Caribbean Broadcasting Union

Caribbean Broadcasting Union ^[1]

Formation	1970
Type	Union of broadcasting organisations
Headquarters	Bridgetown, Barbados
Membership	27 active members in 15 countries and dependencies
Official language	English
Website	www.caribroadcastunion.org

The Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU) founded in 1970 is a not-for-profit association of public service and commercial broadcasters in the Caribbean. Its secretariat is located in Barbados. ^{[1] [2]}

Beginning in the mid-1980s, the CBU created several regionally syndicated programmes including CaribScope , Caribbean Newsline , Caribbean News Review , Caribbean Business Weekly , Talk Caribbean, the Caribbean Song Festival, Riddim Express and the CaribVision television news exchange, among other programmes.

Leadership of the association is mainly rotated between representatives of the affiliated media houses. On 9 June 2000 the commercial operations of the CBU and the Caribbean News Agency were merged into the Caribbean Media Corporation, also based in Barbados, which has carried on the business of television production begun by the CBU.

The CBU's current mandate includes the facilitation of some broadcast services, representation, and training of the staff of member stations in support of a unified Caribbean community. It holds an Annual General Assembly (AGA) in one of the member nations every August. Member stations are drawn from the 15 member nations of the Caribbean Community, with the exception of Haiti. Other member stations are drawn from several nations in the Caribbean area. ^[2]

Membership

Full members

As of September 2025, 21 public and private organizations have full memberships. These organizations range from radio and television broadcasters, newspapers, magazines, and media educational institutions. ^[3]

Country	Broadcasting organisation	Abbr.	Year
Anguilla	Radio Anguilla
Antigua and Barbuda	Antigua and Barbuda Broadcasting Service	ABS
Bahamas	Broadcasting Corporation of the Bahamas	ZNS
Barbados	Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation	CBC
	Starcom Network
Belize	Great Belize Productions	GBP
Bermuda	Bermuda Broadcasting Company	BBC
Colombia	Teleislas		2017 [4]
Cuba	Institute of Information and Social Communication  [ es ]	ICS
Curacao	TeleCuracao
Guyana	National Communications Network	NCN
	Newsroom Guyana
Jamaica	Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica (Previously Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation)	PBSJ (JBC)
	RJRGleaner
Saint Kitts and Nevis	ZIZ Broadcasting Corporation	ZIZ
Suriname	Algemene Televisie Verzorging	ATV
	DIME Network
Trinidad and Tobago	Caribbean Communications Network	CCN
	Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago (Corporate Communications Department) [a]
	TTT Limited formerly Trinidad and Tobago Television	TTT
	Content Capital TV	WESN
Turks and Caicos Islands	Radio Turks and Caicos

Associate members

As of September 2025, 6 public and private organizations are associate members.

Country	Broadcasting organisation	Abbr.	Year
Barbados	Barbados Government Information Service [b] [7]	BGIS
	UWITV Global (University of the West Indies)	UWI
Belize	Cuban Institute of Radio and Television	ICRT
Grenada	Government Information Service [c]
Guyana	Guyana National Broadcasting Authority [d]	GNBA
Jamaica	Caribbean Institute of Media and Communication	CARIMAC

Former members

As of September 2025, a list of known former full and associate members are found from archived sources.

Country	Broadcasting organisation	Abbr.	Defunct
Cuba	Cuban Institute of Radio and Television [e] [11]	ICRT	Yes
Martinique	Martinique 1ère [11]		No
Montserrat	Radio Montserrat [11]	ZJB	No
St. Lucia	Government Information Service [f] [11]		Unknown
Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines Broadcasting Corporation (SVG-TV) [11]	SVGBC	No
Trinidad and Tobago	DirecTV Trinidad [11]		No
US Virgin Islands	Viya [11]		No

Non-member affiliates & associates

• North American National Broadcasters Association (NANBA)
• National Association of Broadcasters (NAB)
• World Broadcasting Unions (WBU)
• Commonwealth Broadcasting Association (CBA)
• Caribbean News Agency (CANA)
• European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
• Arab States Broadcasting Union (ASBU)
• Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU)
• Union des Radiodiffusion et télévisions Nationales d'Afrique (URTNA)
• Organización de Televisión Iberoamericana (OTI)
• Asociación Internacional de Radiodifusión (AIR)
• Canadian Association of Broadcasters (CBA)

List of presidents of the CBU

• 1970–1973: Ray Smith
• 1973–1975: Leo de Leon
• 1975–1976: Ron Sanders
• 1976–1980: Frits Pengel
• 1980–1984: Terrence Holder
• 1984–1987: Frits Pengel
• 1987–1991: J.A. Lester Spaulding
• 1991–1999: Vic Fernandes
• 1999–2002: Gordon “Butch” Stewart
• 2002-2013: Vic Fernandez
• 2013-2018: Shida Bolai
• 2018-2021: Gary Allen
• 2021-2022: Kayleaser Deveaux-Isaacs
• 2022-2024: Claire Grant
• 2024-Present: Anthony Greene

See also

• Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC)
• Latin American Union of News Agencies

Notes

1. Parliament of Trinidad and Tobago is under the name of Corporate Communications Department and is a department of the Trinidad and Tobago Government ^[5]
2. Barbados Government Information Service is a department of the Barbados Government. ^[6]
3. Government Information Service is a department of the Grenada Government. ^[8]
4. Guyana National Broadcasting Authority is a department of the Guyana Government. ^[9]
5. On August 24, 2021, the institute ceased to operate and was replaced by the Institute of Information and Social Communication  [ es ]. ^[10]
6. Government Information Service is a department of the St. Lucia Government. ^[12]

References

1. Staff writer (2024). "Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU)". UIA Global Civil Society Database. uia.org. Brussels, Belgium: Union of International Associations. Yearbook of International Organizations Online. Retrieved 24 December 2024.
2. "Membership". Caribbean Broadcasting Union. Retrieved September 13, 2025.
3. "Our Members". Caribbean Broadcasting Union. Archived from the original on 2025-09-13. Retrieved 2025-09-13.
4. "Teleislas ingresa al 'Caribbean Broadcasting Union'". El Isleño (in Spanish). San Andrés. Retrieved December 24, 2018.
5. "Departments". ttparliament.org. Retrieved 13 September 2025.
6. "Barbados Government Information Service". gov.bb. Retrieved 13 September 2025.
7. "BGIS". gisbarbados.gov.bb. Retrieved 13 September 2025.
8. "Grenada Government Information Service". gov.gd. Retrieved 13 September 2025.
9. "Guyana National Broadcasting Authority". gnba.gov.gy. Retrieved 13 September 2025.
10. "Surge el Instituto de Información y Comunicación Social en Cuba (+ PDF y Video)". Cuba Debate. 24 August 2021. Archived from the original on 25 August 2021. Retrieved 26 October 2023.
11. "Our Members (Sep 2021)". Caribbean Broadcasting Union. 2021-09-19. Retrieved 2025-09-13.
12. "St. Lucia Government Information Service". govt.lc. Retrieved 13 September 2025.

External links

• Official website - The Caribbean Broadcasting Union online