Antigua Broadcasting Service

State-owned broadcaster of Antigua and Barbuda

The Antigua Broadcasting Service (ABS)[1] is the state-controlled[2] broadcaster of Antigua and Barbuda. It operates one radio station and one television channel, the latter being the country's only channel, outside of cable.[3]

## History

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Radio arrived to Antigua and Barbuda in the 1940s but was limited to relays of external services, the BBC World Service and the Voice of America. At the time, few people could afford to buy a radio.[4] ABS started radio broadcasts in June 1962, useful for disseminating emergency information.[5]

Television started with ZAL-TV, channel 10, in 1965. A private company at the outset, it had a predominantly expatriate staff in its early years, and had an affiliation agreement with a television station in Bermuda. It also had a transmitted in Montserrat, a British overseas territory, on channel 7.[6] In the mid-1970s, facing financial problems, ZAL-TV was acquired by ABS and subsequently nationalised.[4] By then ABS-TV added a second transmitter in the Dutch territory of Sint-Maarten (on channel 8).[7]

In May 2024, ABS received equipment donations from China's CMG.[8] The deals with CMG have been scrutinised because of the PRC's regime's stance on media control, causing concern from some people.[9] In December 2024, ABS announced the possibility of setting up a bureau in the island of Barbuda and expand the extant facilities in the island of Antigua.[10]

## References

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1. ^ lynroy.samuel (2017-02-23). "Opposition leader charges no access to state media". Antigua Observer Newspaper. Retrieved 2025-01-24.
2. ^ "Broadcast media - The World Factbook". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 2025-04-12.
3. ^ "Antigua and Barbuda media guide". BBC News.
4. ^ a b Antigua’s Media: Now and Then by Milton Benjamin (published in Volume 13 Number 1, Spring 2007 of the CLR James Journal: A Review of Caribbean Ideas, a publication of the Caribbean Philosophical
5. ^ "Hurricane Precautions, 1962". The Antigua, Montserrat & Virgin Islands Gazette. Digital Library of the Caribbean. July 19, 1962. "...the news will be broadcast by The Antigua Broadcasting Service 644 kilocycles at regular intervals..."
6. ^ "Television Factbook" (PDF). 1966. p. 843-b. Retrieved 24 January 2025.
7. ^ "Television Factbook" (PDF). 1977. p. 1086-b. Retrieved 31 March 2021.
8. ^ "ABS receives cutting-edge equipment from China Media Group". ABS. May 24, 2024.
9. ^ "Communist China, notorious for its strict control over the media has just inked a deal with ABS". Antigua Newsroom. 26 January 2024.
10. ^ "Plans Announced to Expand ABS's Presence and Upgrade Facilities". Antigua Newsroom. December 12, 2024.