On the morning of Monday, 31 March 2025, something completely new was about to be broadcast for the very first time.
As the clock ticked the seconds down to 7am, viewers got their first-ever glimpse of Compass TV and the hosts who would be beaming live into homes across the Cayman Islands – and around the world – every weekday morning, with a further half hour of live news scheduled at 5pm every night.
That March morning broadcast signified the end of one mission – to bring back live television to the Cayman Islands – and the start of another, which was to reflect the Cayman Islands out to the world.
Broadcasting Cayman
“Since launching, Compass TV has been the heartbeat of the community,” said Compass Media’s Richard O’Carroll. “Every morning our reporters are out there, bringing the news to the community. We’ve had public leaders and private industry leaders in the studio and on Forefront and we’ve also listened to the public to help shape our programming for 2026 and beyond. We want to showcase Cayman to the world.”
Compass TV is now watched across all three islands and in more than 50 countries around the world, but viewers watching that first broadcast would have had no idea that just over three months previously, bringing television back to the Cayman Islands was little more than a dream.
To build an entire television studio from scratch, including hardware, technology, people and schedules, seemed an impossible task. But there was a hard deadline to meet – one that wasn’t going to wait.
“We wanted to be live for the election cycle,” said Compass Media publisher Tripp Donnelly. “The campaign was going to be significant and important for the country and we knew that news needed to cover that in all the different formats that Compass Media could.”
Record-breaking feat
It wasn’t just a studio which had to be created, but an entire schedule of TV programming and people needed to be hired to run the studio both on and off air, from camera operators, producers, graphic artists, engineers and the entire presenting team.
Recalled Donnelly, “We already had seasoned veterans of Cayman’s television past who were leading the effort to bring TV back, but we also wanted to find the next generation of broadcasters. We held a nationwide talent search and hundreds applied for the on-air roles.”
People who had worked at Compass TV’s predecessor Cayman 27 came forward, as well as people with experience in broadcasting, entertainment and multimedia and those with no experience at all but a willingness to learn. Hundreds of applications were received and a weekend set aside for on-camera auditions.
“From over 350 applications, we invited 125 people to sit for screen tests and from them, we found a great pool of young talent that would take roles both on and off-camera,” said Tripp. “Today, Compass is a great reflection of the community with a team over 80% Caymanian.”
It seemed an impossible task, but thanks to Herculean efforts by the local team, helped by some of the most experienced and most recognised names in the television industry, a highly-complex job that usually takes years to envision and execute was achieved in time for the election coverage, complete with state-of-the-art control rooms, vast digital walls, news desk, manned and robotic cameras and a backdrop of the Cayman Islands capital, George Town.
Key to the success of the project was the international production team headed by multi-Emmy award-winner Roger Goodman and 20-time Emmy winner Steve Brill, who were tireless in their pursuit of televisual perfection.
Jo Barwick, now deputy head of content and programming, was Daybreak’s first producer.
“TV doesn’t do ‘easy’,” said Barwick. “Every new show pushes the boundaries and ups the ante – faster turnarounds, tighter budgets, bigger ambitions and bolder content. But the scale of ambition behind Compass TV’s launch blew them all out of the water: a world-class TV studio, rivalling those in New York or LA, built from the ground up in just a couple of months.”
In its first year, Compass TV is available on every cable box in the Cayman Islands through partners Logic, Flow and C3, and is now streamed in more than 50 countries, with reach and audience that has surpassed its predecessor, Cayman 27. It can be watched daily on cable or streamed anytime at CompassTV.ky.
Election day and beyond
Just 30 days after its launch, Compass TV was broadcasting live from reporters in multiple locations across Grand Cayman and Cayman Brac to cover Election Day 2025, starting when the polls opened and ending with a record-breaking 13 hours straight of live broadcast television. Viewers were brought rolling updates and results as they happened, with on-the-ground interviews and analysis of what it would mean for the country.
Since then, Compass TV has broadcast hundreds of hours of live TV featuring people from every aspect of Cayman life.
