to broadcast the feeds supplied by IMC — if we were going to bring Bermuda any coverage of the Olympics.

Bermuda CableVision made a considerable investment in acquiring these feeds in the public’s interest, and these costs were not passed on to our valued subscribers. We felt this was far preferable to offering viewers absolutely no television coverage of the London 2012 Olympics. The regulations surrounding IMC’s exclusive rights mean that we are legally obliged to blackout all coverage of the Games from other sources including NBC, CNBC and MSNBC, as well as Canadian channels. Furthermore, Bermuda CableVision partnered with VSB so that the games could be viewed on an off-air antenna, and also extended the rights to cable provider WOW, in the spirit of the Games, in order to maximise the size of the audience that would benefit from its investment in the IMC feeds.

I am saddened that viewers are disappointed by the quality and choice of coverage provided by IMC, and it is also regrettable that viewers have not seen as much of our Bermuda athletes as they would have liked. With that said, people should recognise that Bermuda CableVision does not have control over what is shown by IMC. Our cable system is simply a vehicle for the coverage which IMC supplies. So that the people of Bermuda know, I will be sharing their feedback about the coverage with IMC as our supplier. Meanwhile, I encourage subscribers to tune into channels 11 and 514 this week to see the rest of what London 2012 has to offer. There is no doubt that this is a superb international event boasting fierce competition across a wide variety of sports.

TERRY ROBERSON

General Manager

Bermuda CableVision

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