The Bleeding of BTL

In just a few days, everything has changed – all that we knew about the world of media and telecommunications last week at this time has been reversed: tonight, Channel 5 is criticizing BTL, while KREMANDALA is praising it; SMART is now known to be Ashcroft’s phone company while BTL is the people’s phone company; Ashcroft’s corporate empire is on the retreat while Prime Minister Dean Barrow is riding the crest of a wave of popular support for his unprecedented move. Indeed it has been a week of reckoning and reversal, but there’s no time for misty eyed sentimentalism – the new board at BTL is busy trying to gather itself after mounting a horse running at full stride. And part of that orientation has included the discovery that Ashcroft’s executives bled the phone company of eight million dollars in two days. It happened on Monday and Tuesday of this week.

That disclosure was made by new Chairman of the Board Nestor Vasquez today. He confirmed reports that had been called into our office on Monday and Tuesday – that the ousted BTL Execs – had been making payments and bank transfers at a furious pace after the expropriation was announced on Monday. Even though the legislation was passed into law and the order authorizing the takeover was finalized in record time, when Vasquez and his new board got into the office at the close of business on Tuesday – the ink had long dried on some very big checks. He told us more.

Nestor Vasquez, Chairman – BTL Board of Directors
“I have noticed that the bank account has dropped by something like $8 million in two days. Now besides that, although I don’t have a detailed account of that $8 million, I notice that Allen and Overy was paid. I was told that there was a $3 million paid, we suspect it was for management fees, and so they paid themselves a big portion of that $8 million and they paid it even without the knowledge of management because the $3 million, I have not seen documented evidence what type of expenditure. We are merely guessing that it is for management fees. While the other for Allen and Overy, I’ve seen that, the legal fees, but everything was expeditiously done by them, meaning in those two days.”

Jules Vasquez,
“Are there concerns or are there indications that BTL was not necessarily being run in the best interest, in the optimal interest I should say of shareholders?”

Nestor Vasquez,
“For the profits for the year ending March 2009, the profits dropped from $37 million to $22 million. That is substantial. That is about $15 million. That is made up chiefly of a loss of $8 million in revenue. Why should we lose in revenue when we have spent in advertising, in the region of over a million and a half dollars in advertising and we have been giving lower rates at all times? Why should we be losing, I have to look into that. But for the profit to drop that much, that is definitely is carelessness.

Because we have the entire infrastructure and we have all the advantages. Telemedia has always had good money for its operation. It has all the professional staff, experienced staff, and we have always been the dominant provider. Why should our revenue drop by $8 million and why should the competition be growing faster than Telemedia? Noh, we will look into that. That needs an explanation.”

Beyond competitiveness, BTL has to untangle the Channel 5 issue – specifically the ownership of this building on Coney Drive which BTL bought last year and Channel 5 is now taking occupation of. BTL’s advertising banners which were ripped down yesterday, give an indication as to the current state of relations. The Chairman says the company’s external auditors have been trying to unravel the mystery of Channel 5’s ownership for some time.

Nestor Vasquez,
“We are having our second board meeting today and among the priority I think we have to deal with is trying to finalize the audited financials figures for the year ending 31st March 2009. They have not signed off on it, simply because the auditor did not receive answers to a couple of things that were material. One definitely was who really owns Channel 5. They could not produce the evidence that Telemedia had the shares in possession of Great Belize Productions. That’s one that they didn’t answer, that the former management didn’t answer.”

Jules Vasquez,
“How closely if at all has the Board or the executive management looked at the issue of the NDFB Building, the fact that Channel 5 is now about to occupy it?”

Nestor Vasquez,
“Okay well I would say that definitely I have seen the seen the evidence that that building was paid for with Telemedia’s money. Now either that money is going to be paid back by them or someone will have to give us back the keys for that building because they will not get away with what Telemedia has paid for Channel 5, whether it was in buying shares or buying the building, they will not get away with anything. We have to recover that money. That’s definite.”

And what about the state of telecommunications generally where BTL had been restricting access generally?

