{"id":75554,"date":"2015-04-29T09:04:47","date_gmt":"2015-04-29T14:04:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.ict-pulse.com\/?p=75554"},"modified":"2017-04-07T20:11:22","modified_gmt":"2017-04-08T01:11:22","slug":"early-thoughts-loss-tv-channels-caribbean","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ict-pulse.com\/2015\/04\/early-thoughts-loss-tv-channels-caribbean\/","title":{"rendered":"Early thoughts: the loss of US TV channels in Caribbean"},"content":{"rendered":"

The lack of licensing and distribution rights for some TV channels aired in the Caribbean means they cannot be accessed in the region. Some of implications are discussed<\/em><\/p>\n

Last week, the television (TV) watching public in Jamaica was caught off guard when the local media reported that 19 cable channels would be removed from subscribers\u2019 packages effective 31 May 2015 (Source: Jamaica Observer<\/a>). The channels, which include Encore, Showtime and Starz, among others, are allegedly being aired in Jamaica in breach of copyright, licensing and distribution rights of the content owners, who are based in the United States of America (USA). To that end, the local broadcasting regulator, the Broadcasting Commission, has issued a directive to 49 cable\/subscriber TV operators to remove the offending channels (Source: The Gleaner<\/a>).<\/p>\n

The situation in which Jamaica finds itself is unlikely to be unique in the region. Caribbean countries that speak English tend to consume a lot of US content because:<\/p>\n