The new on-screen interactive programme guide (IPG) is a free service for set-top box owners in Grand Bahama. The service will be available starting Tuesday, July 8. This new IPG was originally slated for launch in January of this year but was delayed due to technical reasons.
The IPG, operated by TV Guide and provided by Cable Bahamas as an enhanced service, allows premium cable subscribers to control a channel guide on their TV screens. Viewers can see TV schedules up to four days in advance, set reminders for their favourite shows, use parental control features to restrict viewing based on the rating of the movie or TV show, and get detailed programme information.
Using the remote control included with every set-top box, cable subscribers can navigate through the on-screen guide, moving forward through time and dates to see what will be showing and when.
The guide also displays current programme information superimposed over the TV programming as the channel is changed. This way, viewers can see what is showing on that channel, even during commercials.
More detailed information is available for some types of programming, such as movies and sports. Pay-per-view movies and special events can be ordered in advance and the set-top box can be programmed to change channel automatically so that multiple programmes can be video taped without user intervention.
The company noted that one current feature of the set-top box would no longer be available; the front panel clock on the set-top box will be permanently disabled once the interactive guide is activated. Cable Bahamas advised customers that the current time can be easily displayed by pressing the remote control’s INFO button twice.
The IPG is available to all cable subscribers that purchased a new set-top box from Cable Bahamas since January 2000; older set-top boxes will have to be replaced with a newer model to receive the interactive guide.
Set-top boxes will be updated on the morning of Tuesday, July 8th, and during this time there will be brief periods of interruption as the set-top boxes are updated with this new feature. The outage should last less than one minute.
Cable Bahamas Ltd. is majority owned by 2,800 Bahamians and the Government of The Bahamas. The company’s 235 employees provide:
(1) world-class cable television on 16 islands;
(2) high-speed Internet access services in Grand Bahama, Abaco, Eleuthera and New Providence;
(3) telecommunications connectivity between the Bahamas and the rest of the world with a 600 km submarine fiber optic system owned and operated by Caribbean Crossings Ltd. a wholly-owned subsidiary; and
(4) web-hosting, data center and disaster recovery services thorough its wholly-owned subsidiary, Maxil Communications Ltd.
