BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC:
The Caribbean Commun-ity's (CARICOM) lead Prime Minister for the CARICOM Single Market and Economy (CSME), Owen Arthur, has fully embraced CaribVision, describing it as the region's very "own" television station.
Delivering the keynote address at Tuesday's official launch of the channel by the Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC), Arthur complained about cultural penetration and foreign domination of the media messages and the industry as a whole in the Caribbean.
"We might indeed be one people but we surely are better informed about the affairs of others and know more about others elsewhere in the world than we know about our own right here in the Caribbean," he said.
The Barbados Prime Minister noted the Caribbean enjoyed a rich cultural heritage but further lamented that "our senses have by and large been shielded from enjoying this rich heritage, while we have been inundated by cultural imports, which sadly, have largely promoted gratuitous violence, amoral lifestyles, a profound disregard for good literature, among their most imposing effects."
Caribbean artistes
He also complained about exploitation of Caribbean artistes by foreign media entities in pursuit of profit.
It was in this context that he welcomed the launch of CaribVision, which will be beamed directly from the Caribbean to the people of
the region and the Caribbean Diaspora.
CMC's Chairman Darcy Boyce noted that demand for the Caribbean product internationally was growing and that more Caribbean companies were becoming pan-Caribbean in orientation.
"Clearly, a media house with reach throughout the Caribbean is now necessary. Beyond that, such a media house must be able to carry its product into the international markets where there is an interest in and demand for Caribbean media content. No other media house is creating a Caribbean media space in the same way as CaribVision," Boyce said.
CaribVision facts
CaribVision is a cooperative venture between CMC, regional and U.S. partners.
These include CBC of Barbados; TV6 of Trinidad and Tobago; CVM, TVJ and CPTC of Jamaica; ICRT, Cuba; ZNS, Bahamas; SoundView Broadcasting of New York and many independent producers around the region.
The channel is currently aired in Antigua, Anguilla, Barbados, Cayman Islands, Dominica, St. Eustatius, U.S. Virgin Islands, the British Virgin Islands and St Vincent and the Grenadines.
