The territory’s 5,700 cable subscribers will soon notice changes on their television sets: different channels and better service, company officials said.
BVI Cable TV Ltd., which was formerly held under a bankrupt United States parent company, Innovative Communications Corporation, officially transferred ownership Tuesday to Caribbean Asset Holdings, whose leaders have promised better service, more options and “hundreds of thousands of dollars” in infrastructure investment to be spent in the Virgin Islands.
Seth Davis, chief executive officer of CAH, said Tuesday that customers will immediately notice that some channels have changed. For instance, Animal Planet on Channel 17 will replace ABC Family, and Channel 20 MSNBC will replace the USA Network.
But customers’ options will expand from a current maximum of 72 channels to “scores more” in the future, Mr. Davis said.
“Customers are actually getting a few more channels than they had before. The longer term impact — and by longer term I mean 6 to 8 months — will be reliability of service and quality of service,” he said.
He added that in the coming weeks and months, BVI Cable TV employees will be completing a technical analysis of the system. In the future the company’s operations will be “digitised” to allow for better signal quality, according to the CEO.
Additionally, the company will look into providing Internet access through its coaxial cable network. According to a press release from the company issued yesterday, all cable customers will receive a free preview of all of the new programming options from March 2-11.
The full article appears in the March 3, 2011 issue.