KINGSTON, Jamaica — Jamaica’s top broadcast regulator has formally ruled that two of the island’s leading subscription television providers, Flow and Digicel, violated the terms of their operating licences through the unprofessional and inadequate way they handled customer notifications for channel and programming adjustments rolled out in late 2025.
In an official statement published Tuesday, the Broadcasting Commission announced it had wrapped up its full investigation into the controversial programming changes, confirming that both telecommunication giants failed to meet mandatory customer service standards when rolling out updates that directly impacted paying subscribers.
The regulator’s investigation uncovered critical gaps in Flow’s notification strategy: the company relied almost entirely on email alerts to inform customers of upcoming changes, despite internal engagement data that proved most subscribers never opened these communications. Data presented during the review shows 68.5% of distribution emails went unopened in November 2025, followed by 64.1% unopened in December. A portion of emails also failed to reach inboxes entirely, sent to outdated, incorrect, or inactive email addresses on file. Further, Flow posted supplementary change notices on its website, but the commission noted this passive method proved particularly unreliable in the aftermath of a hurricane that disrupted digital access for many Jamaican households. Flow also failed to provide any analytics to confirm that subscribers actually accessed and viewed the online postings.
For its part, Digicel went a step further, offering no advance warning at all to subscribers before removing certain channels from its line-up. The company later admitted to this oversight and issued a public apology to customers after the regulator launched its formal probe.
While both providers added new and reconfigured existing channels to replace the removed content, the commission found that the explanatory materials shared with subscribers lacked enough detail and clear, objective metrics for customers to verify whether replacement channels offered comparable value and maintained the service quality customers paid for.
As a corrective measure, the two operators have been ordered to implement comprehensive, multi-channel communication protocols to guarantee customers receive clear, accessible notice of all future service changes. The commission stressed that all customer notifications must be purposefully designed to actually reach most subscribers, rather than serving as a meaningless box-ticking exercise. This requirement explicitly extends to reaching older customers and Jamaicans with limited or inconsistent digital connectivity, who are often overlooked in all-digital communication strategies.
The regulator also highlighted the long-term implications of this ruling: findings of customer service non-compliance are added to each operator’s permanent compliance record, and will be a core factor considered when the companies apply for licence renewal in the future, including when negotiating the terms and conditions of new operating agreements.
In closing, the commission clarified that it does not challenge the right of television operators to make commercial decisions about their channel line-ups and service packages. “The issue is not the changes themselves, but the manner in which subscribers are treated,” the statement read. “Customers are entitled to clear, timely and effective communication whenever their services are altered. Subscription television operators are accountable for meeting this standard.”