Business Access Television (BATV) has secured a contract with telecommunications provider FLOW to send the BATV signal to 13 countries across the region by May.

A subsidiary of Wealth Magazine, BATV was launched in 2015 in partnership with FLOW, which operates a state-of-the-art submarine fibre network in the region through its parent company Cable and Wireless Communications.

The television station’s thrust into the Caribbean market will see BATV airing business-focused programmes in Trinidad and Tobago, St Lucia, the Cayman Islands, The Bahamas, Barbados, Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, British Virgin Islands, Curaçao, Dominica, Grenada, St Kitts and Nevis, and St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Co-founder and CEO Garth Walker, in an interview with the Jamaica Observer, said following the roll-out, focus will be placed on larger markets such as Trinidad and Tobago, St Lucia, Cayman, Barbados and The Bahamas, where the company reckons it can carve out larger spends in advertising dollars.

“What we have found is there is a lot of meaningful content that was previously overlooked because it was not entertainment based. There was a need for more business-based content, and BATV has filled that void in Jamaica and we intend to continue to do so across the Caribbean,” Walker said.

He reasoned that BATV‘ s expansion across the region is to allow the company to tap into budgets from brands that want a regional presence, as well as exporting domestic businesses to regional markets and bringing businesses to Jamaica. Walker has already begun the process of creating packages for clients seeking to advertise locally as well as those wishing to advertise across the Caribbean.

The television station, which is also the product of local businessman Leighton Davis, will be strategic in benchmarking American basic cable and satellite television Cable News Network (CNN) as part of its regional programme.

“So on Sunday our flagship programme is Wealth Magazine Business Access. This week you may be watching Chris Willis in Jamaica and next week you’re watching John Brown from Trinidad. The following week it may be a CEO from Cayman. That’s how we will continue to regionalise the product,” Walker said.

The CEO, while declining to state total spend for the expansion, noted that BATV’s current programming will be changed to reflect top business stories across the region, as opposed to top business stories in Jamaica.

As it relates to competition, Walker told the Business Observer: “When you look on the landscape now, competition would be the traditional media, but when you look at the regional market there is no product like BATV that focuses 95 per cent on business,” he said.

BATV currently has on staff 24 individuals. Walker reasoned that hires in the Jamaica might hedge upwards, depending on supply and demand; however, the company will be seeking correspondents throughout the Caribbean to produce news content.

“In the initial stage you may find that we will send a host to cover a programme, but eventually we will contract a correspondent in each country,” he said.

BATV first announced plans to expand across the Caribbean region in 2016. The company, after settling an agreement with Digicel Play for its business and lifestyle-focused content in Trinidad and Barbados, recently signed an agreement with FLOW to distribute content across 13 countries.

Signature programmes for the television station include Wealth Magazine Business Access, On Point, Creating Wealth, and Chill Spot.