BERMUDA CableVision announced yesterday it had reached a settlement with the US motion picture companies that had accused it of piracy.

And that has helped to clear the way for an influx of potentially hundreds of new TV channels for CableVision subscribers on a new digital service expected to begin operating in some areas by next spring.

Eight of America's biggest motion picture companies, including Twentieth Century Fox, Time Warner, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, and Disney Enterprises, sued CableVision in the American courts last year for alleged non-payment of millions of dollars for the use of unlicensed programmes since 1988.

CableVision general manager Jeremy Elmas said yesterday that details of the settlement had to remain secret under a confidentiality clause agreed by the parties - but it appears likely that the company had to pay out tens of millions of dollars.

A writ filed in a federal court in New York earlier this year alleged that the $23 million that CableVision had allegedly put aside to settle the dispute was a "fraction" of what was owed.

According to the writ, CableVision had been pirating the services since 1988 by showing programmes such as HBO, Showtime and the Movie Channel without a licence.

The deal brings to an end more than 12 years of litigation and negotiations and will make the local cable supplier the only operator outside the US that now has access to these channels.

Announcing the settlement and the new digital service yesterday, Mr. Elmas said: "We are pleased this settlement has been reached and that we have now regularised our situation with the programming suppliers.

"Best of all, we are glad that CableVision was able to reach this milestone for Bermuda and our customers. As a result, we will be able to offer them many more more channels including multiple screens of movie channels from HBO and Cinemax as well as some exciting new channels such as Flix and Sundance."

The digital service will bring with it the capacity for up to 1,200 new channels. And CableVision plans to install a new digital cable control centre by February next year and to have new digital channels on offer to customers who want them by the spring.

The digital service will be optional for subscribers and those who want it will need to obtain a new digital converter box. All customers will still need only one converter box.

Mr. Elmas said: "Digital technology brings a number of benefits to customers, including improved picture quality and reliability, the capacity to add hundreds of new channels as well as interactive services such as video-on-demand digital quality musical services and interactive television.

"We are pleased to make this move to digital, which is possible thanks to the progress we have achieved on our new broadband network, which is now more than 60 per cent complete."

The digital service will first be offered in places where the new network is fully complete.

"We plan to introduce about 40 new digital channels this spring, including ten new pay-per-view channels as well as multiplex screens of the top movie channels," added Mr. Elmas.

"We are also looking into rearranging our tiers so that customers can more easily choose the channels that interets them most."

According to a CableVision postal survey, the most frequently requested new channels are The Disney Channel, multiplex feeds of premium movie channels, Lifetime Movies and BBC America.

As a result of the survey, Mr. Elmas said the comapny was now in discussions with programme suppliers to provide the extra channels customers wanted.