Helena Wassitsch, a Brazilian Bahamian fan, watching the action at The Green Parrot on Bay Street - which is more than many soccer fans could do after Cable Bahamas cut the feed from several channels after a problem with transmission rights.
By KYLE WALKINE
Tribune Staff Reporter
kwalkine@tribunemedia.net
CABLE Bahamas incurred the wrath of sports fans yesterday after they cut all basic channels providing coverage of the opening FIFA World Cup football match.
Shortly after Croatia scored the opening goal against Brazil around 4.15pm yesterday, CBC (channel 8) on basic cable went to black with a message indicating that there was no authorisation for the World Cup to be provided on the channel.
However, when The Tribune attempted to call the number as directed on the screen, the phone rang twice and then went to a busy signal. During that time the company’s customer service line also said they were currently experiencing “technical difficulties.”
Cable Bahamas, on their Facebook page, then directed customers to purchase a REVTV Prime Sports Package at a monthly cost of $9.95.
David Burrows, Cable Bahamas’ Marketing Manager, said the company had to take such extreme measures so quickly because they received a change in carriage from one of their major suppliers less than 24 hours before the start of the first match.
“This required some changes in how we were able to provide this coverage and until those changes were confirmed we held our marketing announcements to ensure that they were accurate and clear,” Mr Burrows said.
According to Mr Burrows, despite World Cup footage being put back on CBC following the public uproar, it will be blocked again from today when there are three matches.
“We just legally cannot show the World Cup on CBC and ABC,” he told The Tribune. “If you would notice, every single feed comes from FIFA. No company wants FIFA coming down on their head.”
Eventually, the World Cup coverage on channel 8 yesterday was restored. Coverage from ESPN was also disrupted. However, Mr Burrows said that due to regional signal rights restrictions, Cable Bahamas is not permitted to carry World Cup coverage on CBC and ABC (channel 10).
“This is beyond our control and we apologise for the inconvenience and frustration this may cause our subscribers.
“Cable Bahamas has purchased the exclusive rights to World Cup coverage in The Bahamas, and we are pleased to be able to provide carriage of every match throughout the series, 64 games in all. In addition to the existing channels that we provide in our Prime Sports package, we have added an additional three channels specifically for World Cup matches. We have provided those along with existing channels for your convenience on channels 746-750. Content will be available as games are in action on these channels.”
Laura Eldon, General Manager of Green Parrot Pub on East Bay Street, said she received a letter on Wednesday asking her company to pay $1,500 to screen the World Cup.
“They sent an agreement for us to sign and send back, which we didn’t,” she said. “But I didn’t assume that they would block our regular feed. I thought it was a part of our regular package that we already paid for.”
According to Ms Eldon her company was then forced to use their Direct TV satellite system, which only aired the game in Spanish, causing some angry customers to leave.
Many World Cup watchers took angrily to the cable provider’s social media sites, calling them “petty” and “money grabbers.”
One Facebooker said “So, no World Cup. CBC out. No way to call Cable Bahamas to subscribe to the package either. 601-2200 rings a fast busy. Did they not pay their BTC bill? Seriously, we can do better than this. Twenty minutes of the game on CBC (then) you take it away and no possible way to get through.”
A follower on the company’s Twitter feed said, “Cable Bahamas you just flexed your monopoly muscles and for that reason we support a new provider coming into the market.”
Another Twitter follower said, “Thank you Cable Bahamas. You have officially ruined the start of my summer. Congratulations.”
The World Cup is the world’s most viewed sporting event, showcasing the best teams in the biggest sport on the planet. FIFA estimates more than 3.2 billion viewers will watch the six-week event.