Jules Vasquez,
“A lot of people are looking towards BTL in the hopes of mass market liberalization. A lot of people want Skype authorities over night, deblocked overnight. Has the board taken a position on these extremely tricky and tempestuous issues?”

Nestor Vasquez,
“No, not yet. We’ve only had one meeting, we’re having another one today and we have other items that are of greater priority than that. But I’d like to think that what the Prime Minister has said in the House will come true, that the people will be getting better rates and the industry itself, telecommunications will become more accessible to the people. The new technology, the people will have access to that and I believe that we will prove, the new management will prove that no matter whether competition is allowed tomorrow or very soon or sometime down the road, no one will be able to outdo BTL.”

Jules Vasquez,
“But isn’t the inconvenience truth of this entire acquisition, the single inconvenient truth, isn’t it that BTL can’t afford to fully liberalize the telecommunication environment because BTL has to be optimally profitable in order to pay back for the acquisition as soon as possible?”

Nestor Vasquez,
“Well the profitability of BTL is important and we will protect that. Although it has slipped tremendously, I can assure you that in the next six to nine months, it will be right up to mark again and in future years it will grow. While we are dropping rates for the benefit of the Belizean people, we will continue to make bigger profits than in the past because we will not be bleeding it as the former owners were because I can tell you in management fees, they paid over $5 million every year. We are going to save that immediately, not this year because they’ve already taken some of their money but there will be no management fees. When we manage it, we will pay our Belizean people who are very professional, very experienced, very competent to do it for a song.

Government has nothing to fair, the management has nothing to fear about competition, okay. It is a matter of timing and whenever it happens, we are ready. We are ready now and in the future we will be ready more so.”

But BTL will have to pay for itself.

Jules Vasquez,
“Its hundreds of millions of dollars in investment you guys are looking for. That’s not going to come from the man down the street, that has to come from big money, it has to come from big business and the concern is that are we just exchanging Ashcroft for some other strategic investor who wants an overbearing influence on the corporate affairs of the country’s most important company?”

Nestor Vasquez,
“Definitely not, this government would never do that and certainly I would never support an idea like that. I am pretty sure, in fact I do recall the Prime Minister saying in his address in the House that the original concept will be used. That is, there will be a limitation for individual institutions or individual persons that they would not be allowed to own more than 25%. That concept remains, that the small shareholder knows that they will get a dividend every year which will be substantial.

No institution would have majority control of that company, not ever and the matter of the special share will be there with government always having two directors on the board and that will be so worded in the articles that no government will ever be able to change it. It will be tightly worded so that that in itself will be a protection for the people of Belize that their government, whoever they elect, will always be there with certain veto powers on that board, that you will not be able to change certain articles and they will include the limitation on shareholdings.”

And how much is BTL worth. Ashcroft’s group says $300 million US – the Chairman says it is no more than half of that.

Jules Vasquez,
“The Hayward Trust has indicated that they believe or that recent valuations show that the value of BTL at US$300 million.”

Nestor Vasquez,
“That is because they have included all the benefits that they would have derived out of the accommodation agreement but that is past. The accommodation agreement is unlawful, it is invalid, it is useless. That will come to naught.”

Jules Vasquez,
“So then what is the value of BTL as you foresee?”

Nestor Vasquez,
“It is in the region of maybe $300 million Belize dollars, about half of what they are saying.”

Jules Vasquez,
“That’s a long ways off, that’s a hundred less.”

Nestor Vasquez,
“That’s a 100% off but I am sure we are nearer than they are by far and we will be able to demonstrate that and the court will decide. The law provides for that and they will have their valuation and we will have experts to provide valuation for us to demonstrate that we are more on target. And we can easily have a guide on that because when Prosser was trying to buy the entire amount it was $105 million US, that’s $200 million Belize. How it could have jumped so far up to $600 million Belize in such a short time.”

