The Antigua Broadcasting Service (ABS) is the state-controlled broadcaster of

Antigua and Barbuda Antigua and Barbuda is a Sovereign state, sovereign archipelagic country composed of Antigua, Barbuda, and List of islands of Antigua and Barbuda, numerous other small islands. Antigua and Barbuda has a total area of 440 km2 (170 sq mi), ...

. It operates one radio station and one television channel, the latter being the country's only channel, outside of cable.

History

Radio arrived to Antigua and Barbuda in the 1940s but was limited to relays of external services, the

BBC World Service The BBC World Service is a British Public broadcasting, public service broadcaster owned and operated by the BBC. It is the world's largest external broadcaster in terms of reception area, language selection and audience reach. It broadcas ...

and the

Voice of America Voice of America (VOA or VoA) is an international broadcasting network funded by the federal government of the United States that by law has editorial independence from the government. It is the largest and oldest of the American internation ...

. At the time, few people could afford to buy a radio.Antigua’s Media: Now and Then by Milton Benjamin (published in Volume 13 Number 1, Spring 2007 of the CLR James Journal: A Review of Caribbean Ideas, a publication of the Caribbean Philosophical ABS started radio broadcasts in June 1962, useful for disseminating emergency information. Television started with ZAL-TV, channel 10, in 1965. A private company at the outset, it had a predominantly expatriate staff in its early years, and had an affiliation agreement with a television station in

Bermuda Bermuda is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean. The closest land outside the territory is in the American state of North Carolina, about to the west-northwest. Bermuda is an ...

. It also had a transmitted in

Montserrat Montserrat ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, wit ...

, a British overseas territory, on channel 7. In the mid-1970s, facing financial problems, ZAL-TV was acquired by ABS and subsequently nationalised. By then ABS-TV added a second transmitter in the Dutch territory of Sint-Maarten (on channel 8). In May 2024, ABS received equipment donations from China's CMG. The deals with CMG have been scrutinised because of the PRC's regime's stance on media control, causing concern from some people. In December 2024, ABS announced the possibility of setting up a bureau in the island of Barbuda and expand the extant facilities in the island of Antigua.

References

{{reflist Radio stations established in 1962 Television channels and stations established in 1965 Organisations based in Antigua and Barbuda