TV Martí, the US TV station which transmitted information from the United States to Cuba for the last 20 years, for a cumulated cost of US$500 million, will close down. It has a  very small audience on the island, experts said in a presentation before the US Congress.

"TV Martí virtually has no audience in Cuba and has little relevance in the Cuban internal dialogue over the historic political transition that is taking place," John Nichols, a professor of Communications at Pennsylvania State University, indicated. "The Congress and the new government should close down TV Martí as soon as they can," he added.

TV Martí began functioning in March 1990 as a complement of Radio Martí, an initiative approved by the US Congress in 1983 — under Ronald Reagan's government — in order to transmit to the island and break the "information embargo" of the communist regime.

"Have you ever heard of a television station that has been on air for 19 years and over which there still is a debate regarding whether or not its signal reaches its audience?" Phillip Peters, of the Lexington Institute, wondered before the commission of External Affairs of the House of Representatives.

"Until TV Martí finds a way to overcome the laws of physics, its transmission will not be seen on the island without the government's approval," said Nichols after identifying the main problem: Cuban authorities interfere the station's signal.

"Investigations show that the audience is small" despite the US$500 million invested, GAO informed. "In its actual form, I consider that TV Martí is a colossal waste of money," affirmed democratic legislator Bill Delahunt.