The Bermuda Employers' Council (BEC) last night said it was "disturbed" that Government had only granted an operating licence to Bermuda CableVision for a year.

Council vice-president Graham Redford said although the dispute between the cable company and the Ministry of Telecommunications appeared to be commercial, he was concerned about the knock-on affects to workers, shareholders and the Island.

"The BEC is disturbed with regards to the recent dispute between Bermuda CableVision and the Bermuda Government's decision to only grant an operating licence to Bermuda CableVision for one year," said Mr. Redford.

"Bermuda CableVision, as one of our members, has shown a commitment and willingness to make operational changes to improve their infrastructure.

"They have already devoted the necessary financial resources to implement positive change by a substantial investment in the training of Bermudians and with capital improvement projects."

The employers' council made the comments after CableVision last week threatened to pull the plug on its Island-wide service after Government refused to grant it a 15-year licence.

Instead, Government would only grant the cable company a one-year licence once its previous arrangement ran out this past Saturday.

Telecommunications Minister Renee Webb said only a one-year licence would be offered until the cable company promised to improve service to customers.

She cited the company's temporary blackout of the World Cup football coverage in June this year as being one of the reasons behind the short-term licence, but also said people were not issued rebates when the service broke down, and said there was no level of service agreement in place.

She obtained a last minute restraining order against CableVision last week, which banned the company from blacking out the service for 90 days. In the meantime, she said, both sides can continue talks.

Mr. Redford added: "Along with the staff of CableVision, we would encourage all parties to meet so that an agreement can be negotiated that is acceptable to all stakeholders.

"We trust that common sense will prevail and that a resolution will be reached that is beneficial to Bermuda, Bermuda CableVision and it's employees."

But last night, Ms Webb criticised the employers' council for speaking out on the issue "just to appease its membership" and said it should have spoken to the Ministry to gather all of the facts first.

She said: "It's true that CableVision has been making an effort over the last year, but that is only as a consequence of being asked to.

"They were bringing in too many foreign workers to install CableVision. We were insisting that they be Bermudians.

"There is still a lot to be done and they know exactly what is expected of them, and the employers' council should find out more details with respect to what is going on with their members, rather than just making statements and platitudes. They have never come to talk to the Ministry about this."

The Minister said the Ministry had talked with CableVision for more than a year and was made aware of the requests all along. She said the one-year licence was with a proviso that it would be looked at again once improvements were made.

She added: "Government has to look out for what is happening to the public. The public is paying for a service and therefore they should get that service."

CableVision chairman Rod Hanson last week said the company could spend millions of dollars this year on providing a service when there was no guarantee that the licence would be renewed next year.

He said under Telecommunications Regulations, Government had to grant a licence of at least ten years and said all the other carriers on the Island were on 15-year deals.

Mr. Hanson said the company had been asked to provide technical specifications about improving service but was being blanked by the Ministry when it asked for details.

And he said he was not against competition but said he wanted a level playing field.

Mr. Hanson said he was hopeful that he could resume talks with the Minister today.

CableVision announced last week that is was making a number of enhancements to its plant and electronics, including a tightening of security to protect its customers against illegal hook-ups of unauthorised equipment.

The company said it would be installing a new headend controller capable of handling four times as much traffic as their current equipment, which will allow viewers to access pay-per-view without calling CableVision, as well as enabling personalised messages to be sent directly to customers.

New features are to be built into the system which will be able to detect and shut down all non-company equipment used by fraudulent cable users.