Somerset Cricket Club President Colin Smith is questioning Government?s decision to grant exclusivity rights to Hott FM 107.5 to televise the Cup Match classic after no one from the club was presented with a contract.

Mr Smith, who is currently taking legal advice on the issue, told the rights should not have been granted to the station, run by Devonshire Central MP Glenn Blakeney, by the St. George?s team without a presentation of the full contract to the Somerset Cricket Club.

He said St. George?s awarded the station with the rights and Government granted the license allowing the match on pay per view without the agreement of his club.

Mr. Smith said both sports clubs had to agree on the contract and view its conditions ? bhe was never presented with one before Hot 107.5 FM was awarded the filming rights.

Conditions in the contract outline media coverage of the cricket match and lay out guidelines to protect players from exploitation since images from the game could be used for commercial purposes.

?I am shocked, this has tainted the spirit of Cup Match,? said Mr. Smith, who has served for a number of years as the President of the club.

?We have worked hard to develop a relationship with the club and here we are ? we don?t know why this has happened and we are still waiting for answers.?

Government?s Telecommunications Department had granted the license to allow the station to put the game on pay per view, and did so without the agreement of the Somerset Cricket Club, he said.

?Both clubs own the rights to Cup Match and part of the process allows entities, media, print or televised to come in and make a presentation outlining what they would like to do to compete for the rights? said Mr. Smith. ?It stipulates exactly what can be done through the contract.

Mr. Blakeney may have the permission to prevent other media from covering the game, but we do not know that because we have yet to see a contract.?

Mr. Smith said the pay per view coverage made it all the more important for both clubs to view the contract to ensure they agree on its conditions. He could not ever recall a cricket club violating this agreement.

?We will seek redress through litigation because the contract was not viewed by the club,? he added.

He said ZBM and VSB had two hours free coverage in the morning and two hours in the evening after paying a small fee to the hosting club.

The dispute is the latest instalment in an argument which began at the St. George?s Cricket Club between Mr. Blakeney, who is the President of the station, and ZBM News Director Gary Moreno. Mr. Blakeney told Mr. Moreno that he could not film interviews on the grounds of Wellington Oval or at the Club House since he did not have exclusive rights to the game. When Mr Moreno questioned the MP he said he was shoved and told by the MP he would do it again because the Journalist is from Trinidad and he is Bermudian.

ZBM CEO Rick Richardson said he would be seeking legal action and also taking action through CURE and the Human Rights Commission since Mr. Moreno was insulted on the basis of his nationality, and was the victim of abusive and unprofessional comments.

Last week Mr. Blakeney told that exclusive rights did allow him to bar other media from conducting interviews at the game and required other media to first ask permission to do so.

While he apologised to the public for losing his temper, he said he was also taking legal action against ZBM.

On ZBM News last night, it was reported that a member of the St. George?s Cricket Club would be resigning.

Minister of Telecommunications and E-Commerce Michael Scott said he would not be available for comment until he consulted the solicitor general.