Comments
B_I_D___ 10 years, 5 months ago
What I find despicable about the whole thing is that this is no small event, you would think that you would have all of your ducks in a row so to speak. Not a single 'promo' or press release leading up to the start of the World Cup from Cable so people could buy into it ahead of time...not until the crap hits the fan do they suddenly say...hey...for $9.95 we can give it to you on these channels. Tomorrow will be interesting (Saturday), as I did a guide search last night and some of the games are ONLY airing on ABC over the weekend...unless they have added more games on the ESPN channels (746-750) they do NOT have all the games.
BeachBoy 10 years, 5 months ago
That's my issue, too. FIFA are a bunch of jackasses, so I understand the wide restrictions on broadcasting, etc., but Cable could have done a much better job of communicating the offers AND the issues.
Reality_Check 10 years, 5 months ago
If Cable Bahamas is unable (unwilling?) to provide full coverage of FIFA Word Cup matches in their basic programming package at no additional cost to subscribers, then it is high time the Bahamian Government and Bahamian people insist on the market for cable and streaming television providers being opened up to any and all competitors, including foreign owned providers. Cable Bahamas, in seeking (in these hard economic times) to leverage the monopoly the good people of the Bahamas granted them in a shameful extortive grab for more revenue, has shown that it should be subjected to wide open competition at the earliest possible time. URCA is a useless regulator standing in the way of affordable cable television and online streaming video for all Bahamians; leave the market wide open, save (use) the ever growing annual budget of URCA for other more important purposes (e.g. school supplies for our public schools) and let Bahamians enjoy affordable TV and internet in a desperately needed highly competitive market place for such services.
Thinker 10 years, 5 months ago
Why do you think They won't allow it? Media controls Everything.
realityisnotPC 10 years, 5 months ago
The madness at Cable Bahamas continues...so they force us to watch it on their channels, and they can't even get the audio to work...cuts in and out every half second...if you listen to it like that, it makes you feel sick, almost as sick as Cable's despicable behaviour over the whole thing. Can't wait for the next time I receive one of those marketing calls about switching to Rev Voice for my phones...I am going to tell them to go to hell - if they can't even work out how to broadcast a simple feed, there's no way in hell I'm going to trust them with my phone connections!
DillyTree 10 years, 5 months ago
I already pay for ABC and ESPN, so why should I pay again to see the World Cup games? And if Cable Bahamas knew about this in advance, and if it truly is out of their hands, then why wasn't there time for people to make other arrangments before they watched the screen go black?
It's bad enough we have to put up with all the Spanish channels, subtitles and crappy commericals, especially with the premium movie channels. At this point, I hardly care if it's illegal or not to have Direct TV -- at least it works! And if offered legally, I'd happily pay for it too. C'mon Cable Bahamas, I'm a shareholder, but I'm also a paying customer who is getting really fed up.
Honestman 10 years, 5 months ago
The FIFA World Cup is THE BIGGEST SPORTING EVENT IN THE WORLD in terms of viewer interest. It is an abuse of the monopoly Cable Bahamas enjoys that Bahamians are being deprived by CB of watching the tournament within the channels of the regular package. In 2010 we were afforded the opportunity to do so and Bahamian sports fans were entitled to expect similar coverage in 2014. Cable Bahamas should have purchased broadcasting rights on at least one of the regular channels to make sure the regular subscriber was not deprived from watching this worldwide event. Shame on Cable Bahamas for allowing this to happen. Simply not good enough. The executive of CB needs to act NOW to allow ALL subscribers to watch the tournament not just those who can afford the sports package.
cdr 10 years, 5 months ago
The Bahamian populace will not and cannot tolerate this kind of behavior from any major corporation in the future. I recommend tha CB reconsider it's position in this matter and do the right thing....
Thinker 10 years, 5 months ago
Those who run the Media outlets are the True Criminals. You are only right about the slavery part.
B_I_D___ 10 years, 5 months ago
SO after all the hoohah Thursday and Friday...the HD channel that Cable Bahamas is using is none other than CBC...who they say did not have the broadcast rights for the Caribbean. If ya didn't smell a rat before, man you got one big old stinking blue whale in the room now!!
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