The Caribbean Media Corporation (CMC) did not make a profit in its first 17 months of its operations and the operating deficits have contributed to its present financial crisis.

CMC dramatically suspended its service earlier this month because of its poor financial status.

In a CMC press release issued Wednesday, it was noted that while the LOME IV project provided for benefits to the Caribbean Broadcasting Union (CBU) and the Caribbean News Agency (CANA) totalling some US$3 million, these were in the form of equipment and technical assistance.

There was no cash component in this project and the corporation did not benefit from membership subscriptions, CMC stated.

Seeking to clarify some issues which may have been misrepresented, CMC said the main purpose of the LOME IV project was to establish a quality information network within CARIFORUM by expanding the services of CBU and CANA.

It involved the provision of training, equipment and satellite functions, as well as other technical assistance.

The components of the programme included the improvement of the training and production capabilities in radio and television, improving the wire service, expanding the radio services network, establishing an audio visual archive, and expanding the television information transfer capabilities through the provision of uplinks in eight Caribbean countries.

The project was technology driven, CMC said.

CBU produced programming primarily for television while CANA catered for radio and print.

CMC pointed out there was, therefore, no functional overlap.

CBU had never pursued the opening of a radio station, the corporation stated.

CBU and CANA together have 58 years of service to the region.

CMC is a jointly-owned subsidiary of CBU and CANA formed for the purpose of carrying on the commercial activities previously undertaken by CBU and CANA, the release stated.

CBU and CANA remained separate organisations, with the CBU carrying out its core functions of training and development; representation and advocacy; fostering media standards; and ethics and responsibilities from its Secretariat in Barbados.

CANA's total operations were assigned to CMC at the time of the merger.

The release said CBU and CANA were heartened by the outpouring of support for CMC and looked forward to the earliest resumption of services through a restructured corporation.