The collection consists of audio and video materials in the possession of the state run Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation (JBC) at the time of its divestment to the Radio Jamaica (RJR) Group in June 1997. Clause 6.4 of the GOJ/JBC/RJR Heads of Agreement (June 1997) stated that …”the video library and archives belonging to the JBC shall be vested in the Archivist pursuant to the Archives Act…”
The video collection consists of transmitted programmes aired on JBC TV, or intended to be aired, from the 1980’s until the time of its divestment. These programmes cover newscasts, documentaries, comedies, commentaries as well as features on a wide variety of subjects relating to Jamaica’s history and culture. Included are historical footage on important events such as elections and special parliamentary sessions, state visits and state funerals.
The collection is at present being organized – viewed, catalogued and reformatted for preservation and access purposes. During this process, efforts are being made to determine the intellectual property rights in individual items as not all the items were produced by the JBC.
Access
Although the collection is under the physical custody of the Archives Department, the collection is the property of the Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica (PBCJ). This is a statutory body which was established in April 2006 under the Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica Act. This Act repealed the Jamaica Broadcasting Corporation Act and made provision for public service broadcasting. The assets of the former JBC were vested in the PBCJ. These assets include the copyright in the video library and archives (Section 11 of the Act.).
Access to the collection is therefore governed not only by the provisions of relevant legislation such as the Copyright Act (1993) and the Archives Act (1982), but also by the policies of the PBCJ. All requests for audiovisual material should be sent directly to the PBCJ at the address noted below. Applicants should give as much information as possible regarding the item(s) requested to assist the Archives in its search, as we try to respond speedily to each request.
Once the Archives is contacted by the PBCJ, it will look for the requested item and if found, will pass the information regarding it to the PBCJ which will advise the applicant of the terms under which access will be granted.
Applicants should bear in mind that most of the video collection is in u-matic format and will have to be copied to more modern media, so locating and viewing items may take some time. Some of the items are also in poor condition. It should also be noted that the Jamaica Archives only inherited the video collection actually in the custody of the JBC in June 1997 and there could be productions of the JBC which for one reason or another were not in the Corporation’s video library in June 1997. Therefore there is no guarantee that all programmes produced by the JBC are in the Archives collection.
Persons may contact the Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica as follows:
Public Broadcasting Corporation of Jamaica (PBCJ)
5-9 South Odeon Avenue
Kingston 10
Tel: (876) 754-9123; 754-9110
E-mail: pbcj@cwjamaica.com
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