ongoing battle for exclusives between Bermuda's two television stations.

While at a noon press conference in the fourth-floor board room of the Bank of Bermuda -- called to promote the their upcoming triathlon -- Mr. Comber was politely told by the bank's PR staff that he wasn't welcome because ZBM had exclusive rights to cover the triathlon.

Mr. Comber was in the company of VSB sports reporter Don Burgess, who also covers the sports beat for the Bermuda Sun.

"They weren't sure who I was with and when I told them, they said VSB wasn't invited,'' Mr. Comber said. "They were very polite about it, there was no friction or anything like that. When I said `even at a press conference' they said yes, so I left. Maybe I should've stood my ground.

"It's becoming fairly typical of our competition with ZBM -- these exclusive arrangements.'' Mr. Burgess, who was invited to attend as the Sun's reporter, was also informed by bank staff that "ZBM had exclusive rights for all triathlon coverage.'' "It's their board room and they can certainly decide who's in or out. But if ZBM weren't afraid of competing against VSB, they would have a level playing field and would let the public decide,'' said Mr. Burgess.

The triathlon, which takes place on September 29 (teams) and October 6 (individual), is sanctioned by the Bermuda Triathlon Association and has been going on for the past 15 years. It was initially sponsored by Sun Life Canada; the Bank of Bermuda assumed the corporate banner in 1991.

This is the first time the issue of exclusivity has come up however, said the Association's vice-president Patrick Hackenberg.

"Dissemination of information is not part of our operation and I think the bank has the ability to give exclusives to whomever they'd like,'' he said.

"But to have exclusivity for an event like this on an island the size of Bermuda. That could be difficult.'' The Bank of Bermuda's Elizabeth Ward expressed regret over the incident.

"We made a mistake and we've phoned VSB and apologised for it,'' she said.

"I hope it ends there.''