ESPN Responsible for Blackout, Innovative Apologizes to MLB

ESPN Responsible for Blackout, Innovative Apologizes to MLB

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla., Oct. 6 /PRNewswire/ -- Following an admission by ESPN that it was to blame for the television blackout of Major League Baseball playoff games in the U.S. Virgin Islands on Monday, Innovative Communication Corporation today apologized to Major League Baseball for the error.

"All of us at Innovative and our cable television operations sincerely apologize to Commissioner Bud Selig and Major League Baseball for publicly telling our viewers they were responsible for the blackout," said Rene A. Henry, ICC's vice president of public relations. "We further apologize to the Commissioner and MLB for any embarrassment and public relations image that may have resulted.

"I hope that officials of ESPN will not only apologize to our customers and television viewers throughout the Virgin Islands, but apologize also to Commissioner Selig and MLB for falsely accusing them for this crisis," Henry said.

"When ESPN told us that MLB refused to license the telecast of the games on Innovative Cable TV because the Virgin Islands are not part of the continental U.S., it again raised an extremely sensitive issue that permeates throughout the entire Caribbean basin," he added. "Alaska and Hawaii are not part of the continental U.S., but the U.S. Virgin Islands are."

"To insure this never happens again, we thank Congresswoman Donna Christian Christianson (D-USVI) for her intervention and continued involvement," said Sen. Holland L. Redfield, II, Innovative's vice president for corporate affairs. "This is another reason it is now time to look into the entire issue of how the networks are dealing with television rights throughout the Caribbean."

"Many sports and entertainment programmers and networks treat television and cable companies in the Caribbean as second-class citizens, so we had no reason to not believe what ESPN was telling us," said Henry.

"There was a similar blackout of playoff games in 2003 also without any advance notice from ESPN. When we went public with a news release, the problem was quickly resolved. Tuesday, Nate Smeltz, a spokesperson for ESPN, first told Innovative Cable TV 'that the blackout was MLB's problem.' Later Smeltz told reporters at The Virgin Islands Daily News that 'It was all ESPN's fault' and the blackout was lifted. And, our switchboards were flooded with customers who vehemently complained about the blackout."

Innovative Communication Corporation is a privately held telecom and media company with management offices in West Palm Beach, Fla. and headquarters in St. Croix, U.S.V.I. Its operations are throughout the U.S. and British Virgin Islands, Sint Maarten, Saint-Martin, Guadeloupe, Martinique, Belize and France.

Source: Innovative Communication Corporation

CONTACT: Rene A. Henry, Innovative Communication Corporation, +1-561-514-0600, or Rene_Henry@iccvi.com

------- Profile: Ent