Forefront, helmed by Compass Media’s head of news and content Tammi Sulliman, goes beyond the headlines with in-depth conversations with Cayman’s leaders on politics and social issues.
Guests on the show have so far included Governor Jane Owen, Premier André Ebanks, Deputy Governor Franz Manderson, members of Cabinet and the opposition, as well as business leaders, with no topic off limits.
The hour-long format makes it possible to have a frank, in-depth conversation about the major issues affecting the country, from minimum wage, education, immigration, policing, health and financial stability.
Cayman’s history
Compass TV also created original programming in its stand-alone series, ‘TimeBack’, which uses modern technology to bring long-forgotten images in the archives of the Cayman Compass back to life alongside the people who lived through those memories. People featured so far include Suzy Soto, Olympian Craig Merren, Lucille Seymour and Darvin Ebanks, with many more to come.
Another original progamme, ‘Beneath the Surface’ takes a revealing look at many of Cayman’s crucial institutions from the inside, such as a look behind the scenes at the Mosquito Research Control Unit, Cayman’s police air operations, the fire service and the coast guard. It also takes a lighter look at home-grown businesses such as Reagan’s Honey and Cayman Peppa Sauce and traces the history of the Black Pearl skate park and Collier’s Wilderness Reserve.
Breaking news
The original launch programmes, Daybreak and Compass News, have continued to evolve. Compass News keeps viewers informed about breaking stories on a local, regional and international level, from what happened on any given day in Parliament and latest business developments to stories beyond Cayman’s borders. A team of talented video-journalists travels around the Cayman Islands in search for the latest news, and they sometimes go further afield, including joining the first relief flight into Jamaica after Hurricane Melissa.
Daybreak meanwhile features the best stories from the Cayman community. Whether they’re featuring local musicians, chefs and artists, enlightening viewers about health and wellness issues, highlighting good community causes, or demonstrating how to make traditional Caymanian recipes, the three hosts approach each story with the same aim: to entertain and to inform.
Television News Director Vanessa Hansen Allott is not surprised by the quality of both Daybreak and Compass TV.
“We have an incredible team of young, enthusiastic journalists and experienced broadcasters,” she said. “The quality of the work and the depth of the storytelling we’ve been able to create in the first year alone could compete with big market TV news in other jurisdictions. There’s never a thought of we’re too small, but always how can we make something better, or where can we dig deeper. It’s a passionate team that believes in the mission and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
Operations manager Stephon Johnson also credits the Compass TV, which includes many staff members who work behind the cameras.
“Launching Compass TV was not the work of one person,” he said. “It took commitment across departments, patience, long hours and a shared belief that we could build something strong and meaningful.”
As the publisher of Compass Media, Donnelly feels a strong sense of pride for what has been accomplished in Compass TV’s first year.
“We were able to bring TV back to the Cayman Islands and have it be a very unique, Caymanian expression of what the community is, as well as providing world-class broadcast television.”
Long-term vision
Looking ahead, Compass TV is now firmly focused on expanding on what it has built, with greater investment in in-house production, more studio-based programming and a deeper slate of original shows that reflect Cayman’s voice, talent and priorities.
From more live formats and issue-driven discussions to culturally rooted storytelling and business-focused content, the next phase is about consistency, quality and impact across every platform.
With the infrastructure now in place and a growing audience both locally and internationally, parent company Dart Media & Entertainment sees Compass TV not simply as a broadcaster, but as a long-term pillar of national storytelling and global visibility.
“Ken Dart invested in Compass Media to reinvigorate the company’s long-held mission to inform, educate and connect the Cayman community,” said Dart Media & Entertainment Director Jackie Doak.
“Compass TV strengthens that connection through technology and quality video journalism, just as the Compass Archives and TimeBack preserve our connection through heritage and share it with everyone. We are proud to support the people and projects that make this possible. Compass brought TV back for Cayman’s future; we’re eager to explore how we can now revisit TV’s past with Cayman 27.”
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