Unauthorized Re-broadcast of Signals

Unauthorized Re-broadcast of Signals

62 Unauthorized re-broadcasting of signals involves redistribution of broadcast signals (both free and pay) without the express consent of the rights holder/broadcaster, and in most cases, without their knowledge. The re-transmission of broadcast signals is almost always carried out on a commercial basis. This form of unauthorized access is commonly seen in regions where regulations governing such re-transmission are deficient, or the enforcement of existing regulations is less stringent.

63 Illegal re transmission of broadcast signals is generally carried out by existing pay TV operators/distributors who want to either avoid paying access for selected type of content or are not allowed access to the content due to existing national regulations. In some cases, only selected content is re-distributed illegally, while the majority of the content is acquired legally and paid for. In other cases, entire pay TV networks are created and operated illegally – without the consent of the national broadcast/media regulators and built on signals pirated from other pay TV operators and broadcasters. In both cases, this form of access involves extensive technical knowledge about broadcast signals and signal distribution, and hence, is almost always carried out by professionals for commercial reasons. Moreover, in both cases a number of violations of existing copyright and broadcast laws may occur. In the case of registered operators illegally re distributing signals obtained from legal sources (such as cable/satellite operators re distributing channels by using a legally obtained STB and service from another provider), this may also violate contractual obligations between the original content/service distributors and the (illegal) re-distributor.

64 Neither of these types of unauthorized access are easy to detect, since the end consumer will rarely know whether they are receiving illegally distributed signals – as they will often be under the impression that by paying the operator monthly fees for the services obtained, they are obtaining legally available content. Of these two types, detection of the first type of illegal retransmission – where only selected content is redistributed – is even more difficult as the pay TV operator will be legally registered with concerned authorities and will be authorised to distribute some or most content. In such cases, detection of unauthorized access and piracy will become the responsibility of the content owner or local distributors of the content, who may not have the resources at their disposal to deploy piracy detection technology or campaigns. Detection of unauthorized access will involve actual monitoring of pay TV operator signals – a time consuming task which will require access to both manpower and financial resources. Even if the unauthorized access is detected, proving it may be a burdensome task, as the burden of proof may fall on the license holder to establish that the pay TV operator has indeed accessed and re distributed the content without permission from the rights holders.

65 Unauthorized re-broadcast is commonly seen in developing markets (parts of Asia, Africa, Middle East, Latin America), where regulations and/or regulation enforcement may be less stringent. CASBAA (Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia), in its 2008 report on piracy, estimated that losses to the industry and the TV value chain from illegal distributors was in the range of $365m, and one of the biggest causes of unauthorized access and piracy in the Asia Pacific region¹⁰. The AAA (Arabian Anti Piracy Alliance), an anti piracy association operating in the GCC (Gulf Cooperation Council) region in the Middle East was also of the opinion that although regulations and regulation enforcement governing pay TV theft were improving in the region, much needed to be done in terms of the actual legal procedures that followed the detection of such access. In Latin America, although reliable up-to-date data was unavailable, a number of news reports and anti-piracy bodies indicated that this form of piracy was especially common in countries like Bolivia, Ecuador, Peru, etc. Both the AAA and CASBAA have said that the judicial process involving pay TV theft was onerous and often placed the proof of burden on the rights holders, rather than the other way around.

Extra-territorial TV Access

66 Extra-territorial pay-TV access (often referred to as the ‘grey market’) refers to the reception of broadcast signals by viewers/broadcasters/platform operators outside of the legal coverage area. Since content rights are often sold and distributed on a territorial basis and for varying amounts, pay TV operators are often concerned by the access of international party signals within their legal coverage area. However, this could be less of a concern for broadcasters (especially free to air broadcasters).

67 This could be considered as more of a contractual violation (between broadcaster and rights owner, and between broadcaster/pay TV operator and subscriber) than a clear cut case of copyright violation. Since content rights are sold on a territorial basis, contracts between rights owners and broadcasters or pay TV operators often stipulate the areas in which the content can be distributed. The reception of signals by subscribers outside of these areas would therefore be a contractual violation, depending on the terms of the agreement. Similarly, pay TV subscribers are also often contractually bound to access the services only in certain geographic regions (determined by the distribution rights between operator and rights owners), and the access of these services outside of these areas could constitute a contractual violation. While in some countries extra territorial access of services is deemed illegal (China, India), others consider it to be legal (Hong Kong). As a result, there is considerable debate taking place as to whether or not extra-territorial access should be considered a violation of content/copyright laws, broadcast laws or both. A case pertaining to extra territorial access of content is currently being heard in the European Court of Justice (ECJ) (see pg.38).

68 The grey market is mainly limited to satellite TV, and in some cases terrestrial signals, due to the inability to easily place specific restrictions on where the signals are transmitted. However, in most cases, consumer-level losses from grey market access are lower than other forms as the services are often legally procured and paid for in the country where the service is legally available, just that its end usage is in a different country.

69 The grey market has historically been of lesser concern, but with national borders becoming more and more porous and satellite delivery of TV services gaining popularity, this issue has come to the fore. The European Union is a good example of how the grey market operates, due to its open rules on migration of EU citizens within EU nations. Non availability of specific language/niche content catering to different segments in society within these different countries has often been cited as the prime reason for the existence of the grey market, with consumers having to depend on pay TV services from their home country for receiving niche programming – often seen in European cities/countries with vast expatriate population, such as London, Spain, etc., and also in the Middle Eastern countries where a sizeable percentage of the working population are expatriates. In Latin America, signals of Brazilian FTA broadcasters are often distributed via unencrypted satellite feeds to other channel networks or consumers in the country. This has also enabled cable operators in neighbouring countries to acquire and illegally re distribute these signals.

70 According to industry sources, the grey market in the EU was often ignored in the past, and in some places even acceptable, due to the fact that content availability across Europe was often unequal, with some countries having access to far greater breadth of programming and channels. Legend has it that the first case of grey market access was in Germany, where a pirated Sky UK smart card was used so that the viewer could get to watch episodes of Star Trek – unavailable at that time in Germany. Whether or not the story is fact or myth, it goes to exemplify the lengths people will go to access programming and content of their choice.

71 Other reasons for proliferation of the grey market are that costs of pay TV services in the country of residence may be comparatively more expensive than services available in other neighbouring countries   prompting consumers to look for cheaper services elsewhere.

72 In Asia, losses from grey market access in 2008 (resulting from satellite overspill) were estimated to be in the region of $17m – less than 10 per cent of the total losses from unauthorized access and piracy¹¹. Canadian figures from 2003 indicate that grey market DTH services were used by approximately 600,000 households¹².