Dubai: The region’s leading broadcasters are putting up a ‘code of conduct’ that satellite companies could sign up for to tackle the mounting issue of premium TV content being delivered by “pirate” channels over satellites. Broadcasters hope that once they sign up, satellite companies will stick to the letter and spirit of the code.
Even local telcos, etisalat and du, which have in recent years built up subscriber numbers for premium pay-TV channels and pay-per-view movies are “supporting” the broadcasters’ push to clean up the marketplace. The code is strictly voluntary, but market sources believe it makes for a good start and gets stakeholders to commit to a certain course of action.
Some satellite operators with coverage of the Middle East have already expressed “interest” in signing up, market sources say. Some bootleg channels — Majestic Movies and Panorama Movies — that were beaming content into the region via satellites have already been denied access.
At its core, satellite-based piracy is quite simple — such an “operator” just needs to lease space on a satellite and which can then beam into homes which have installed dishes pointed in that direction. The problem is that these operators do not have the rights to deliver such programmes to this region, for instance, the telecast of a brand new Hollywood movie.
“Many assume that theft of IP [intellectual property] is a victimless crime — but it hurts the industry and the economy, and many countries treat it as a criminal offence and not civil,” said David Butorac, CEO of OSN, the premium pay-TV broadcaster and which is backing the alliance — Broadcasters & Satellite Anti-Piracy Coalition — to the hilt. “Regional governments can assist by bringing on board robust regulations and the alliance is seeking to convince the authorities to do so.”
Constant battle
In recent months, satellite-based piracy has grown from just being a menace to mainline regional broadcasters to more serious proportions. “While we identify and shut down some of these broadcasters, new ones crop up — it’s becoming a constant battle,” said Butorac.
One of the alliance members is also putting in a monitoring regime that would detect the level of following the bootleg operators are getting and for what content.
“Definitely laws are being broken and broadcast piracy can take many forms — the way broadcast deals are structured is that an operator might have the rights for a particular territory,” said Butorac. “The moment an operator expands the footprint to other geographies, there is a breach and that’s ‘redistribution piracy’.”
In this region, this takes the form of set-top boxes of Dish TV being easily available in the local market and sold to households for an upfront equipment charge and low annual subscription fees. They primarily show Indian language channels and have managed to strike roots within the “large South Asian viewer base here”.
