clarify their broadcasting arrangement for the Olympics.

The letter, from programme director Ms Jannell Ford, follows a Saturday incident in which Cablevision's Olympic coverage was stopped for about 15 minutes.

The stoppage resulted in angry calls to Cablevision, ZBM and The Royal Gazette . Many of the callers blamed ZBM for the interruption.

But Bermuda Broadcasting chief executive Mr. Rick Richardson said later that ZBM was not at fault.

"The fact that our arrangement went wrong was not our problem,'' he told The Royal Gazette . "In fact, we called Cablevision to fix it.'' On Monday, Ms Ford wrote to Mr. Don Greiner, Cablevision's general manager, to clarify the situation.

"The Bermuda Broadcasting Company through its affiliation with the CBS Network has exclusive rights to broadcast the Winter Olympic Games in Bermuda,'' her letter said.

"But notwithstanding this, and balancing the needs of the public with the needs of our advertisers, we entered into an agreement with Bermuda Cablevision.

"Our understanding of the agreement is as follows: "If Cable Channel 18 is carrying the same Olympic coverage that the Bermuda Broadcasting Company is carrying, Channel 18 will carry the BBC signal.

"However, if the Bermuda Broadcasting Company is not carrying the Olympic Games, or if Cable 18 is carrying something absolutely different to the BBC coverage, we have given the client latitude to carry the coverage that is being aired on Channel 18.

"This was our understanding of the agreement following a very cordial meeting earlier this month with yourself and ... Mr. Rick Richardson. I do hope this further clarifies matters, so that all of us can benefit from the coverage of the Winter Olympic Games.''