Government is urgently looking at tightening up the telecommunications rules following the fiasco at the weekend when CableVision illegally blocked out World Cup coverage on ZBM.

The announcement was made yesterday by Telecommunications Minister Renee Webb, who said the current rules - under which CableVision can be fined a maximum of just $2000 - were far too weak.

She has asked the Telecommunications Commission to make recommendations about strengthening the legislation, which she expects to receive by the end of this month.

Ms Webb said the Attorney General's Chambers is still examining whether any legal action can be taken against CableVision as a result of the World Cup block-out.

By law, CableVision must carry all the local networks and it only backed down on its decision to black out World Cup coverage on ZBM after Ms Webb ordered it to do so on Saturday morning.

Meanwhile, Ms Webb revealed that a new cable company has been set up which may challenge CableVision's monopoly.

She said she could not disclose any further details yet, but said the new company consisted of local businessmen who had foreign backers.

The latest row erupted last Friday after CableVision broke a written undertaking not to broadcast the World Cup because ZBM had exclusive rights, when the cable company showed the opening match on ESPN2.

ZBM's owners, Bermuda Broadcasting Company (BBC), obtained a Supreme Court writ on Friday prohibiting CableVision from showing the World Cup.

The cable company, which carries ZBM's programmes, interpreted the ruling literally by blocking out ZBM's matches even though the local station has exclusive rights to them.

Under the 1987 Cable Television Service Regulations, CableVision can only be fined $2,000 for “knowingly and wilfully impeding or preventing the licensee (ZMB or VSB) from carrying the signal of such station on the channels of the (cable) system.”

Ms Webb said yesterday: “I have asked the Telecommunications Commission to review all relevant legislation regarding CableVision, and to provide me urgently with recommendations as to any changes to the (CableVision) regulations that may improve the procedures.

“The Regulations are not strong enough with respect to penalties, and that is one area the Telecommunications Commission is being asked to look at.

“Block-outs are not frequent. As a consequence of this and the issue with cable boxes, we determined that there was a need to update the regulations. As a consequence of the latest incident, I've asked the Commission to be more expeditious in this.”

Ms Webb said the Attorney General's Chamber's was still looking at possible legal avenues, but “one answer we have had is that the legislation is not strong enough, which we already knew.

“We are looking at what we can do under the Cablevision Regulations and the Telecommunications Act and these two acts are being looked at by the Attorney General.

“The main objective is to ensure that this does not happen again and the public has to have access to both local channels.”

Ms Webb said CableVision's behaviour would improve if another company entered the market to challenge it's monopoly.

She said Government did not want to push CableVision out of business because the public would be denied television, but she had a duty to ensure the company complied with the law.

“We are not trying to push the cable company too far, we are just trying to ensure they uphold the current regulations and don't undermine the concerned companies.

“CableVision is a monopoly and if there was another company I'm sure you'd see other behaviour from CableVision.”

Ms Webb said in the future when BBC has exclusive rights, CableVision should be given “appropriate advance notice” to block out the programmes on its shows.

She said the BBC should not have to check with CableVision to ensure the cable company was not breaching its (BBC's) exclusive rights to certain programmes.

“I, with the public of Bermuda, expect better co-operation between the parties, and especially CableVision, when they have been informed by the BBC by letter of the latter's exclusive rights to programming such as the World Cup.” Ms Webb said she was “most concerned” to learn that ZBM lost sound on a World Cup match on channel 7 on Monday night.

“This, I understand, was a problem with the equipment at CableVision. I have, however, instigated an investigation by my Ministry into the affair to determine the exact nature of the problem and why it occurred.

“Initial indications suggest it was probably an accident caused through the previous equipment adjustments made to black out ZFB at the weekend” and I have been given assurances this will not happen again.”

CableVision General Manager Jeremy Elmas said of Ms Webb's review yesterday: “That is an excellent idea, it is very positive. Quite a few of the regulations are extremely outdated, and we have proposed that such a change be made.

“The solution to the problem is fairly simple. The copyright law in Bermuda dates from 1954 or 1956 and it came out of the British copyright act.

“Cable was non-existent then and TV was in its infancy. The law that is in effect is outdated to deal with up to date technology.

“In 1988, the UK resolved a lot of these issues. If Bermuda became a part of this, a lot of these problems would be resolved.”