Karib Cable issue needs Attorney General’s attention

Tue, Oct 30, 2012

Editor: Despite the continued ventilation of Karib Cable’s sloppy service in the print media, the owners and management of Karib Cable seem to have falsely concluded that Vincentians are dunces. The cable company has not been receptive to reasonable discourse and persuasion on important and valid issues affecting its customers. They have not called a press conference to deal with the issues that caused the population to become so agitated.{{more}}

I would like to know if it is illegal to summarily reduce the quality of a product or service that has been paid for at an agreed price? Specifically, is what Karib Cable did, concerning channels 15, 16, & 17 illegal? I ask because the company has not refunded our money, nor have they given any indication that they intend to do so. Rather, they continue to take it.

If the NTRC does not have the responsibility concerning Karib Cable and how it functions, then the only alternative is to seek judicial review of the company’s action. This is an issue that should be receiving the attention of the Attorney General. I wish she could simply be more vocal and generally on public legal issues. She needs to explain what the legal issues are in this case. In fact, the AG should be investigating the matter as our guardian of the law. (The Attorney General makes no public pronunciations unless she is addressing a seminar, etc). This is not a trivial matter as Karib Cable is portraying it to be.

The comparison has been made between what Karib Cable offers in St Lucia and SVG; it is an insult to our intelligence. How for example, could AL Jazeera be part of an international package, yet BBC WORLD and CNN international are not part of such? Why do we have an international package here in the first place and none in St Lucia? Al Jazeera is a news channel. HBO is not part of any movie package in St Lucia. So, they really think us here in SVG are dunces? The Headline News channel that SVG TV offers is different from what Karib Cable offers in terms of source and advertisement.

Caribbean Cable Communications offers cable service in Anguilla, Montserrat and Nevis. Their customers do not have to fight up with the Spanish version of TNT, Cartoon Network, TRU TV, etc. Those islands are south of Florida, so Kelly Glass doesn’t know what he is talking about. This brings into question whether Karib Cable’s source of programming is authentic.

Karib Cable seems to be more backward than progressive. In 1998, when I first went to the USA, I was using the cable box remote to order Pay-per-View; 14 years later I have to go into Karib Cable’s office or make a call to view Pay-per-View.

We Vincentians simply want the following: (1) an adjustment to our cable bills as a result of the removal of channels 15, 16 & 17 (THE PREVIOUS MOVIE CHANNELS) (2) the same channel configuration and value as is offered to St Lucia (3) replacement of the Spanish version of all channels with English versions (4) a written apology published in the weekly newspapers and (5) replacement of the existing redundant and repetitive channels 15, 16 & 17.

GB