"When I got my first television set, I stopped caring so much about having close relationships." - Andy Warhol As a child growing up off Farrington Road in Nassau in the 1960s, I can still recall the day that my father brought our first television set home. It was a celebratory moment in our home and many of our neighbors and friends came over to watch our newly-acquired TV, even though there was more "snow" than picture, something that could be adjusted by the rabbit ears antennas that sat atop the TV.

It seems like such a long time ago. We believe that a crystal clear picture on our TV is an inalienable right. Last week, the dailies reported that Cable Bahamas Limited had applied to the Utilities Regulation and Competition Authority (URCA) to increase the basic cable fees by as much as 27 percent over the current costs. Therefore, this week, we would like to Consider This... should URCA approve this Cable Bahamas request?

Is such an enormous increase in keeping with its mandate and will the increase contribute negatively to our already high cost of living? The early days of TV To answer those questions, let us briefly review the history of television in The Bahamas. Long before television "invaded" our shores in the 1950s and 1960s, the normal means of obtaining news and entertainment included radio broadcasts and movie theaters, the former providing a literal lifeline to the "outside world" especially on the Family Islands.

With the advent of TV, our lives immeasurably and irreversibly changed. Not only did TV irrevocably replace the radio; for many, it forever altered Bahamian family life that had been centered around the transmission of Bahamian culture from one generation to another, when families and neighbors assembled on each other's porches for fellowship and social intercourse, instilling the values that so many of us came to embrace and appreciate.

Then in the 1970s, large, 12-foot satellite dishes adorned the yards and condominium communities of the upwardly mobile, signifying that the "snowy" TV signal was simply not good enough. The dishes were much better and the superfluous "snow" of the roof and set-top boxes was soon banished by a strikingly sharper, albeit sometimes imperfect, picture. For the better part of a decade, Atlantic Satellite Limited dominated the Bahamian ground-based satellite business, eventually replacing the huge dishes with thousands of three-foot dishes from that same company and other competing entrepreneurs.

Throughout this history there was a single exception. Freeport on Grand Bahama Island has long enjoyed cable TV and, during the slower development of cable TV in Nassau and elsewhere, Freeporters boasted for decades about being able to enjoy TV as clear as if they were in America. Cable Bahamas arrives Then, in the 1990s, the government awarded a 15-year exclusive franchise to Cable Bahamas Limited to provide cable TV to all Bahamians across the archipelago.

Cable Bahamas grew rapidly, as did varied levels of satisfaction with that service provided. The primary negative press that attended Cable Bahamas' entry into The Bahamas was the objection that there were Bahamians who wanted the opportunity to be the service provider of cable TV in The Bahamas. But that did not happen. Today, Cable Bahamas offers cable TV, Internet and telephony services. Daily it attempts to "cover The Bahamas" even better than our own Broadcasting Corporation of The Bahamas with respect to TV services and to compete head-on with Bahamas Telecommunications Company Ltd. with respect to Internet and telephone services.

In a single generation, television in The Bahamas has been radically transformed. We have come full circle from televisions with set-top and roof-top antennas to digitally generated signals that are beamed into our homes via fiber optic cables. Because Cable Bahamas has enjoyed a monopoly for 15 years, it has earned impressive profits. The company has also sold a small percentage of its common shares to the public by means of a public share offer and is listed as a public company on The Bahamas International Securities Exchange (BISX). The company has generally done well for those investors.

In 2011, Cable Bahamas acquired Systems Resources Group (SRG), one of its early competitors in the Internet business. On a consolidated basis, Cable Bahamas earned a net profit of approximately $20 million in both 2010 and 2011, although its 2011 net income reflected only eight months of operating results for SRG. The rate increase application On December 1, 2011, Cable Bahamas applied to URCA to increase the monthly rate on its basic cable package.

Cable Bahamas would like residential subscribers to pay $38 instead of the current $30 monthly fee, an increase of $8.00 or 27 percent. Similarly, the company would like its corporate subscribers to pay $63.50 instead of the current $50 monthly fee, an increase of $13.50 or 27 percent. Cable Bahamas argues that it has not increased its basic rates since 1995 and that, during that time, the cost of living, according to the Department of Statistics, has increased by 37 percent.

While the company is not seeking to increase the basic rate by the full amount of the increased cost of living, it claims that it needs an increase because programming costs have escalated, most notably in recent years. The concern which URCA must have surrounds the fact that Cable Bahamas is the only cable service provider in The Bahamas. An increase in the price of its basic cable package could result in the cancellation of such services to many customers because of an inability to pay such an increase.

This would contradict the primary mandate of Cable Bahamas which was agreed upon when the company first received its monopoly: To provide basic cable service to Bahamians. There are three questions that must be addressed. First, if it increases its rates, is Cable Bahamas living up to that promise made to the Bahamian people to provide cable service at an affordable rate to Bahamians throughout the archipelago, in return for the monopoly it was given by the government in 1995?

Secondly, given the impressive profits ($40 million) which Cable Bahamas has earned over the past two years alone, notwithstanding its increased programming costs, should the Bahamian public be asked to contribute to that company's increased profits? And third, is the public being asked to fund Cable Bahamas' expansion, such as the SRG acquisition and others that might follow? If that is the case, both Bahamians and URCA should categorically reject this rate increase request.

Conclusion The first in a series of public meetings will be held on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. at Holy Cross Anglican Church on Soldier Road, at which time Bahamians will have an opportunity to voice their views on the Cable Bahamas rate increase application. We commend URCA for organizing these public meetings and encourage Bahamians to make their voices heard. At the end of the day, if Cable Bahamas is excused from living up to its promise and rates are increased because we do not avail ourselves of such opportunities, our silence could only be construed by URCA as our collective consent to the rate increases.

We will then have no one but ourselves to blame if the rate increases are approved by URCA. Our Latin teacher at St. Augustine's College, Fr. Theophile Brown, OSB, was famous for his admonition: "Verbum sapienti sat est", which translates, "a word to the wise is sufficient". o Philip C. Galanis is the managing partner of HLB Galanis & Co., Chartered Accountants, Forensic & Litigation Support Services. He served 15 years in Parliament. Please send your comments to pgalanis@gmail.com.

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