This was sent to the Telecommunications Commission and Rick Richardson, chief executive officer of the Bermuda Broadcasting Company and copied to The Royal Gazette.October 12, 2011Dear Sir,I attended the Town Hall meeting of last evening. I would have liked to stay for discussions afterwards — but had a commitment so had to leave before the end of the talk from Mr Perry. Whilst I understand that the Commission is being tasked to decide whether the price of CableVision's layers should remain the same or not I don't believe that the full facts of the matter are being made public; and I also think that they should be looking to arbitrate the matter — and not just deal with pricing. I myself have only just gained clarity on some of the issues and would like to state them as follows,Fact: BBC's antenna has been down — and therefore is not able to broadcast properly and fully. Fact: People with “rabbit ears” or house antennae are only able to receive channels 7 and 11. Channel 9 is not being received. Fact: The residents of Bermuda have been able to receive these channels through the Cablevision cable network at no charge to either the resident or Cablevision.Fact: The issue of transmission consent being required has been caused by Government changing the law just over three years ago — from a “must carry” rule to a “transmission consent requirement” (forgive me if I am not technically correct on the wording).I listened yesterday when BBC say that the channels have some value. I think that the majority of people would agree with them. All things have some sort of value — whether large or small.My understanding is that BBC wish to charge Cablevision $1.50 per subscriber per month to be able to carry these programmes on their network because they have some value. However, I do find this rather ironic as currently (without CableVision's network) they are unable to broadcast to the Island's viewers. I do not think that their advertisers will think very much of them when they lose half of the local audience due to the current stance by CableVision. In addition to this, I wonder how this affects them as a “broadcaster” in the eyes of the Government.Overall, it is the customers and people of Bermuda who should have a choice as to what programmes they can see. There was a letter to the Editor in today's paper stating that they cannot view the local channels without CableVision's network. The local channels are free for the moment to all persons who have antennae, but I do think BBC should rethink their attitude while they do not have the ability to broadcast. Maybe when they are up and running again — the position should be revisited. I am not against paying $1 or so to have the ability to receive them on Cablevision, but whilst they are not in a position to broadcast I do not think that this is a fair option.Perhaps CableVision should charge the BBC some networking costs for transmitting their signal while they cannot transmit?Perhaps Government should rethink the law that they passed when they changed the requirement from “must carry”. This would solve the whole issue!MARTINE PURSSELLPembroke