Athaliah Reynolds, Staff Reporter

DUNN

Now that the Broadcasting Commission has reached an agreement with Flow regarding its bid to acquire the assets of Kingston and St Andrew-based cable operator Entertainment Systems Limited (ESL), the regulatory body is moving to ensure the company does not achieve monopoly status.

But Collin Innis, president of the Jamaica Association of Community Cable Operators (JACCO), says the commission's move comes a little too late.

Dr Hopeton Dunn, chairman of the Broadcasting Commission, told The Gleaner that all efforts would be made to ensure that active and fair competition was maintained within the cable market.

"There will be clear public policy to determine that there will not be a monopoly in the cable market," he said. "The commission will be doing everything in its power to mitigate against the dominance of any one entity."

In this respect, he said, the commission and the Government would be putting forward a twofold strategy, which involves opening the doors for existing cable operators to acquire zonal licences islandwide. Additionally, the commission will, at a later date, be inviting applications for a second all-island licence.

The broadcast watchdog on Friday issued a statement inviting applications for zonal licences from any existing or new cable operators wanting to provide wired service in areas formerly served by ESL or for any other underserved zones across the island.

"Existing cable operators can take advantage of a simplified procedure that allows them to apply to amend the licences they already hold and to add extra zones," read the statement.

Slap in the face

But Innis has rubbished the call, saying it was a slap in the face of cable operators as they had clamoured unsuccessfully for such an arrangement for more than five years.

"That's a lot of crap because this is something we have been asking the commission to do for years, long before Flow came on-board," he said. "They are only doing this now as a compromise because of all the issues they have been having with Flow," Innis added.

Furthermore, the JACCO head said Flow has failed to adequately serve many of the communities it has entered.

athaliah.reynolds@gleanerjm.com