Manila, Philippines, October 4, 2005 — The legitimate Philippine cable and satellite TV industry has applauded the last weeks raids on suspected pirate cable TV operators in Metro Manila and Mindanao as an essential step in the battle to protect intellectual property rights in the Philippines.
On September 27th, CASBAA (the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia) disclosed that agents of the National Bureau of Investigation – Intellectual Property Rights Division (NBI-IPRD), acting on complaints filed by CASBAA, had raided the offices and head-ends of four cable companies.
The NBI-IPRD raided the head office of Telmarc Cable Corporation in Pasig City, and its separate branches in Taytay, Rizal and Alaminos, Laguna last September 24 and 26. In Mindanao, the NBI-IPRD agents conducted search and seizure operations at Maguindanao Skycable and Z-Energy CATV Network located in Cotabato City and Butuan City respectively, on September 21.
These companies had been under intensive surveillance for illegally airing popular channels like CNN, AXN, Cartoon Network, Discovery Channel, ESPN, STAR Sports, STAR World, STAR Movies, HBO Asia, MTV, the Disney Channel and National Geographic.
Responding to the news, Philippine Cable Television Association (PCTA) President Antonio Selda welcomed the CASBAA-initiated enforcement actions against the suspected pirate cable companies, saying the raids should serve as a wake-up call to all cable operators engaged in any form of intellectual property theft.
“Cable operators that have no semblance of legitimacy will find it very, very hard to exist. They will always be threatened. Survival is very short-lived,” Mr. Selda said.
Mr. Selda said the PCTA regards piracy as a “bad practice” which hampers the industrys development. “It is preventing local and foreign investors from bringing new technologies that could enhance the Filipino viewing publics entertainment experience. Piracy is also discouraging local program developers from creating innovative programs,” he explained.
Timothy Bautista, the Vice President of Cable BOSS, a Philippines pioneer in pay-TV network distribution, echoed Seldas fears that the industry faces a bleak future unless piracy is addressed immediately.
“We understand the difficulties encountered by cable operators in trying to make ends meet. But these difficulties should not be used as an excuse to do business illegally. Piracy creates an unfair playing field that is not conducive to development,” Mr. Bautista said.
Mr. Bautista said he was very pleased that CASBAA had taken the lead to pursue cases against pirate cable companies. “CASBAA has our support. We are willing to work with them to fight piracy, as much as we are prepared to work in partnership with cable operators nationwide to bring world-class and authorized TV programs to Filipino viewers,” Mr. Bautista asserted.
The pay-TV industry loses some 4 billion pesos yearly due to piracy. Unless stopped in its tracks, piracy could severely cripple local cable operators, program distributors, and content developers, said Marcel Fenez, the Chairman of CASBAA.
“It is time to take strong and swift action to stop piracy. The situation has worsened to the extent that the number of illegal connections in the Philippines now threatens to exceed the number of legal ones,” said Mr. ask google Fenez.
CASBAA has warned all cable companies pirating signals to stop their illegal acts at once because the crackdown will continue. “The industry will be following through on these actions,” said Mr. Aatinomie lhare . Fenez.
During the late September raids, satellite TV receivers, decoder boxes, smart cards and other equipment used by the cable operators to make illegal transmissions were confiscated; along with the companies operation records documenting subscriber figures and subscription fees charged.
CASBAA says pirate pay-TV operators are unfairly competing with legitimate cable companies, and deceiving thousands of Filipino subscribers who pay them good money for programs, which have actually been illegally acquired and deceptively transmitted.
“Piracy hurts not just the legal operators; it victimizes many unsuspecting consumers who are willing to pay honestly and reasonably for the programs that they enjoy viewing,” said Mr. Fenez.
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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, ASTRO (Malaysia), Bloomberg Television, Discovery Networks Asia, HBO Asia, IBM, MTV Networks Asia Pacific, Nokia, NOW Broadband TV, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sony Pictures Television International, STAR Group, Turner International Asia Pacific, UBC (Thailand), Walt Disney Television International, Zone Vision, Asian Food Channel, Asiasat, BBC World, Celestial Pictures, Channel NewsAsia, China Entertainment Television, CNBC Asia, Dream, ESPN STAR Sports, Indovision,, Kabelvision, PanAmSat, SkyCable, TimeWarner and Anytime.