State-owned television station, Caribbean New Media Group (CNMG), has defended its decision to threaten Gayelle The Channel with legal action for what it described as its illegal coverage of Carnival activities. Ingrid Isaac, chief executive officer of CNMG, said the National Carnival Commission (NCC) and the Special Interests Groups (SIGs) announced long before Carnival 2010 that they had sold exclusive broadcast rights for the electronic media coverage of Carnival to CNMG. CNMG held exclusive rights for all Carnival events, which fell under the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation (Tuco), the National Carnival Bands Association, (NCBA) and Pan Trinbago.

CEO: Gayelle misleading viewers
Asked whether CNMG’s agreement with the Carnival stakeholders would extend for Carnival 2011, Isaac said, “We did speak about a long-term arrangement.” Isaac said CNMG invited media houses wishing to share in the live or extended coverage for Carnival 2010 to enter into a “contractual agreement” with CNMG. “There was never any attempt to cover everything ourselves,” she said, during a telephone interview yesterday. “Many radio and television stations entered into contracts with us, and they did so with our permission.”

Isaac said it was unfortunate that the management of Gayelle had been misleading its viewers about its attempts to illegally carry coverage of Carnival activities under the auspices of the National Carnival Commission and the Special Interest Groups. She said it took not one legal letter, but two, for Gayelle to stop its illegal telecasts. Isaac said CNMG acted to protect the creative and legal rights of the creators of Carnival—steelbands, calypsonians and mas bands. Meanwhile, Errol Fabien, executive director and co-founder of Gayelle The Channel, is demanding to see the document which states that CNMG had the exclusive rights to broadcast Carnival-related events. Fabien said he received a legal letter from the law firm Fitzwilliam, Stone, Furness-Smith and Morgan on Tuesday morning, outlining the station’s infringement of CNMG’s Carnival rights.

The letter stated that CNMG held the exclusive rights for the broadcasting and on-line Internet streaming of and/or online pay-per-view services for Carnival 2010 events, namely, Junior Carnival Parade of the Bands, Panorama finals, Dimanche Gras and the Parade of the Bands, from February 13 to 16. It said Gayelle’s streaming online of the Parade of the Bands on February 16 via: www.jumptv.com/ en/channel/gayellethechannel/ was an infringement of CNMG’s copyright under the Copyright Act 1997, “for which you may be liable for a fine, seizure of broadcasting equipment and/or damages for pecuniary and non-pecuniary loss suffered by our client.” The letter further stated, “Neither you nor Jump TV is authorised by our client as an agent/partner for the online streaming of Parade of Bands in or outside of T&T, nor is our client connected with your business.”

Coverage stopped
The letter said Gayelle’s actions had resulted in confusion and/or misrepresentation to the public and called on Gayelle to immediately cease and desist from broadcasting and streaming on-line the Parade of the Bands. The letter said Gayelle had to confirm in writing by 2.30 pm today (Tuesday) “that you have so ceased and desisted and that you will not use any material that infringes our client’s rights in the future.” Describing the situation as “sad,” Fabien, who is now abroad, said he did not have the resources to fight the station in court and had no choice but to stop the coverage. “I want to see the documents that define CNMG’s rights and I want to challenge those people who gave the rights to CNMG,” Fabien said, in a telephone interview yesterday. “There’s a lot to be accounted for. This has never happened before. We can’t let this slip through the crevices at all.”