I write concerning the recent disclosure that Cable Bahamas has made application to the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) for a 27 percent price increase on its basic cable TV rate.
Firstly let me state that I have “standing” or an intrinsic interest in this matter because I am a Cable Bahamas television and Internet customer. Let me go on record as being strongly opposed to this proposal, and not only because Cable Bahamas has yet to fulfill its universal service provider requirements (to provide service to all Bahamian inhabited islands and cays), but because of several other reasons as I shall explain.
In my opinion, Cable Bahamas or any company in any industry should never be given a 15-year monopoly because that only (and will always) results in the consumer being harmed financially. Apparently sometimes our leaders make decisions that are not intelligent.
Cable Bahamas from the outset commenced its efforts to extract as much moneys as possible from its TV customers when it used its technology to determine the most popular non-news channels in its basic package. It then removed those channels from basic and placed them in premium packages so that customers would have to pay an additional $5-plus per month to receive those channels.
Secondly, Cable Bahamas forced all of its customers who wanted access to its high-speed Internet service to first purchase its TV product. This is scandalous. I have been made to understand that URCA has recently forced Cable Bahamas to cease and desist from this anti-competitive practice, but alas, by that time it had already reaped millions of dollars and had most of the Internet market effectively cornered.
Thirdly, Cable Bahamas over the course of the last year or so has forced all of its customers who have more than one TV set to purchase a set-top box for $49 for each additional TV in their homes/businesses in order to receive its signal under the guise of “digitizing” its operations. This act must have resulted in hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of dollars moving from its poor customers to the bloated coffers of Cable Bahamas. In any event it is clear that the poor people of this country were forced to foot the bill (if Cable Bahamas is to be believed) of this company “improving” its service to them, whether they wanted that improved service or not. The costing for such undertakings is almost always a “business expense.” What hurt me more than anything else about this particular act is that no one, not even one of our beloved political “leaders” who claim to care so much for the “small man”, uttered a single word of protest. Not a word also from URCA. Consumers were slaughtered by this action, but not a word.
Finally, I hold no sympathy whatsoever for a company that very recently boasted earning $6.339 million in profits over just the first three months of 2012, crying that it must increase its TV rates. I guess $6 million a quarter is not enough.
I have made personal representation to URCA in respect of this matter and I urged that regulatory body in the strongest possible terms to absolutely reject this request from Cable Bahamas. I pray that my intervention, along with that of many, many others will be successful.
If it appears that I hate Cable Bahamas with a passion that is because I do. And the reason is because I have seen what that company has been doing to consumers in this country ever since it set up shop, and the record, in my view, is not a good one. As I see it, this company has only one goal, which is to reap as much profits as it possibly can as quickly as it possibly can. But all hope is not lost. Recently I read that the Bahamas Telecommunications Company (BTC) will be entering the television market soon. Once that happens, we will see in which direction Cable Bahamas TV rates move. I can hardly wait.
Welly Forbes
September, 2012
