companies last night.

And the row went public when Bermuda Broadcasting Company general manager Mr.

Rick Richardson blasted VSB owner Mr. Ken Defontes on the TV and radio news for manipulating a broadcasting watchdog body.

But Mr. Defontes hit back, in an interview with The Royal Gazette claiming Mr.

Richardson should "get his facts right''.

The squabble is over the ZFB TV 7 show Realty Bermuda which looks at property on the market on the Island. The programme, which has been running for some weeks, goes into some of the more expensive properties available. It details points about each home and then gives the price, normally in the hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars.

VSB reporter Mr. Bryan Darby contacted Mr. Richardson yesterday to determine whether the station had been informed by the Broadcast Commissioners' chairperson Mrs. Louise Jackson over Realty Bermuda breaking advertising allowances. It was suggested that the programme would have to be taken off the air.

It started an angry exchange between the reporter and the BBC general manager on the radio and was then repeated on a VSB TV 11 broadcast in the evening.

Mr. Richardson told The Royal Gazette that there had been no communication whatsoever from Mrs. Jackson.

He repeated accusations that Mr. Defontes was behind the report, trying to get Realty Bermuda off the air.

Mr. Richardson said: "I have had no communication with Mrs. Jackson, however there has been some communication between our marketing people and Ken Defontes.'' Adding that Mr. Defontes had a "more than chummy'' relationship with Mr. Jim Pitman, one of the top men in Government's telecommunications department, he said: "Somehow when we are doing anything it is inadvertently passed on to Mr. Pitman.

"We knew that when we went on the air with a new programme and Ken Defontes had a problem with it that suddenly Mr. Pitman would have a problem with it too.

"We know and understand where the complaints are coming from. We also know there is some kind of pettiness going on.

"From a professional point of view we basically do not want to get involved in a `to and fro' with Mr. Pitman. We will take no action unless it is confirmed outright by Mrs. Jackson.'' Mr. Richardson added that the station has already been a victim of a similar incident when the Walton Brown programme was taken off the air, following reports that the Broadcasting Commissioners were going to complain. But Mrs.

Jackson denied she had even seen the programme according to Mr. Richardson.

He said: "As far as we are concerned there is nothing wrong with Realty Bermuda.'' Mr. Defontes said he did not want to comment on the issue itself, but he said: "I do not control the Broadcasting Commissioners.

"Mr. Richardson should get his facts right before he makes statements like this. I have nothing more to say.'' He added that the Broadcasting Commissioners had been tough since they were set up to regulate the broadcast media.

Mrs. Jackson could not be contacted for comment last night.

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