The new board held its second meeting today. It is also working on developing a prospectus for the sale of shares and a new Articles of Association. One prospective investor includes, inevitably, the Social Security Board.

http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=14890

Former Telemedia Chair says payments aren’t scandalous

The hostile takeover of Telemedia was completed on Tuesday and since then the chairman of the board, Net Vasquez, has been making public allegations about the state of Telemedia before its hasty nationalization. Prime Minister Dean Barrow made the announcement in the House of Representatives on Monday and by Tuesday afternoon, the deal was signed, sealed and delivered. Vasquez has been giving interviews to the effect that Telemedia was looted in its last days as a private entity. News Five sat today on a one on one interview with the former chairman of the executive committee, Dean Boyce, who says not so and that the transactions were all legit.

Dean Boyce, Former Chairman, Executive Committee, B.T.L.
“We’ve had relationships, fairly good relationships, with our suppliers, professional firms, lawyers in particular for many years and, as a result of that, they would tend to give a substantial amount of credit. They will allow for us to pay several months of arrears. When it was clear what was about to take place, some of those firms felt they would be unfairly dealt with once the nationalization process had been completed and therefore they demanded immediate payment of all of their outstanding bills and those payments were made on the Monday and Tuesday before the completion of the nationalization exercise. In addition to that, there’s been a management contract in place for many years—both over the last four years, before the Prosser period and before that for several years. Again that was somewhat in arrears, so again those payments were brought up to date plus the final termination payments. I should point out that this is not an unusual circumstance. When the company was sold to Prosser on first of April 2004, the final payment for a legal advisors at the time were also brought up to date. That included a number of payments to Lois Young Barrow that they were made during that period in March of 2004.”

Marion Ali
“The newspaper made allegations that it was looting, they referred to it as looting.”

Dean Boyce
“No this is just sensationalism. Paying the bills of suppliers is not looting. They were legitimate charges.”

http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=25149

…And original files reside in relevant Telemedia departments

But the allegations did not stop at just looting. Boyce also responded to claims that he had documents removed from the B.T.L.’s offices before he left and he addressed the issue of potential investors in Telemedia.

Dean Boyce, Former Chairman, Executive Committee, B.T.L.
“I don’t actually have any original documents in my office, I never have. All of the original documents rest with the relevant departments. So, Finance Department will have all of the relevant Finance Department records, Human Resources will have all the personnel records and so on with the other departments. I really don’t have a lot of documents in my office. What tends to happen with any document I get and retain are the ones that people will physically bring to me. Again the comments made that we had removed documents just isn’t valid.”

Marion Ali
“So those documents are there?”

Dean Boyce
“The documents are there and in fact, it also referred to documents, interconnection agreements and so on, they are over in the building with the relevant sections. I understand that the company’s secretary is being requested to provide information that they retained which isn’t held physically on site there and those are being prepared at the moment and will also be provided to them.

I’ve had at least four companies that have expressed interest in the past for buying Telemedia. Over the past years, during the second half of 2007, a big international company did a full due diligence of the company for us to see its worth and they made an offer and they would have paid for it. And it was based upon having a very stable environment with sensible tax rates and so on. And that was the offer that came in actually it was quite a bit above three hundred million U.S. Things have changed since then, a comment the other day was about Channel Five and I think it’s in the article that will have reduced the value of the company. The original shareholders of Telemedia now own G.B.P.L. which owns Channel Five and that therefore has reduced the value of Telemedia, but at the time, it was legitimate distribution by the owners of the company and they’ve already taken their value out. So, if somebody was now saying what’s the value of Telemedia well it’s the value of Telemedia a week ago less the value of Channel Five.”

http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=25150

Boyce clarifies that Coney Drive bldg belongs to GBPL

And there is a lot of noise coming from the new Telemedia management about the ownership of the N.D.F.B. building on Coney Drive acquired by Great Belize Productions. The obvious intention is to cast aspersions on a legitimate and transparent business transaction. Anyone with business sense would understand that the ownership the G.B.T.V. property cannot be under dispute. To put that matter to rest, as we have said, the detachment of G.B.T.V./Channel Five as a subsidiary of Telemedia, was done prior to the hostile takeover of the telephone company. Indeed Telemedia issued dividends to all its shareholders. This distribution included the GB Productions Limited which owns Channel Five and which was purchased by Telemedia in July of 2008. Months later it purchased the new home of Channel Five, the N.D.F.B. building as the Land Certificate documents will show. Former Chairman of B.T.L., Dean Boyce, explains in detail that the building belongs to Channel Five and not Telemedia.

