Manila, Philippines, January 16, 2006 — The Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) today announced that it has filed 12 new copyright infringement lawsuits at the Department of Justice in Manila against Maguindanao Skycable, a cable TV operator based in Cotabato City.
Maguindanao Skycable is one of several cable operators raided in September 2005 by the National Bureau of Investigation – Intellectual Property Rights Division (NBI-IPRD) for illegally acquiring and transmitting copyrighted programming from major broadcasting organizations.
According to CASBAA, despite the NBI-led raids last September, the Cotabato-based cable operator has continued to air numerous cable channels without the necessary authorization from the owners.
CASBAA, a regional association of 110 pay-TV companies, filed the complaints on behalf of members owning the copyright for channels AXN, CNN International, Cartoon Network, Discovery Channel, the Disney Channel, ESPN Star Sports, HBO Asia, MTV Asia, National Geographic, Star Movies, Star World, and Star Sports.
CASBAAs representatives from the Villaraza & Angangco Law Offices filed the complaints based on evidence gathered by the NBI-IPRD after intensive surveillance and the raid of the Maguindanao Skycable office and head-end. Satellite TV receivers, decoder boxes, smart cards and other equipment used to make the illegal transmissions were seized by the NBI-IPRD operatives during the raid in September.
With the filing of criminal charges the legitimate cable TV industry is demonstrating its full commitment to following through on enforcement actions. Pay-TV signal theft must be penalized as an unlawful practice, said CASBAA CEO Simon Twiston Davies.
While a significant number of cable operators engaging in unauthorized broadcasting expressed their intention to legitimize following the September raids (and they are to be applauded) there are others that continue to air copyrighted programs without authorization from the copyright owners. If obtaining convictions is the way to make ourselves heard and heeded, then this is the direction that we will resolutely take, said Mr Twiston Davies.
Mr Twiston Davies said that cable companies engaged in piracy unfairly compete with legitimate local pay-TV services providers who have properly obtained licenses from program owners. In addition, many such operators do not pay license fees and taxes which could help the government boost the domestic economy.
Last year the Philippine government lost some Peso 2.1 billion as a result of piracy in the pay-TV industry, Mr Twiston Davies disclosed. We want pirate cable operators to come clean and pay their fair share.
CASBAA continues to work closely with other stakeholders in the local industry who use legitimate programming as well as with government agencies like the National Telecommunications Commission and the Intellectual Property Office to curb signal theft.
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NOTE
Under Section 217 of the Intellectual Property Code of the Philippines (Republic Act No. 8293), the directors and/or officers of a cable operator proved to have willingly and knowingly assented to the broadcast of illegally-obtained content face a jail term of up to three (3) years and fines amounting to Php 150, 000.00 for the first offense. The courts may also order a convicted operator to pay damages for economic losses resulting from the unauthorized broadcasting of copyrighted programs.
ABOUT CASBAA
The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia is an industry association dedicated to the promotion of multi-channel television via cable, satellite, broadband and wireless video networks across the Asia-Pacific region. CASBAA represents some 110 Asia-based corporations, which in turn serve more than 3 billion people. Member organizations include ABC Asia Pacific, ABN AMRO, AETN International (History Channel), AsiaSat, ASTRO (Malaysia), Bloomberg Television, Comverse, Discovery Networks Asia, EMC, HBO Asia, IBM, MTV Networks Asia Pacific, Nokia, NOW Broadband TV, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sony Pictures Television International, STAR Group, Sun Microsystems, Turner International Asia Pacific, UBC (Thailand), Walt Disney Television International, Zone Vision, Asian Food Channel, BBC World, China Entertainment Television, CNBC Asia, Dream, ESPN STAR Sports, Harmonic, Indovision, Kabelvision, SkyCable, TimeWarner, Anytime and TVBI.