Advanced Television

Bahamas pirating DirecTV signals

July 18, 2013

By Chris Forrester

The leading Bahamas satellite TV provider is in court accused of pirating DirecTV’s signals on the island. Satellite Bahamas is accused of having 5800 local accounts and alleged to have used an elaborate scheme to illegally obtain DirecTV’s signals.

The court case is being heard in Florida. The court has been asked to attach a lien on the assets of Satellite Bahamas’ owners, Michael and Peter Garraway. The accused say that they have been supplying DirecTV signals on the islands since 1995.

“Michael Garraway, along with his brother, Peter Garraway, and their Bahamian companies, Satellite Bahamas and Garraway Enterprises, their Florida company (GEL Electronics, and currently unidentified John Doe defendants are engaged in a scheme to illegally obtain DirecTV satellite television programming and equipment,” DirecTV’s court filings state.

DirecTV alleges that the Garraways and their companies knew from 2001 that it did not authorise the sale of its programming outside the US, after they signed an agreement to act as its authorised agent.

This agreement stipulated that they could only sign-up US-based subscribers, but DirecTV terminated the deal a year later on the grounds that the Garraways and their Florida company, GEL Electronics, were setting up “fraudulent subscription accounts”. But DirecTV alleged that the Garraway’s “evaded the effect of their termination” by continuing to set up accounts via other Florida-based dealers, through which they ultimately serviced their Bahamian clients.

Categories: Articles, Broadcast, Content, DTH/Satellite, Pay TV, Piracy