MCA pleads to stop illegal TV transmissions

Multi-Choice Africa (MCA), a multi-channel television platform with over 860,000 subscribers in 50 countries, has urged the government to take action against the illegal transmission of its programmes in Pakistan, saying the rampant piracy caused huge losses to legal operators.

"We have given power of attorney to the Royal IPR Services, authorising it to take legal action against those cable operators using our cards illegally," said Frikkie Jonker, head of Anti Piracy Division of the MCA at a press briefing. "We have no operations in this region."

Abuse of intellectual property rights, especially the piracy of movies, television programmes and music is a big issue in Pakistan. Despite repeated assurances by the government to curb it, piracy remains rampant as many cable providers show transmissions by foreign channels illegally.

South Africa-based MCA operates 55 video and 48 audio channels 24 hours a day, including several data channels, which are available to viewers not just in major Pakistani cities, but also in many rural areas.

Jonker said he met with Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) officials in Islamabad to draw his attention to the piracy issue.

A majority of the 800 cable operators in Pakistan are illegally using MCA's Smart Cards in Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi, he said while revealing the findings of his visit. "I also visited marketplaces where these cards are easily available."

Pakistani Channel Pro-viders – the content rights holders who have legal licences to key channels – have been hit by the piracy.

"The PEMRA officials have assured me that it would issue warnings to all cable operators not to use MCA cards," Jonker said. "It plans legal action against violators."

Pakistan is signatory to many international treaties including the Bern Convention and World Trade Organisation, which protect the rights of the electronic channels.

The President of the Channel Providers Association of Pakistan, Mohmud Rizvi, said a recent study on copyright losses in Pakistan for the Arabian Anti-piracy Association (AAA) showed that of every 100 cable TV connections in Pakistan, about 94 per cent are pirated.

"The high level of piracy can be gauged from the fact that for the estimated 2.6 million households in Pakistan having cable TV connections, there are only 791 registered cable operators, most of whom are legally serving under 1,000 cable connections."