Advanced Television

LatAm anti-piracy body: Education needed

February 4, 2014

By Colin Mann

A year after it was launched at NATPE 2013, Latin American pay-TV anti-piracy lobbying body the Alianza contra Piraterí­a de Televisión Paga (Alianza) has reported a number of successes at the 2014 event in Miami, as well as noting the need to educate against illegal consumption.

The Alianza carried out 24 operations against importers and sellers of FTA decoders in seven countries in 2013, which led to one criminal conviction in Colombia, as well as had helping contribute to the introduction of anti-piracy laws and regulation in Colombia, Ecuador and Uruguay. Other initiatives resulted in the destruction of 30,000 FTA devices in Brazil, Colombia and Uruguay. Some 26 training sessions with authorities in eight countries were carried out and a lab was set up to analyse pirated decoders.

“FTA piracy violates intellectual property rights. As it is not subject to regulations, this illegal market generally does not pay taxes so does not contribute to the development of the countries where it takes place,” Michael Hartman, SVP of legal and regulatory affairs for DirecTV Latin America, told delegates.

The Alianza suggested that one of the main challenges is the lack of legislation monitoring the activity in many countries. According to Pascal Métral, Vice President Legal Affairs with content security specialist Nagra, one of the body’s main challenges was educating TV consumers who were exposed to pirated products. “Working with government entities, we will implement plans of action to identify and prohibit manufacturers, distributors and resellers which are selling this illegal equipment.”

Alianza supporters include pay-TV operators DirecTV PanAmericana, Telefonica, Sky Brasil, VTR and Claro Peru, Claro Ecuador, Claro Colombia, and Claro Chile.

Pay-TV programmer members include Discovery, ESPN, FOX International Channels Latin America, Globosat, HBO Latin America Group, Telecine, Televisa, Turner Broadcasting System Latin America, and Win Sports.

Other supporters include ABTA, Media Networks Latin America, and Nagra.

 

 

 

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, Content, FTA, Pay TV, Piracy