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India's Caribbean odyssey ends in losses for TV networks

A combination of weak corporate advertising and high costs of production are believed to have contributed to a loss of $ 500,000 for the Caribbean Broadcasting Union for its coverage of the Indian national cricket team's tour of the West Indies in April and May.

The CBU, a regional consortium of broadcasters which provides programming mainly to the English-speaking islands of the Caribbean, issued a statement saying it remains committed to airing the West Indies cricket matches, but the existing level of loss is unbearable. "The CBU cannot do this alone,'' a spokesman said

The CBU reaches about five million people in the Caribbean with sports and news programming in English. Recently, the group provided decoders to Cuba's state-controlled media allowing that nation to broadcast the group's programming. About eight million potential viewers in Cuba could be added to the CBU's reach, though the programming would have to be translated into Spanish.

Cricket is played primarily in former British colonies in the region, though its popularity in many countries has waned in recent decades. The length of the matches, particularly the Tests, makes broadcasting them more costly to produce than other sporting events.