By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

LESS than one percent of Cable Bahamas' monthly viewership came from people watching Fox News, and among news-watchers, only five percent watched the conservative channel, Cable Bahamas' vice president of marketing and media, David Burrows said yesterday.

His comments came as The Tribune continued to receive angry emails from fans of the channel after it was removed from Cable Bahamas' line-up. Some people, with no evidence to support their claim, insisted the channel's elimination was part of a wider anti-conservative agenda.

In fact, Mr Burrows said keeping the channel made little business sense for the company. Highlighting the disparity between the cost and popularity of the channel, he said Cable Bahamas pays less than one-third the price of Fox News for a rival news channel that experiences 300 percent more viewership.

"It's a very delicate thing, removing a channel," he acknowledged, adding the decision to eliminate Fox News was made after a lengthy period of deliberation. "These are our customers. We respect them. But in The Bahamas we do not get the same rates for basic cable television as providers get in the US. It is incumbent on us as a cable/television provider to understand cost implications over a period of time."

The decision to eliminate Fox News was made as the cost of the channel was set to increase.

An email sent to The Tribune from a Fox news publicist, Teresa Rivera, vice president of international distribution for Fox News, appeared to dispute this, saying: "Fox News kept the rates flat for all co-op members."

But Mr Burrows said this is "disingenuous".

"Cost remains flat for year one and two," he explained, "but we have a five-year agreement. With the new contract, cost would now go up 20 percent on top of the 43 percent it has already increased over the past five years. By 2022, the price would have gone up 63 percent."

He added: "We have shareholders and customers. Our product must maintain some level of profitability. Fox News is the most-watched news channel in the US, but here the demographic is just different. It's not nearly as popular. Of course, we don't make these decisions simply based on profitability. We ask ourselves, first of all, is there an alternative as we are cognizant of the fact people desire another perspective of news. When we heard what the cost increase was going to be we were presented with an alternative. By embracing that alternative, the perspective shared by Fox News will still be in our market."

That alternative is One America News Network, which Cable Bahamas last week said is the fastest growing conservative news channel in the US.