Dean Boyce, Former Chairman, Executive Committee, B.T.L.
“When we bought the N.D.F.B. building, as you know, Channel Five was saying. look we’re on this very small location on Regent Street. We don’t have space to expand and do all the things to develop this into a true regional TV station that everybody in Belize is going to be proud of. Channel is a very good starting point—it’s known within the region, but we could do a lot more and that’s good for Belize. So we brought in N.D.F.B. building specifically for G.P.B.L. and on the title document it very clearly says G.B.P.L., Great Belize Productions Limited is the owner of the building. So that was always the intention. We have already put some plans together for the development of the building. We used an external architect and they developed the plans for that building. We’ve taken that company, we’ve distributed it to the former owners of the company so that everybody, there was some reference to the union and yes the union have their percentage share of G.B.P.L. and Channel Five, so they are a part owner in the company.”

All the original shareholders of Telemedia, on a pro-rate basis, were issued with dividends even before G.O.B. nationalized the telephone company. The transaction was legitimate and done to maintain the legitimacy and independence of this station. Simply put, Channel Five and the Coney Drive building were bought by Telemedia shareholders and have been retained by those same Telemedia shareholders. This is not a telecommunication company and cannot be of concern to government, unless of course, it now intends to also take over the independent media.

http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=25151

Net Vasquez axes connection with Centaur Cable

Still on news in the industry, the nationalization of Telemedia is already sending shockwaves through cable subscribers from Orange Walk and Corozal. One of the casualties is Centaur Cable Station in Orange Walk, which is owned by P.U.P. leader John Briceño and his family. Since Tuesday’s appointment of the new chairman and owner of Channel Seven, Nestor Vasquez, directed Channel Broadcasting Cable to remove Channel Seven from northern cable operators. Interestingly, the directive was written by Dean Molina, Telemedia’s in-house attorney. But why this change? News Five spoke with Chief Operating Officer of Centaur Cable network, Errol Cattouse, who says these changes come directly from the Channel Seven/Net Vasquez camp.

Errol Cattouse, Chief Operating Officer, Centaur Cable
“One change that has occurred was that Centaur has been a company that has tried to air as many local news program or any local program as possible. And a year ago, we recently got a connection from Belize City where it had afford us the luxury of airing all the local channels to our customers. What has happened since the B.T.L. takeover, we had a directive from B.T.L.—the new chairman of B.T.L.—instructing us to remove the channel 7 News off our line-up.”

Marion Ali
“Was any reason given for this and can you call a name as to who gave the instructions?”

Errol Cattouse
“Well, we received an email from the director of B.T.L.”

Marion Ali
“Who is that?”

Errol Cattouse
“The new director of B.T.L. as we all know it is Nestor Vasquez.”

Marion Ali
“Can you say what reasons were given?”

Errol Cattouse
“Well, Mister Vasquez owns a cable company here in Orange Walk—he is a direct competitor here and he believes that by airing on us—putting Channel 7 on our network gives us an advantage over him.”

