Muslims not happy with CCTT’s ‘right mix’

In response to the recent protest against the Cable Company of TT (CCTT), the company has explained the position it has taken. CCTT claims that within recent months, it has been approached by a “number of entities,” including religious groups, for assigned channels. The company stated that at present it was “channel capacity-constrained,” and was unable to accommodate any of the requests for dedicated channels. The release stated that CCTT was in the process of upgrading its system, and the capacity to add new channels would be available when the upgrade was complete. Even when the upgrade is completed, CCTT said it would not be able to facilitate all groups that wish to have a specially assigned channel. As a result of this, rather than addressing individual religious organisations, CCTT intended to meet with the Inter Religious Organisation (IRO), the umbrella group that represents religious groups in TT, to discuss and review the delivery of religious content for the “diverse requirements of TT.”

The company expressed hope that the “right mix” of religious programming could be found to meet the demands of the market, as well as CCTT customers. However, Inshan Ishmael, spokesperson for the group that staged the protest outside CCTT last week, said, “We will not take a backseat.” He said his group would not accept the conditions that CCTT was providing, saying the IRO had been previously accused of being biased, and questioned whether an allegedly biased group should be trusted with the “right mix” the cable company was planning. In response to the progress the group is making with regards to getting their own station, Ishmael said they met yesterday with Legal Affairs Minister Danny Montano, and were “pleased with the meeting.” Ishmael added that he was heartened to see the amount of support he was receiving from the public. He said last week’s support was not as widespread as it now is, and even employees of CCTT are supporting them in their plight. Ishmael added that CCTT cannot now renege on the previous agreement made, reinforcing his conviction that CCTT must make good on the agreement to give Muslims their own channel.