Raphael John-Lall

Once the rights for a tele­vi­sion show are pur­chased by a lo­cal sta­tion, ca­ble op­er­a­tors are ob­lig­at­ed to block that show so it is on­ly seen on the lo­cal sta­tion. That's the word from Colum­bus Com­mu­ni­ca­tion, par­ent com­pa­ny of lo­cal ca­ble op­er­a­tor Flow.In a state­ment yes­ter­day, Colum­bus Com­mu­ni­ca­tions ex­plained why it blocked cer­tain pro­gram­ming from its sub­scribers. This fol­lowed nu­mer­ous com­plaints from ca­ble tele­vi­sion view­ers about not be­ing able to see some of their favourite pro­grammes when they would like.

"Lo­cal broad­cast­ers in T&T are en­ti­tled to pur­chase shows di­rect­ly from con­tent providers (in­ter­na­tion­al or lo­cal). While more than 99 per cent of Flow's con­tent is avail­able through­out the year, cer­tain shows can be pur­chased di­rect­ly. Once the rights are brought, it is the oblig­a­tion of all lo­cal ca­ble op­er­a­tors to block the show so it is on­ly seen on the lo­cal sta­tion."The con­tent is still avail­able to view­ers but at the date and time de­ter­mined at the dis­cre­tion of the lo­cal sta­tion," the com­pa­ny said.

Flow ac­knowl­edged that blocked con­tent is "dis­rup­tive" for view­ers but said that it "and all oth­er Trinida­di­an op­er­a­tors must to com­ply to pro­tect the le­gal rights of the con­tent provider."Colum­bus is a di­ver­si­fied telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions com­pa­ny whose core busi­ness is pro­vid­ing ca­ble tele­vi­sion ser­vices� dig­i­tal video, high speed in­ter­net ac­cess� dig­i­tal tele­pho­ny and cor­po­rate da­ta ser­vices. It op­er­ates in 42 coun­tries through­out the greater Caribbean, An­dean and Cen­tral Amer­i­ca re­gion.