BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – AMIDST complaints that it has restricted viewers’ access by blocking specific channels, The Cable has justified its actions, explaining that it was a condition which had to be met in order for it to legally provide live coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
Since the official commencement of the London 2012 Olympics on Friday (July 27), The Cable customers realised that they were unable to view programming on NBC (Ch 4) and raised concerns over the issue.
Marketing Manager for The Cable Lonlia Matthew told SKNVibes that she is aware of the numerous complaints expressed by customers and has explained the reason for the blockage.
She said through the sponsorship of the St. Kitts-Nevis-Anguilla National Bank Ltd, The Cable was able to acquire rights from the International Media Content (IMC) to broadcast a live feed of the London 2012 Olympics.
She noted that the IMC holds exclusive broadcast rights within the Caribbean for the London 2012 Olympic Games and in order to attain rights to broadcast live streaming The Cable had to block all non-IMC feeds.
Thus, channels 4 (NBC) and 74 (Telemundo) are blocked and channels 98 and 80 are used for the official IMC feed, through which customers can access live coverage of the London 2012 Olympic Games.
“From that agreement though, we are not allowed to show the Olympics on any channel. We are given firm directive from the IMC, stating that we are not allowed to carry the live coverage on any other feed that is not the IMC feed. We can only give coverage if highlights of the games are being shown…As long as there is live coverage on those channels, we are not allowed to show them.”
According to Matthew, The Cable entered into a contractual arrangement with IMC and failure to block the non-IMC feeds which feature live 2012 Olympic coverage is a breach of the contract. This – she said - could result in legal action being taken against The Cable.
Regarding any possibility of the blocked channels being unblocked so as to allow customers to view the London 2012 Olympics, Matthew explained, “The quality in terms of the way the games are being shown and the content, we weren’t too satisfied with that so we sought permission from them (IMC) to show the NBC feed. But, at this point, we have not gotten that confirmation from them.”
