March 9, 2004
Bahamian Cable Dispute Makes US Crabby
Via pho comes a link here: (see also here)
“Scarcely a week passes in this world when the United States Government or the agglomeration of European countries that together rule the world don’t come up with some scheme or other to try to blackmail developing countries into doing things that will in some way harm their national interest. Now the latest thing is the United States Trade Office proposes to put The Bahamas on a list that will stop us from trading our crawfish to the United States. Their decision may also affect our tourist trade.
And so we are scrambling round to do what the FNM government was supposed to do from 31st December 2000. An amendment to the Copyright Act was to have been passed to limit the scope of compulsory licensing that Hubert Ingraham and his cronies passed to allow Cable Bahamas to take the signal down from the satellite in English and broadcast it. A fee would have to be paid, and this would be turned over to the copyright holder. Except that the US in support of its copyright owners, the Motion Picture Association of America said no dice. They refused to take the money and it is piled up in a bank account in Nassau. And they refuse to enter into negotiations as contemplated by the agreement between the Ingraham Government and the US and now one which the Christie Government has to enforce.
The rubber may hit the road as early as April. No amount of pleading and imploring has moved the position of US Government agencies on these matters, as President Aristide found out, you don’t mess with the big boys. The U.S. would bring the whole Bahamian economy crashing down on our heads just to make the point that they don’t want us to have their motion picture broadcasts in English because the market is too small for them to bother. But if compulsory licensing catches on, then the larger markets will try and it and they’re sunk. So compulsory licensing in The Bahamas has to go. Cable Bahamas isn’t worth the trouble. But there is always something that smacks of unfairness in all of this.”
(Ok, so crabby was a stretch from crawfish – but I had to say it).
Filed by Derek Slater at 12:32 am under 
1 Comment
Bahamian sat “piracy” is part of the official excuse for the proposed (and vile) WIPO Broadcast Treaty — the nonsensicality of this is compounded by the fact that the Bahamas isn’t a WIPO signatory!