Communications in Bermuda

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Bermuda has five television stations, a small cable microwave system, three cellular services, three submarine cables, two satellite earth stations, and four Internet service providers.

Contents

[edit] Telephone

  • Calling code: 1 441
  • Telephones - main lines in use: 48,000 (1995)
  • Telephones - mobile cellular: 6,324 (1995)
  • Telephone system:
    • domestic: modern, fully automatic telephone system
    • international: 3 submarine cables; satellite earth stations - 3 Intelsat (Atlantic Ocean)

Bermuda's telephone system is part of the North American Numbering Plan -- calls between Bermuda, the USA, Canada and most of the Caribbean requires the caller dialling "1", then the 3-digit area code, then the 7-digit number.

[edit] Radio

There are two main broadcasting companies in Bermuda: the Bermuda Broadcasting Company (BBC, not to be confused with the British BBC) and DeFontes Broadcasting Ltd.. The BBC owns four radio stations, two with the callsign ZFB and two with the callsign ZBM. VSB owns a few radio stations with the VSB callsign.

Two new licenses were also given out by the government in April 2004 to Inter-Island Communications and LLT Broadcasting. Inter-Island Communications now operates (the number 1 station in Bermuda) Hott 107.5 FM (streaming live 24/7 at http:/www.hott1075.com), although when pronouncing the name, the point is usually left out. The call sign is WHT. HOTT 107.5 plays an urban Caribbean mixture of R&B, hip hop, reggae, soca and some gospel (mainly on Sundays). The station also features several highly rated talk shows such as Bermuda Speaks, Court Radio and Medical Radio.

Although a new player in the market the station is not lacking high powered radio pedigree programmed by a Bermudian Mr. Elroy R.C. Smith who has risen to the top of the American radio industry as Billboard Monitor’s Urban Programme Director of the Year (2003) and Marconi Award Winner (2006) for Urban Station of the Year with Clear Channel's WGCI 107.5 Chicago station. This makes it less surprising that the station captured over 45% of its target market within two months of their July, 2004 launch and assumed the dominate market position across all media categories for commercial and social commentary.


LLT Broadcasting operates a Jazz station 98.1 FM, which has successfully captured a large segment of the mature listeners of the BBC stations. The station streams live at www.bdaradio.com.


American satellite radio is also available.

[edit] Television

There are two main television broadcasting companies in Bermuda: (BBC, not to be confuse with the BBC in the UK) and DeFontes Broadcasting Ltd. (VSB). The Bermuda Broadcasting is a privately held corporation. The BBC owns two television stations (an ABC and a CBS affiliate) and VSB owns one television station (an NBC affiliate). All three television stations are commercial - there is no equivalent to Canada's CBC/Radio-Canada, the US's PBS, and the UK's BBC in Bermuda. A new TV station, called Fresh Creations, is a community TV station. Another channel, called Look TV, is primarily a rolling calendar of events.

All five TV channels can theoretically be picked up over the air without the need of cable, but cable is actually necessary for reception purposes - without it reception of some channels like VSB in Hamilton is extremely bad. (See the "Media" section of Bermuda Online for details)

Recently, there has been talk [1][2][3] in the Bermudian government of creating its own TV station, saying that it is needed "to speak directly to the public 'in an unmediated and unedited fashion'"[4], while critics state that it will be no more than a propaganda exercise.

Satellite television is also used, but is unreliable, as the only satellites available are those mainly servicing the United States of America, Canada and Latin America, and is on the edge of the reception area. Digital cable is available, as is wireless.

[edit] Internet

The .bm code is controlled by the Bermuda Government's Department of Intellectual Property, a part of the Registry General and andministered by CSSD, the government's IT support group. The .bm domians are primarily granted to Licensed Businesses. Private accounts do exist, however.

[edit] Reference

Much of the material in this article is adapted from the CIA World Factbook 2000.

[edit] External links

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