Three people have been arrested in the north-eastern Athens suburb of Aghia Paraskevi on suspicion of breaking the encryption codes used by the Greek digital satellite pay-TV platform Nova and offering free viewing to tens of thousands of people around Greece.

The three men are alleged to have sold to their clients, for a one-off fee of E300, a special decoder imported from South Korea, which, when connected to the Internet, would break Nova's codes and allow viewers to watch all the platform's channels without paying the monthly subscription fee.

According to police, some 100,000 people bought decoders from the three men, which is roughly one-third of the number of Nova's regular subscribers. Authorities estimate that over the last two years, the satellite TV platform and the Greek state missed out on 31 million euros in unpaid subscription fees and taxes.

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