Message to Our Customers about Channels 7 and 9

As a result of recent demands made by the Bermuda Broadcasting Corporation, we  wish to inform our valued customers and the general public that we will no longer be able to carry local broadcast channels 7 (ZFB) and 9 (ZBM)over our cable system.

Removal of these channels from our system will become effective on a future date. It is now up to the Telecommunications Commission to decide when the two channels should be removed from CableVision's network.

Why is this happening?

Under the former legislation, CableVision carried these channels free of charge, according to the ?Must Carry? rule, under which the local broadcasters paid nothing for this service, and neither did our customers. The broadcasters have clearly benefited from this free carriage of their channels on our system, since, without it, they can not reach all Bermuda homes.

Today, under legislation enacted 3 years ago, Bermuda Broadcasting Company has the option of either requiring CableVision to carry Channels 7 and 9 for free, as under the former rules, or requiring us to pay a fee to the Bermuda Broadcasting Company to carry these channels.

We have recently been informed by the Bermuda Broadcasting Company that we may no longer carry Channels 7 and 9 on our system unless we pay them a fee to do so.

While CableVision has always been happy to carry channels 7 and 9 over our cable network, and to do so free of charge, we do not believe that CableVision and its customers should have to pay for channels that can be received for free, when available, using off-air antennae. We are therefore exercising our legal option under the new legislation to stop carrying these channels on our system.

We apologise for the inconvenience to our valued customers, but we simply do not believe they should have to pay for something for which they have never paid in the past, and particularly for a service which non-cable viewers can receive for free, when available. This amounts, in essence, to a ?cable broadcast tax?.

Thank you for your understanding.