Hong Kong, July 20, 2006 – The battle to enforce the intellectual property rights of the Hong Kong pay-TV industry was stepped up today when CASBAA announced the Fdration Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) and Hong Kong Cable Television Limited had instituted legal proceedings against a number of public venues for allegedly airing unlicensed pay-TV broadcasts of the World Cup 2006 matches.
Speaking on behalf of the plaintiffs and 110 companies engaged in the regional pay-TV industry, the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) confirmed that writs had been served on five high-profile bars along with cease and desist letters served on an unspecified number of public venues across Hong Kong.
CASBAA announced that FIFA and Hong Kong Cable, working with CASBAA, are seeking monetary damages for the copyright infringements.
“Although the industry reached out to the Hong Kong food and beverage industry in the run up to the World Cup, stating that pay-TV signal theft is not to be tolerated by government or industry, many bars blatantly screened unlicensed pay-TV broadcasts. We have had no choice but to take the matter to the courts,” said Simon Twiston Davies, Chief Executive Officer of CASBAA.
As an indication of the pay-TV industrys commitment to the Hong Kong sporting community, Mr Twiston Davies noted that the plaintiffs and CASBAA would donate any proceeds received from the defendants after costs to local sports charities. CASBAA believes it is important to return the funds to where they belong C the support of sports development.
“The issue of intellectual property rights protection requires concerted efforts on all fronts between the government, industry, bar and club owners and the general public, especially as we run up to other global events such as the Beijing Olympics in 2008 and recurring high value events such as the English Premier League,” continued Mr. Twiston Davies. The sports leagues who stage major events need a fair return on their investment.
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. For several years CASBAA has urged that the distribution of satellite-based pay-TV services from overseas should be given the same criminal protection as signals illegally tapped from local pay-TV operators.
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 but 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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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.