# Antigua Broadcasting Service

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The **Antigua Broadcasting Service** (**ABS**)[1] is the state-controlled[2] broadcaster of [Antigua and Barbuda](/source/Antigua_and_Barbuda). It operates one radio station and one television channel, the latter being the country's only channel, outside of cable.[3]

## History

Radio arrived to Antigua and Barbuda in the 1940s but was limited to relays of external services, the [BBC World Service](/source/BBC_World_Service) and the [Voice of America](/source/Voice_of_America). At the time, few people could afford to buy a radio.[4] ABS started radio broadcasts in June 1962, useful for disseminating emergency information.[5]

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](/source/Bermuda). It also had a transmitter in [Montserrat](/source/Montserrat), a British overseas territory, on channel 7.[6] In the mid-1970s, facing financial problems, ZAL-TV was acquired by ABS and subsequently nationalised.[4] By then ABS-TV added a second transmitter in the Dutch territory of [Sint-Maarten](/source/Sint-Maarten) (on channel 8).[7]

In May 2024, ABS received equipment donations from China's [CMG](/source/China_Media_Group).[8] The deals with CMG have been scrutinised because of the PRC's regime's stance on media control, causing concern from some people.[9] 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.[10]

## References

1. lynroy.samuel (2017-02-23). ["Opposition leader charges no access to state media"](https://antiguaobserver.com/opposition-leader-charges-no-access-to-state-media/). *Antigua Observer Newspaper*. Retrieved 2025-01-24.

1. ["Broadcast media - The World Factbook"](https://web.archive.org/web/20240205002254/https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/about/archives/2023/field/broadcast-media). *CIA*. Archived from [the original](https://www.cia.gov/the-world-factbook/about/archives/2023/field/broadcast-media/) on February 5, 2024. Retrieved 2025-04-12.

1. ["Antigua and Barbuda media guide"](https://www.bbc.com/news/world-latin-america-18706082). *[BBC News](/source/BBC_News)*

1. 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

1. ["Hurricane Precautions, 1962"](https://dloc.com/UF00076853/00354/images/1). *The Antigua, Montserrat & Virgin Islands Gazette*. [Digital Library of the Caribbean](/source/Digital_Library_of_the_Caribbean). July 19, 1962. ...the news will be broadcast by The Antigua Broadcasting Service 644 kilocycles at regular intervals...

1. ["Television Factbook"](https://www.worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1966-TV-Factbook/Television-Factbook-36-1966.pdf). 1966. p. 843-b. Retrieved 24 January 2025.

1. ["Television Factbook"](https://worldradiohistory.com/Archive-BC-YB/1977-TV-Factbook/1977-TV-Factbook.pdf). 1977. p. 1086-b. Retrieved 31 March 2021.

1. ["ABS receives cutting-edge equipment from China Media Group"](https://abstvradio.com/abs-receives-cutting-edge-equipment-from-china-media-group/). *ABS*. May 24, 2024.

1. ["Communist China, notorious for its strict control over the media has just inked a deal with ABS"](https://antiguanewsroom.com/communist-china-notorious-for-its-strict-control-over-the-media-has-just-inked-a-deal-with-abs/). *Antigua Newsroom*. 26 January 2024.

1. ["Plans Announced to Expand ABS’s Presence and Upgrade Facilities"](https://antiguanewsroom.com/plans-announced-to-expand-abss-presence-and-upgrade-facilities/). *Antigua Newsroom*. December 12, 2024.

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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Antigua Broadcasting Service](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigua_Broadcasting_Service) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antigua_Broadcasting_Service?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.