http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=25153

PUP SAYS GOVERNMENT’S DECISION IS UNDEMOCRATIC
August 28, 2009

The People’s United Party says it strongly condemns the high handed and undemocratic manner in which the Telecommunications (Amendment) Act 2009 was passed in the House of Representatives on Monday and rushed through the Senate on Tuesday. It says it is seriously concerned about the complete disrespect shown to the opposition in not allowing the time for a clear examination of the bill prior to its introduction and calls on the Government to cease acting in this manner, which is contrary to our democratic practice. The PUP says the decision by Government to take over Belize Telemedia has caused the business community and members of Civil Society a great deal of concern. The opposition says the immediate actions of the government are a clear indication that the motives of the Prime Minister are purely political. Meanwhile Vision Inspired by the People and the People’s National Party says it supports the Government’s action. A joint release says GOB must implement stringent controls to ensure that such situations do not reoccur and that investors get the clear message that whilst their investments are welcome, it must be on the basis of mutual respect and adherence to the Constitution and Laws of Belize. The VIP and PNP says the composition of the recently named board must be revisited. It says the board should comprise of a worker representative and citizens of proven integrity and competence. It says in this regard, the composition of the recently named board must be revisited.

http://www.lovefm.com/ndisplay.php?nid=10683

Mark Espat Cagey About Ashcroft Money

Earlier on we said that the Ashcroft empire is in retreat but you can be sure that they are reloading to rain down upon the Barrow Administration with legal, tactical and political fury. On Monday the Prime Minister conceded that Ashcroft would now do everything in his power to get his party out of office. But the situation posed for the PUP is intriguing. It is now known that the brother and cousin of Party leader John Briceno sold Ashcroft-affiliated entities shares in Speednet the parent company for SMART earlier this year for $8 million. So it is perceived publicly as predictable that party leader Briceno would have to vote against the bill which dispossesses his family’s business partners. And so he did.

But what about his Deputy Leader Mark Espat who once used his bully pulpit in the house to class Ashcroft with, “modern day pirates and profiteers whose only loyalty is to the bottom line...” Well Espat changed his tone if not his tune on Monday in the house, he played it cagey, he abstained in the vote on the bill – leaving the door slightly open, knowing that the old adage always applies: the enemy of my enemy is my friend – meaning if Ashcroft is out to destroy the UDP politically, then he has a common cause with the PUP.

Sound political strategy, but a tough turn for Espat who has publicly vilified Ashcroft more than any other public figure and certainly more than Prime Minister Dean Barrow did on Monday. Still, politics, they say, is the art of the possible...so is it possible that Espat and Ashcroft could team up against the UDP? That’s what we asked him on Tuesday – and again, he was cagey.

Jules Vasquez,
“Mr. Ashcroft and his money can still make a big difference in our democratic process. Don’t you and he then have a common cause which is toppling, unseating, voting out the Barrow administration?”

Hon. Mark Espat, PUP Deputy Leader
“If contributions are made to the People’s United Party then I would hope that it would be done in the very near future in a manner that would be transparent so that we don’t have the kind of misunderstanding that apparently took place between Mr. Barrow and Mr. Ashcroft so that the donors know that the people will know and the people know who the donors are.”

Espat said he will declare his support of the takeover only if it proves that it can achieves better rates and access for consumers.

http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=14891

Lawyers write Net Vasquez over allegations

A week ago, the Barrow administration compulsorily took over Belize Telemedia, the largest utility company in the Jewel. Since then, numerous deceptive statements have been coming out of the new board of directors headed by Nestor Vasquez. Vasquez is in control of the day to day operations of Telemedia along with Anwar Barrow, the son of the Prime Minister. Vasquez has been making duplicitous statements, in particular, to his own station, that there is a debt owing to Telemedia arising from the acquisition of the Coney Drive property, the former N.D.F.B. building. The law firm Courtenay Coye and Company, attorneys for G.B.P.L./Channel Five, today wrote to Vasquez to cease making allegations that imply that quote “something is untoward in a perfectly legitimate transaction.” The letter to Vasquez is explicit and the facts are that on October seventh, 2008, a land certificate for the property was issued to G.B.P.L., that Telemedia provided the funds to purchase the property on behalf of its subsidiary by way of Katalyst Developments Limited. Vasquez is also told that on August twenty-third, Telemedia acquired forty-seven thousand, six hundred and eighteen new ordinary shares in Katalyst and that the Board of the company authorized the payment of a dividend to shareholders which was in excess of eight million dollars representing the value of G.B.PL. and the property. Straight as that, and this morning our breakfast show, Open Your Eyes, was broadcast live from our new headquarters on Coney Drive. It is all part of the future development of this station.

http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=25164

Former Executive says Telemedia worth $300 Million U.S.

