The Tribune

By KHRISNA VIRGIL

Tribune Staff Reporter

kvirgil@tribunemedia.net

AMID continued public uncertainty over the 2012 Olympic Games broadcast coverage, Cable Bahamas Ltd executives yesterday said they are working feverishly to have the games seen from all possible angles.

BCB announced recently that it had acquired exclusive rights to broadcast on television and radio the Games, which open in London on July 27 and continue to August 12. With this agreement no other entity is allowed to air the Olympics in this territory unless an agreement is reached with BCB.

Keith Wisdom, director of Public Affairs, told The Tribune that the company was optimistic of ongoing discussions with the Broadcasting Corporation of the Bahamas (BCB).

“Since ZNS issued notice that they had gotten the rights we have been in discussions with them and hope to arrive at a conclusion,” Mr Wisdom said.

“We know that every Bahamian will want to see as many events as possible because it is such a spectacle on the world stage with our athletes participating. We think we will arrive at a conclusion and figure things out.” 

Mr Wisdom did not give details of the negotiations.

BCB acquired the rights to the air the Games from International Media Content Ltd. (IMC), the parent company of Sports Max, based in Kingston, Jamaica. Sports Max is also the sole legal entity authorised to grant licenses to BCB in this territory for live, deferred and delayed television and radio transmission with commentary.

ZNS’ General Manager Edwin Lightbourn, on Wednesday would only tell The Tribune that the Corporation intended to provide viewers with extensive coverage of the event. He added that the corporation had already promised advertisers exclusive coverage and they had planned to do just that.

Cable Bahamas Ltd customers are also still in the dark on whether certain basic cable channels would be disrupted while the Olympics continued.  Those channels include NBC, ABC, and CBS.

When pressed on that matter Mr Lightbourn said ZNS had paid money for rights and that an offer had been laid on the table for Cable Bahamas to share those rights. 

Sources close to the agreement, however, said that after months of discussions over the rights between ZNS and Cable Bahamas, both entities reached a stalemate. It is said that the rights are worth at an estimated $300,000 and were to be split between them both.