CABLEVISION customers have no legal right to demand the company maintain its advertised line-up of channels or television stations, the has learned.

The news will come as a disappointment to thousands of fans across the island, several of whom called this newspaper this week complaining that the show had disappeared from their screens. Under present law, the company is obliged to provide consistent viewing to customers ? but only as long as it is in its power to do so.

"There is no legal obligation imposed upon the Cable TV companies to continue to carry a channel that a customer may have purchased, when the cable company no longer has access to that channel," explained a spokesperson for the Telecommunications Department.

A similar opinion was offered by Consumer Affairs. According to a spokesperson, local cable providers do not come under programming scrutiny unless a complaint is lodged. Should that happen, an investigation is then launched under the auspices of the Telecommunications Ministry.

Years of channel changes which saw popular programmes replaced without prior customer notification or subsequent explanation were this week addressed by Bermuda CableVision.

General manager Jeremy Elmas laid the blame for the viewing disruptions on the conversion from analog to digital transmission and an increasing trend by satellite operators to steer power towards the "larger, more lucrative" US customer base.

"As a result, Bermuda is frequently outside the satellite footprints for the digital transmissions," Mr. Elmas said. "We make every effort to retain programming that we have in our channel line-up ? however, when doing so is outside our control, we are forced to replace the programming with as close a substitute as possible."

Mr. Elmas issued his comments in response to a column which appeared in this newspaper last week, lamenting the loss of the popular American quiz show, . The show disappeared with the rest of Channel Six two weeks ago.

Channel Six returned last week, replacing and the game show Whwith two American celebrity gossip programmes ? and .

In addition to WDIV, which carriedand , Mr. Elmas said the "industry conversion to digital over the past few years" had also affected stations NTV and CHCH. Newfoundland TV, a Canadian station, was replaced with 24-hour religious programming. CHCH, also a Canadian channel, was replaced with a range of American programmes.

Added the Telecommunications spokesperson: "The Ministry would look at each situation individually. We have only had one similar complaint recently, which was investigated and found that the reported change was outside the control of the Cable company involved."

This reporter received several calls from viewers upset by the loss of the popular shows. The most touching came from an 86-year-old widow, a long-time fan whose daughter would visit every weeknight so they could watch the show together.

Other callers criticised CableVision's apparent lack of regard for its customers, many certain that had they bothered to voice their disappointment at the loss of shows, nothing would change. Supporting that theory was one resident whose letter of dissatisfaction has gone unanswered for two months.

"Over the past few years we have had several inquiries regarding channel changes that have been made to our line-up," said Mr. Elmas. "A majority of the changes have been precipitated as a result of the conversion from analog to digital transmission on the satellites. This transition is being made in order to improve picture quality, and free up more space on each satellite.

"Satellite operators have been increasingly turning the majority of their transmission power toward the United States to serve their larger, more lucrative customer base. We strive to offer all the programming that our viewers want, and will continue to do so. We apologise to our customers for any inconvenience these changes may have caused."