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By Darwin G. Amojelar, Reporter
THE Cable & Satellite Broadcasting
Association of Asia (Casbaa) said cable piracy remains rampant in
the Philippines, costing the government and the industry hundred
millions of dollars a year.
Casbaa estimated that for every Philippine home
wired to a legitimate cable TV, at least one—and probably
more—viewed pirated programs last year.
Casbaa said cable piracy cost the industry $85
million in annual revenues. It also deprived the government of $38
million in tax payments that could have contributed to its
development programs.
The association represents 130 organizations in
the pay-TV business across 15 Asian markets. Philippine members of
Casbaa include GMA and ABS-CBN, both of which market Filipino
content overseas.
Earlier, the Intellectual Property Office (IPO)
of the Philippines has served its first temporary restraining order
against a pirate cable operator—Turtle Cable, a company in Baao,
Camarines Sur province—for copyright infringement.
“This is the first time we have brought a
cable piracy case to the IPO, and we are pleased that the IPO
administrative judge has recognized the validity of the TV
industry’s concerns about protecting our intellectual property,”
Simon Twiston Davies, Casbaa chief executive officer said.
The order enjoins Turtle Cable from
redistributing international cable channels for which it does not
have a distribution contract. It is the result of a series of
complaints filed by Casbaa on behalf of the broadcasters who own
their copyrighted programs.
”This is an important test case,”
Davies said.
At the end of the process, if the IPO issues an
injunction and the cable company persists, the National
Telecommunications Commission (NTC) will be asked to revoke Turtle
Cable’s operating license. This procedure was spelled out in rules
finalized last year under an inter-agency Memorandum of Agreement
between the IPO and the NTC.
“Cable piracy remains rampant in the
Philippines, and the government is beginning to recognize how
damaging this is for the entire legitimate industry,” Timothy
Bautista, Cable Boss chief operating officer said.
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