The Broadcasting Commission of Jamaica (BCJ) has noted the announcement of a plan for the merger of the media assets of Radio Jamaica Limited and the Gleaner Company Limited. Both entities or their subsidiaries operate electronic media outlets.

On July 13th 2015 the Gleaner announced its Silver Pen awardee for the month of May. The Silver Pen is an important award, which encourages free expression by citizens. However, this particular award is a sad travesty, as the winning letter was merely an angry and ill-informed diatribe that contained a number of serious and offensive errors.

The Observer published an article on Friday July 3, 2015 titled "Jamming for More Reggae". Reference was made to a call by Danny Browne, Chairman of the Jamaica Music Society (JAMMS), for a mandated quota of Jamaican content on local radio. Browne also reportedly said that only local content should be played on radio during reggae month. The article then said that the Executive Director of the Broadcasting Commission was not in favour of Browne's call.

I write in reference to the Gleaner Editorial published on Tuesday June 2, 2015, which contained a statement to the effect that the Minister of Information, Senator Sandrea Falconer had overruled the Commission’s Directive to local cable operators requiring the removal of 19 unlicensed channels. This did not occur. The Commission was not overruled. There is no provision in law that would support such an action.

Following consultations with stakeholders and the Office of the Prime Minister, the Broadcasting Commission decided today to extend by three months the implementation of the Directive issued on 24th April 2015, pending further consultations and consideration of the issues.

Cable television operators in Jamaica are required to comply with local and international copyright laws and regulations, particularly relating to the channels and programmes that they sell to subscribers.