The end of Sesame Street on cable television, has so infuriated a local mother that she has gone to the top and started a petition.

Mother of one, Kelly Rowell has written to Telecommunications Minister Renee Webb and collected several signatures in her bid to have the show continue. And to exert even more pressure, she has taken her complaint to advertisers.

The problem has arisen as Bermuda Broadcasting Company hold the exclusive rights to air the programme locally. Standing firm in their right the company has told Bermuda Cablevision that they must stop airing all other broadcasts.

The blackout is to take effect May 1.

But the move has incensed Ms Rowell who in collecting signatures to her petition has also pointed out to advertisers of BBC, what the company has done.

"I've collected over 250 signatures so far and still have a couple of petition sheets to collect," she said. Among the signatories is a manager of Lindo's grocery, Ms Rowell says, and she said the manager was also going to call BBC to express his displeasure with the move. She said such a gesture would show the company that their advertisers were not happy with them.

Ms Rowell is intending to present her petition to Ms Webb sometime today.

The mother of one said that the laws should be relaxed when it comes to educational programming, as she does not see the harm of Sesame Street being run on multiple channels.

"I've been watching Sesame Street with my two-year-old daughter for the past fourteen months and sometimes we'd watch it on both channels for variety."

She also said that the episodes aired on ZFB are old: "The BBC is airing not only a very outdated version of Sesame Street, but they only show about eight or ten episodes over and over.

"I've kept a close eye on the numbers of the episodes."

Programme manager of BBC, Darlene Ming, however refuted the claim.

"We are not airing old episodes. Sesame Workshop has a rule that episodes from the current season will only be aired in the United States. Any other part of the world, including Bermuda, will receive episodes from the previous season," she said.

"The issue with Bermuda Cablevision is not something that has just popped up all of a sudden. This dispute has been ongoing for a while."

Ms Rowell said she felt it was unjust for BBC to make a fuss about having the exclusive rights and yet pre-empt it whenever there is an international cricket match.

"Once this blackout is enforced, there isn't any Sesame Street if the BBC doesn't air it," she said.

She said she was contacted by Ms Ming and a representative from Sesame Workshop, last week and that they explained the licensing rights to her.

However, when contacted again yesterday by another representative from Sesame Workshop, she was able to explain her concerns in depth.

"When I told her how Sesame Street was often being pre-empted to air cricket, she was shocked. She said that she would be taking the issue up with the BBC."

Bermuda Cablevision General Manager Jeremy Elmas is currently off the Island and unavailable for comment.