EPL and World Cup coming to CMV?

Football fans in Jamaica will be able to watch the upcoming FIFA World Cup on local free-to-air television station CVM-TV, following its acquisition by VertiCast Media Group.

CVM was recently acquired by VertiCast which holds the local broadcasting rights for the international tournament as well as the English Premier League (EPL).

Verticast, a newcomer to local and regional media, confirmed the news on Thursday as part of its plans to incorporate the station into its business.

CVM, which is Jamaica’s second-largest television station, opened its doors in 1993 and broadcasts news, sports, and entertainment content 24 hours a day. In 2006, the company was bought by Michael Lee-Chin’s AIC Barbados Limited. However, it has continuously lagged behind its main competitor, TVJ, for market share.

The news of the World Cup broadcast comes CEO and President of VertiCast, Oliver McIntosh, also hinted on Taking Stock with Kalilah Reynolds, that the EPL will be aired on the station at some point.

“It doesn’t take a scientist to put two and two together. If VertiCast owns the rights to the premier league and Verticast now owns CVM, then the two will come together at some point,” VertiCast’s CEO said.

McIntosh emphasised, however, that CVM will not become a sports-only station.

“CVM will not become CVM Sports, it will remain a variety channel,” he said.

The CEO said his team has hit the ground running. He said they are committed to improving the quality and reach of CVM’s broadcast.

“We have immediately endeavoured to tour all the CVM tower sites… It’s not enough for us to hear reports on how our assets are performing,” he said.

“We not only go to the towers but we bring our TVs and put up our antennas to see what the signal is like so that we can make the necessary changes,” he added.

Combining digital and traditional media

VertiCast launched the streaming side of its operations in August and McIntosh says that the uptake of its services has surpassed expectations.

“We have cable operators in twenty countries and we have subscriptions from across the region – from the English speaking Caribbean, to the Spanish-speaking to the French-speaking Caribbean,” he revealed.

McIntosh said that adding a free-to-air TV station to VeritCast’s portfolio is the perfect way to mesh present and future media.

“We know that digital media is the future. But, where we are today, most eyes are on cable and over-the-air television and most ears are plugged into radio,” he said.

“The Verti in VertiCast comes from vertically integrating these platforms and taking advantage of what is the most used platforms today and developing that to where people are migrating to,” he added.

Verticast IPO?

Meanwhile, McIntosh said that raising capital on the stock market is not in the cards now, but the company will reevaluate in 18 months.

“We’re just now getting our feet wet. We’re integrating CVM into the VertiCast group right now and we have a lot of work to do to meet the expectation that’s been set by this acquisition,” he explained.

“Our expectation is that once we prove the model and we execute as we know we can and we have committed to, then we look at what the options are,” he added.

The CEO also said that the company is not immediately looking at any more acquisitions.

“This was the big one. What we’re looking to do is prove this model, but we are having discussions with others about partnerships,” he said.

WATCH THE INTERVIEW HERE

Sashell Williams2024-09-03T21:40:31-05:00