Bermuda Broadcasting Company has been accused by its former chief executive of a breach of telecommunications law in the lead-up to its coverage of the 35th America’s Cup.

Rick Richardson, who left the top job at Bermuda Broadcasting about two years ago, has asked regulators to investigate the allegations, which, if proved, could cost the broadcaster hundreds of thousands of dollars in fines.

The complaint, lodged with the Telecommunications Commission last week, alleges that the company broke Electronic Communications Act regulations in April and May, when Bermuda Broadcasting was the official local broadcaster for sailing’s blue-riband event.

Permission is required from the Regulatory Authority before running a transmitter and for use of a specific band of the island’s airwaves spectrum.

Mr Richardson’s complaint alleges that the company imported, constructed and operated a UHF transmitter without a permit or licence, and that it then used a broadcasting spectrum allocated to broadcaster DMTV.

Mr Richardson was chief operating officer of DMTV at the time. He said the usage was noticed by the Regulatory Authority, the independent watchdog created in December 2011 to oversee the island’s telecommunications industry.

Mr Richardson said he was contacted by the Regulatory Authority at the start of May about programming that aired on DMTV’s spectrum band.

He denied that DMTV was responsible for the broadcasts and claimed that the authority later confirmed to him that Bermuda Broadcasting had been responsible for the transmissions.

Under electronic communications legislation, offences carry the penalty of a $150,000 fine, plus an additional fine of up to $25,000 for every day the breach of regulations continue.

The document claimed that the signal had been transmitted under the authorisation of the Bermuda Broadcasting Company board of directors and chief executive Patrick Singleton.

Bermuda Broadcasting acknowledged receipt of the complaint yesterday afternoon and responded to The Royal Gazette with a brief statement.

“A complaint has been filed with the Telecommunications Commission in relation to the BBC by a past employee of the company, a copy of which has been forwarded to the company. BBC will review and respond accordingly to the commission,” it said.

Last night the ZBM news aired the following: “The Bermuda Broadcasting Company had authorisation from the Regulatory Authority with the consent of the minister, which authorised DMTV to allow spectrum usage rights granted to DMTV by licence to BBC as the official broadcaster for the 35th America’s Cup. In short, the Bermuda Broadcasting Company had spectrum approval that covered the America’s Cup time period from May 26th to June 27th.”

The Regulatory Authority is the sole assigner of spectrum for broadcasting.

Mr Richardson’s complaint to regulators maintained that DMTV could not have granted permission for the use of its bandwidth.

Mr Richardson said Bermuda Broadcasting had “belatedly sought” permission for use of the disputed spectrum and had been granted a temporary licence from May 16 to June 30, the end of the America’s Cup.

Under the Act, the Telecommunications Commission can conduct inquiries, with its decisions carrying legal force.

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