And still on the issue of the hostile take over of the telephone company, in his announcement to the House of Representatives, Prime Minister Barrow said that he intended to re-Belizeanize it. But in follow-up interviews, Barrow contradicted himself and said he would make it available for sale to international carriers. Now that the theatrics in the House are over, just how much will government be able to get for the company? According to Telemedia’s former Executive Committee Chairman, Dean Boyce, the value of the company went up to around three hundred million US over the past two years because of investments. This is not easy money to come by, in particular by local investors, and we all know that government is cash strapped. So what will the shareholders and the Hayward Charitable Trust be prepared to accept? We asked Boyce about this last Friday when we sat down with him for a detailed interview.

Dean Boyce, Former Chairman, Executive Committee, B.T.L.
“If the company had just been nationalized, anybody wanting to buy it is going to be saying, well where do I stand? I don’t see how you can now get the sort of price that you could then and this isn’t a result of anything that Telemedia shareholders have done. It’s a result of what the Government has done and the Telemedia shareholders will rightly say, we want you to give us the value of the company as it should be before you have taken action. Because for what we know, the government might have done this deliberately, destabilize the market, so that it will then be sold off at a very low price just to give us a smaller amount of money, which isn’t acceptable practice. It’s also not sensible. You’ve got to bear in mind the country would have got three hundred million U.S. dollars. That was going to be given to all of the shareholders. It’s already been very clearly stated who those shareholders were and what those investments would be. So you would have had three hundred million. Let’s suppose the government now sells it for a hundred million—just for argument’s sake—and they say that’s the market value cause that’s what we’ve got for it. We will go to court, the Trust will go to court because they’re going to say look, it’s your fault we’ve lost two hundred million. Let’s suppose the court says you’re right, you owe two hundred million. The government’s going to have to pay us two hundred million out of their pockets; the one hundred million—whoever’s bought it is going to be rubbing their hands saying thank you very much, I’ve got a nice cheap business here. So I can’t understand the logic of how we got to where we are.”

http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=25165

Telemedia Profits dipped because of exorbitant taxes

It is still not clear if telephone rates will go down or if GOB will allow the introduction of VOIP, what is said is that profits dipped in 2008 at Telemedia. Boyce told News Five this resulted from the exorbitant taxes Telemedia had to pay, the highest in the region, and that there was a general decrease in international calls.

Dean Boyce, Former Chairman, Executive Committee, B.T.L.
“There were a lot fewer calls, international calls for example, although that could have been the impact of other things but the economy is certainly a big factor. The big reason where there would be a reduction in profits is because the business tax payments have increased by fifty percent, in 2009 versus the previous year. We had an agreement with government, so we thought, that was set up back in 2005 and it said we will bring your tax down to sensible levels. The levels we are currently paying are typically five times higher than a normal telephone operations would anywhere else in the world, including the region because of the way they were calculated. The expectation was that if the country was to get reduced tariffs in line with other countries, then you need to make the conditions here in Belize similar to what they are in other countries—taxation is a big one. So the government agreed that by 2008, it was a three year period, they would bring the tax down to similar levels comparable to other countries. And, first of April 2008 came along and we started to pay what we thought was supposed to be the correct tax. And we were paying twenty five percent for revenue by the time we got to this year and we paid all the penalties, all the interests, all the other payments up to twenty five percent of revenue and now we’ve been up to date for a few months.”

http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=25166

Boyce says company was willing to negotiate with G.O.B.

And what about the Accommodation Agreement reached between Telemedia and the government in 2005? Boyce said the company was always willing to negotiate with government on this sensitive issue, but he felt government never really intended to work out things.

