Mrs. Dolly Mills cuts the ceremonial ribbon as her husband Pastor Silbert Mills addresses viewers during the live official launch of their new television network Bahamas Christian Network (BCN) on Saturday, February 28, 2009 at BCN Studios, Dundas Town, Abaco. (BIS Photo/Sharon Turner)On Saturday, Feb 28, 2009, Prime Minister Hubert Ingraham and Minister of National Security with Responsibility for Broadcasting Tommy Turnquest were present and spoke during the official opening of the new TV station BCN ? Bahama Christian Network ? in Murphy Town, Abaco. The station, owned and operated by Radio Abaco broadcaster Silbert Mills, was made possible through its granting of a national television license which was received late in 2008.

Mr. Mills advised that BCN Television will be a 24-hour network on made available on cable channel 55, or on digital cable channel 660. The format of the station, he advised, would be 50 per cent pre-recorded church programmes, ten per cent news and talk, 15 per cent youth-based programmes and ten per cent singing and other programmes.

Below are the remarks brought by Prime Minister Ingraham and the Hon. Tommy Turnquest.

Remarks by the Hon. Tommy Turnquest, Minister of National Security
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I am always pleased to be part of history in the making in our Bahamas.

Today, it is the official launch of the first television station in the Family Islands, and I am especially delighted to do so as Minister responsible for Broadcasting. It is a television station that opens new vistas for Abaco, and gives it a new voice. What the people of Abaco will watch, and the new voice it will hear, will come to them from the Bahamas Christian Network, BCN, with Mr Silbert Mills at its helm.

It has been said that with the constant need for information, changes in lifestyles, economic and social advancement, and the demands on families and working parents, television is stepping into many of the traditional roles of the family, the church and schools.

Television, for example, gives us the news, and provides entertainment, knowledge, education, commentary on social and economic issues, and of course, spiritual programming. Television, therefore, has powerful influence, in The Bahamas, and around the world.

BCN has determined that programs reflective of our status as a Christian nation is what will guide any influence it would exercise here in Abaco. Mr Millis and Radio Abaco have already distinguished themselves by providing important media service on Abaco, including the news insert on the island aired by an existing television station.

We are therefore satisfied that we can count on BCN to play its part by using our country?s good stories and constructive developments, particularly here in Abaco, to create quality programming that would send clear, unambiguous and positive messages to encourage and inspire our people. We would be counting on BCN to reach out to the community, and in that regard, to seek partnerships with Government and other agencies and organizations serving the community.

At the same time, would be counting on BCN not to shy away from taking up the troubling questions that raise concern, fear and anxiety in our Bahamas today. We must, for example, continue to ask ourselves questions about the impact that crime and criminality is having on our Bahamas.

We must continue to ask ourselves why our young people are prominent among those committing crime, and particularly crimes of a very violent nature.

We must continue to ask ourselves why our families are facing serious challenges, which the current global economic situation is sure to compound.

We must continue to ask ourselves why more Bahamians are choosing suicide as a solution to problems and challenges.

We must continue to ask ourselves why crime rates are significant in the Island of New Providence, and to a lesser extent, in Grand Bahama, but not in a our Family Islands.

It is our responses to the troubling questions that create the catalyst for change, whether as individuals, communities or as a nation. The responses to troubling questions here in The Bahamas no doubt account for our decisions not to accept things as they are, but to work towards making them the way they ought to be. I believe that there is a critical role for BCN in these endeavours.

I join with all those who have commended Mr Mills and his organization for launching BCN, and I wish him every success in this important endeavour. It is my hope that BCN will be a spiritual, moral and inspirational beacon for people here in Abaco, and throughout the Bahamas.
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Remarks by Rt. Hon. Hubert A. Ingraham, Prime Minister & Member of Parliament for North Abaco

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am happy to join Silbert and Dolly Mills on the occasion of the official opening of the Bahamas Christian Network Television Station here in Dundas Town, Abaco.

Silbert, you are a trailblazer and an entrepreneur extraordinaire. You make your family and friends and our community here in Abaco very proud of your vision and your accomplishments. And of course, as a descendant of Mayaguana, you are a source of pride for all Mayaguanians.

Back in 1992 there was only one radio and television station in The Bahamas and that was the Government?s. In fact, it was against the law for political parties to broadcast from outside The Bahamas and ZNS was controlled by the Government of the day.

You therefore need not be a genius to figure out how difficult it was for anyone else to get on the air other than those they wanted on the air.

I suppose television was a natural next step Silbert and Dolly. It seems that it was only yesterday that they began his on-air service via VHF radio broadcasting weather reports to Abaco?s boating population during the early 1990s. The bug bit them and soon thereafter Silbert and Dolly were in search of an FM radio broadcast licence.

After being awarded that licence back in the 1990s the Mills, instead of burying their talents, invested it further. And, they prospered.

When my Government first determined, in 1993 during my first administration, to free broadcast media from Government monopoly, we issued two national licences and agreed to issue up to four restricted licences for single island coverage. Initially, only the two national licences were issued.

We were very cautious in the approval of licences because we harboured concerns as to whether the small population of our islands, and hence small advertising base, could support an unlimited number of radio stations.

And of course we know how expensive it is to operate a radio or television station because the Government owns ZNS which consumes $1million of taxpayer money every month; $250,000 every week.

The number of operation of private stations emboldened us and we ventured in 1996 to grant additional licences for radio operations in Grand Bahama, here in Abaco, and in Spanish Wells, Eleuthera.

I must say, speaking personally, there is no license which I have granted that gives me greater personal pleasure than the license I granted to Dolly and Silbert Mills.

I am happy on this occasion to commend the Mills family for the success of their broadcast business. I say with considerable pride that Radio Abaco is recognized among residents and visitors to Abaco alike for its reliable and accurate reporting whether on events transpiring in the Houses of Parliament, an approaching hurricane, or a tragic fire.
In fact, I turned to Silbert during hurricane reporting to listen to what he was saying in addition to what the Met Office was telling me in Nassau.

Needless to say, in the years following 1996 the Government came to recognize that while broadcast journalism is unlikely to make the owners of any radio station in our country wealthy in a hurry, 14 radio stations including two in Grand Bahama and one each in Abaco, Eleuthera and Exuma, continue in operation today.

While we were out of office our successors in office granted approval for the operation of a television station by Jones Communication which would air over the Cable Bahamas network. The rest, as they say is history.

Having witnessed the operation of the reliable, professional and immensely popular Radio Abaco for more than a decade, we are here today to mark the official launch of Abaco?s newest venture into broadcast communication with the official commissioning of Abaco?s first television station, the Bahamas Christian Network.

I am sure that you, like I, were very impressed when you walked into this room; I?ve not been in a station in The Bahamas like this before and I have been to them all.

Now the entire Bahamas is going to be exposed to Pastor Mills? immense talent and programming. I am confident that Pastor Mills will deliver a television service which will make not only Abaco but The Bahamas proud.

I commend both Dolly and Pastor Mills for their hard work and commitment to excellence, principles which have served them well in the operation of all their business undertakings.

I am personally, most pleased that you have taken up this challenge.

It gives me great pleasure to declare the Bahamas Christian Network Television Station officially open.