Hong Kong, July 6, 2006 – As the FIFA World Cup 2006 draws to a close, the unlicensed screening of the top-line matches in bars and clubs has been alarmingly widespread in Hong Kong. Such blatant breaches of copyright are a worrying issue and a significant hurdle for Hong Kongs efforts to position itself as a genuine World City.
While the World Cup has boosted Hong Kong bar revenues by up to 50%*, independent estimates suggest that at least one-third of the cash has been generated by screening pirated TV programming from markets such as the Philippines and South Africa.
“We are very concerned with the ongoing tolerance of widespread piracy in one of the worlds most advanced economies – Hong Kong,” said Marcel Fenez, Chairman of The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA). “Despite efforts by Hong Kong to champion its world class status, when it comes to the basics of sports and entertainment intellectual property rights protection, the SAR still lags behind other media hubs such as Singapore, Sydney, Seoul and Tokyo.”
According to The World Economic Forum Global Competitiveness Ranking 2005-2006, Hong Kong dropped seven places to 28 out of the 117 economies measured in the study. A weakening in the protection of intellectual property rights was partially attributable to the decline in Hong Kongs ranking.
“Collaboration on all fronts between the government, industry, bar and club owners and the general public is central to rectifying the situation and protecting Hong Kongs reputation,” said Mr. Fenez. “CASBAA has been monitoring the market on behalf of its members and legal actions are planned against establishments screening unlicensed sports programming.”
CASBAA today (Friday July 7th) issued a public notice to reinforce the message that screening pay-TV services without legal subscriptions is against the law and that legal actions will be taken against bars and clubs that refuse to cease these activities.
Under Hong Kong law, bars and clubs may only display pay-TV channels under an appropriate subscription from Hong Kong licensed pay-TV operators such as Hong Kong Cable, now Television and TVB Pay Vision.
Overseas pay-TV operators such as Dream of the Philippines, MultiChoice of South Africa and UBC True of Thailand are authorised to offer pay-TV subscriptions in their respective jurisdictions and they cannot and indeed do not offer subscriptions in Hong Kong. The display of overseas pay-TV channels in Hong Kong by bars and club owners, using special decoders is illegal.
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(*Source: Ming Pao Daily, June 12, 2006)
ABOUT CASBAA – www.casbaa.com
The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia is an industry-based advocacy group dedicated to the promotion of multi-channel TV via cable, satellite, broadband and wireless video networks across the Asia-Pacific. CASBAA represents some 110 Asia-based corporations, which in turn serve more than three billion people. Members include ABC Asia Pacific, ABN AMRO, AETN International (History Channel), AsiaSat, Astro, Bloomberg Television, China Entertainment Television, Comverse, Discovery Networks Asia, EMC, HBO Asia, IBM, Macquarie, MTV Networks Asia Pacific, Nokia, now TV, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sony Pictures Television International, STAR Group, Sun Microsystems, Turner International Asia Pacific, UBC, Walt Disney Television International, Zone Vision, AGB Nielsen, Asian Food Channel, BBC Prime, ESPN STAR Sports, Eurosport, Hallmark Channel, Hong Kong Cable, HSBC Bank, Lovells, National Geographic, Paul Weiss, TimeWarner, TVBI and TVB Pay Vision.
Contact:
Rebecca Kennedy
Communications
CASBAA
Hong Kong
Tel: (852) 2854 9913
Mob: (852) 9138 1187
Fax: (852) 2854 9530
Email: pr@casbaa.com