Dean Boyce, Former Chairman, Executive Committee, B.T.L.
“We have in the past, on more than one occasion, said to the government that we’ll give up the Accommodation Agreement, we’ll give up the return, Minimum Rates Return, give up the shortfall. What we wanted to do was sit down, go through the detail of the industry so that they properly understood the various detailed dynamics to work a way forward so that the government can achieve what it wants to achieve, which is free internet for schools, allowing prices and full universal service across the whole country, not just Belize City, but all the other areas. And B.T.L. could make the investment secure in the knowledge that somewhere down the line we weren’t going to have major problems with the government and all our investments will be undermined. So, we were quite prepared all the way through to sit down and discuss that and start again. The document that came through just before the nationalization was because we had heard about the nationalization. They had clearly decided that they would not, in any shape or form, honor it going forward. So, we really had no alternative, but to say okay, we will consider that as now been terminated. But just bear in mind that the agreement was in two parts—it provided some assurance to B.T.L., but it also was the base for all the development work that the government wanted—the row of services, the price reductions and so on. So, we gave up the one side, but similarly we’ve also got the other side, which the government would then no longer be able to achieve and all the investments that we had made to date based upon the contract that we had in place, we would still be saying to them, look you’ve got to try and work something out on this because we’ve spent tens of millions of dollars that we wouldn’t otherwise have spent. So, we’ve been prepared all the way along to sort of start again. Our problem was I don’t believe there was ever a real will to discuss anything with us. I think there were other motives.”

http://www.channel5belize.com/archive_detail_story.php?story_id=25167

The Truth About Centaur & Channel 7

Why has Channel 7 been taken off Centaur’s Cable service in Orange Walk? You may have heard versions of it on Michael Ashcroft’s Channel 5 and John Briceno’s CTV-3 on Friday night. But tonight, we’ll tell you the real story and the back story. But first to brush away the rumours. Some have tried to play it as a high handed manoeuvre by new BTL Chairman Nestor Vasquez who is also the Channel 7 owner. Indeed BTL – at Channel 7’s request informed CBC cable that they could no longer include Channel 7 on their service which is routed through to Centaur Cable in Orange Walk and Corozal.

Channel 7 was within all rights to do this; the signal is ours, after all. But that’s not why we did it. We did it to defend a commercial interest: Tropical Vision owns a cable company in Orange Walk called Northern Cable that competes against the Briceno’s Centaur Cable. Presently that company Northern Cable is the only one offering Channel 7 in Orange Walk as was the case between 2000 and 2008.

Of course, Centaur can still get Channel 7 – in fact they are legally obligated to do so as it is re-transmitted over-the-air on Channel 10 in Orange Walk – but that station is owned by Gaspar Vega, so we don’t expect John Briceno’s family’s cable station to carry it anytime soon.

And while Channel 5 and CTV-3 were eager to blow up the story on Friday, odd that we didn’t hear them say anything about what’s been done to the Lanza Family who own Baymen North Limited in Corozal Town. Baymen North competes against the Briceno’s in that northern Town and over the past two and a half years they have been repeatedly told that they cannot carry Channel 5 in Corozal because Centaur has the exclusive rights to do so.

Unlike Channel 7 which owns a cable company in Orange Walk and competes directly against the Briceno’s - Channel 5 has no commercial interest to defend in Corozal so really there’s no reason why only Centaur should be able to carry it. But in the context of all the co-mingling of ownership we’ve seen between the Briceno’s and Ashcroft, the common cause between Centaur and Channel 5 is perhaps understandable.

Bottom line is though, when it’s convenient for the Briceno’s Centaur Company to insist on exclusive rights to a Channel – as they do in Corozal – that’s business – and now that Tropical Vision/Channel 7 has done the same thing in Orange Walk – to defend its own interests – it becomes a news story ON Michael Ashcroft’s Channel 5? Odd.

For this company the situation is simple. We want all cable subscribers in Orange Walk to see the signal. So they can either switch to Northern Cable, or those who subscribe to Centaur can demand that their cable provider carry Channel 10 which shows Channel 7 News.

http://www.7newsbelize.com/sstory.php?nid=14918