Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands – 3 February 2017 – The failure of cable providers to come to an agreement with Hurley’s TV Ltd. for distribution of shows like Daybreak is a commercial issue and not a regulatory matter, said Alee Fa’amoe, Executive Director of ICT in the newly formed Utility Regulation and Competition Office, also called OfReg. The statement from Mr. Fa’amoe is in response to reports from various media outlets which not only state that Hurley’s Media Ltd has decided to drop its long-running morning TV show “Daybreak”, but which further allege that the regulator (OfReg) is partly to blame for the decision.

In one article for example, Randy Merren, Hurley’s Media Ltd.’s Managing Director, cites “the failure of the regulator to establish Cayman 27 as a “must-carry” station on all local cable TV providers’ networks” as one of the reasons for the cancellation.

Each of the three operating cable TV providers has license conditions requiring it to carry a minimum percentage of local programming which includes such items as local talk shows, educational, cultural, and religious programming, live sporting events, government information services, and live coverage of the Legislative Assembly. OfReg does not, however, require TV providers or cable providers to produce or to carry any specific shows.

“As the regulator of ICT services in the Cayman Islands, including television broadcasting and cable TV services, OfReg acknowledges and respects the freedom of the liberalised communications market to decide what kind of local programming is of value to its customers,”said Fa’amoe. “While fully respecting the local content license obligation, service providers must be able to enter into mutually beneficial commercial agreements for that content and be able to assemble and price their services and compete for customers. This ability to create products and services and to differentiate themselves from their competitors is the cornerstone of a vibrant and competitive marketplace.”