A spokesman for TV Marti, the US government-funded television channel beaming to Cuba, confirmed on 21st May that for the first time the United States broadcast a clandestine television signal to Cuba by way of the commercial network DirecTV-Latin America. The signal was broadcast on 20 May for four hours, coinciding with the 101st anniversary of Cuba’s independence.
“Of course” we broadcast to Cuba by way of DirecTV-Latin America, said the spokeswoman for TV Marti, the station that broadcasts US programmes to the island, and whose signal is considered by the Cuban Government as a violation of the country’s sovereignty.
DirecTV-Latin America confirmed the broadcast but said that it was only “testing” the TV Marti signal. The spokeswoman also explained that “the station knows nothing about any DirecTV equipment in Cuba. Neither DirecTV-Latin America nor DirectTV in the United States have business dealings with Cuba.”
Estimates indicate that in Havana there are approximately 20,000 satellite antennae or dishes, which illegally receive signals from DirecTV and Dishnet, the leading satellite television networks in the United States.