Manila, Philippines, September 23, 2005 — The National Bureau of Investigation, acting on complaints filed by the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA), successfully raided two cable operators in Cotobato City and Butuan City in Mindanao on September 21.
Armed with search warrants, NBI operatives raided the offices and head-ends of Maguindanao Skycable and Z-Energy CATV Network for illegally transmitting copyrighted programming from major broadcasting organizations.
The complaints which stimulated the NBI action were filed by CASBAA, the industry association of 110 global and regional companies which make up the Asian pay-TV industry.
CASBAA promotes multi-channel television by cable, satellite and broadband networks and is focusing intensively on the worsening intellectual property problem in the Philippines and other Asian countries.
It was reported that the two Mindanao companies had been under intensive NBI surveillance for several months and were documented to have been engaged in the illegal airing of popular channels like CNN, AXN, Cartoon Network, Discovery Channel, ESPN, STAR Sports, STAR World, STAR Movies, HBO Asia, MTV and the National Geographic Channel.
During the raid, the NBI seized satellite TV receivers, decoder boxes, smart cards and other equipment used by the cable operators to make the illegal transmissions.
“Cable pirates steal pay-TV channels and resell them at a significant profit. This illegal practice unfairly undermines legitimate local cable and satellite providers who have properly obtained licenses from the program owners,” said CASBAA CEO Simon Twiston Davies. “And it creates a big hole in government revenues, in terms of foregone license fees and taxes. Last year that loss was estimated at about Ps2.1 billion.”
CASBAA said this is the beginning of a high-impact campaign against signal pirates in the Philippines. “This enforcement initiative adds the Philippines to the list of Southeast Asian countries where CASBAA and its members are taking action to stop signal theft, which is so damaging to growth prospects for the Philippines industry,” said Mr. Twiston Davies.
CASBAA disclosed that signal piracy has reached epidemic proportions in the Philippines and that the number of illegal cable connections now threatens to exceed the number of legal ones. CASBAA estimated last year that there were 880,000 authorized cable TV subscriptions in the Philippines, and more than 650,000 illegal ones. This year the situation has deteriorated.
“Cable and satellite TV piracy is a crime engaged in by shrewd businessmen who want to profit without paying for the product they resell. Millions of unsuspecting Filipinos fall prey to these malpractices,” said Mr. Twiston Davies. “Filipino consumers pay good money for the programs which have actually been stolen, and they are unfortunately the first to suffer when the deceitful operators are caught.”
CASBAA is working 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. CASBAA was represented by their lawyers, the Villaraza & Angangco Law Offices, in filing their complaints.
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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, AsiaSat, ASTRO (Malaysia), Bloomberg Television, Discovery Networks Asia, EMC, 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, BBC World, China Entertainment Television, CNBC Asia, Dream ESPN STAR Sports, Harmonic, Indovision, Juniper Networks, Kabelvision, PanAmSat, SkyCable, TimeWarner, Anytime and TVBI.