CBC transition ‘not so clear’

By Tre Greaves tregreaves@nationnews.com

The Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation’s (CBC) plans to transition to an upgraded digital system can come at a cost to consumers.

The charge is being made by the Barbados Film and Television Association, which says it is prepared to explore legal options to ensure Barbadians do not have to pay more and are not disadvantaged from accessing the state broadcaster’s services.

Jamal Slocombe, president of the association, said their grievance was with CBC’s transition to the Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) 3.0 or NextGen TV.

ATSC 3.0 is said to be the new standard for digital television broadcasting to improve upon the existing ATSC 1.0 system.

“There are a whole heap of questions and concerns that present with CBC and this current digital transition, especially when the broadcaster is supposed to be a public good. We met to discuss what this digital transition means.

“We’ve done so in a manner that has been quite comprehensive, by engaging various stakeholders who are subject matter experts. I’m particularly concerned that the move to ATSC3, that they’re intending to do, essentially will cost Barbadians significantly,” Slocombe told the Weekend Nation.

“You are essentially introducing a system that essentially blocks out more than 95 per cent of the Barbadian population, because the current television systems that they have are not compatible with the ATSC3 system.

“It means you are blocking thousands of Barbadians from accessing a free-to-air platform at present, by introducing this ATSC3 system which requires persons to get something called a tuner,” Slocombe said.

He said the tuner could cost around US$156 (BDS$318) per television.

CBC’s chief executive officer Sanka Price was contacted about the association’s concerns, but he declined to comment.

Slocombe questioned whether CBC had the authority to make such a change.

Cost to consumers

“The act itself speaks about CBC acting in the public interest as a national broadcaster. You are essentially requiring Barbadians to go and purchase this system that costs US$156 for any household, for every television to be able to access this, to be able to watch CBC.

“ CBC is a national broadcaster, but the CBC does not have the legal authority to determine what broadcasting framework a country is going to use. The Barbados Broadcasting Authority is the responsible agency to do such,” he added.

He pointed out that the ATSC3 would rely on the Internet and he queried whether the cybersecurity measures were taken into account.

“This new ATSC3 system depends heavily on Internet usage. It depends heavily on technology that doesn’t guarantee the protection of the average consumer. So you are seriously now trespassing into a territory that you really are not familiar with, and we do not have the framework, especially in a setting where we have so many data breaches. It is quite ludicrous that you’re going down this road,” he said.

Some countries, including Jamaica which implemented the system in 2022, faced challenges in transitioning to and fully adopting ATSC 3.0, including spectrum sharing, regulatory hurdles and the high cost of infrastructure upgrades.

Slocombe acknowledged that other countries had utilised it, but was concerned about the pace at which CBC was moving ahead.

“While the transition may be inevitable in some regards, it is also the speed at which they are intending to go about this transition. It also does not mean that we have to necessarily use ATSC3.

“I’m also saying that the [association] is willing to explore legal options to ensure that Barbadians are not disadvantaged from accessing the state broadcaster.”

He said they had requested a meeting with CBC and the Minister of Information to air their concerns.

“We have called for several meetings with them and that has even gone as high as the Minister of Home Affairs and Information. We’ve asked to have open, transparent consultation on this matter because it has implications that they are not the subject matter experts on.”

The Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation is undergoing a transition

to digital. (FP)

President of the Barbados Film and Television Association,

Jamal Slocombe. (FP)