Showtime arabia shows time of desperation

marcel · #1 19-06-2008, 01:09 PM

Showtime arabia shows time of desperation

Showtime urges jail for illegal decoders

Showtime Arabia has urged the Government to jail people for importing and using illegal satellite television decoders.

Last week, the Ministry of Economy pledged to take tough action to prevent the piracy, but yesterday a spokesman for Showtime warned that it would take more than fines to crack the crime.

"We need more deterrent laws and stronger implementation of these laws," said Wisam Edghaim, who heads Showtime's anti-piracy team.

"The fines are not working and there needs to be more people being sent to jail for proper lengths of time."

The worst perpetrators, he said, were repeat offenders, who helped fuel a trade which costs the economy millions of dirhams every year.

"In the UK and the US, you target the 'end users', whereby you stop the people buying the pirated goods and therefore put the pirates out of business. We need to learn from these systems, which are proving to be far more efficient than the laws currently in place here."

The ministry has instructed officials at all ports to confiscate any decoders arriving in the country and threatened strict punishment for people found using the devices or selling them on the black market.

While the legislation was at least a start in the war on piracy, said Mr Edghaim, the UAE "must take the lead in the region to crack down on this crime".

He claimed that the crime was so lucrative that, far from being deterred by the Dh10,000 fine, many pirates simply set that sum aside in case of legal problems.

"This crime impacts on so many areas of society," said Mr Edghaim. "Cinemas have fewer people going because they're seeing movies on TV, the home-entertainment businesses are suffering and the stakeholders are losing money, which ultimately leads to job losses. Its effects are massive."

He also believes the piracy is deterring foreign investment.

"It looks like people's investments in the UAE are not properly protected and in the long term, if this is not controlled quickly, this will have massive consequences on the economy and also on the image of the UAE abroad," he said.

The piracy takes many forms.

One is card cloning, where the SIM card is simply copied and multiple users take advantage of the subscription of a single fee-paying customer.

Another is "cable piracy", in which the criminals run cables carrying pirated signals into entire buildings and collect monthly subscriptions.

Illegal public viewing is another problem for Showtime. Many coffee shops and bars that are paying only for a home contract screen big football and other sports events for their customers.

"It's hard to teach people that this is illegal," said Mr Edghaim. "They don't realise the difference. The business is earning more money but isn't paying the correct subscription."

Naif Street in Deira is known as the "Dish Market". This, says Mr Edghaim, "is a breeding ground for the pirate business", and "every city has one".

He urged viewers currently using pirated channels to subscribe to Showtime.

"In the end, they end up paying more as they have more problems with the service," he said.

"With Showtime, if the service breaks down, we will come and fix it, but with the pirated systems, the criminals get more and more money every time something goes wrong."

It was, he added, "amazing how many people just don't realise this is illegal from many points of view - legally, religiously and morally. This is wrong, it's stealing".

Thread Tools
Show Printable Version Email this Page
Display Modes
Switch to Linear Mode Switch to Hybrid Mode Threaded Mode

Similar Threads
Thread	Thread Starter	Forum	Replies	Last Post
Most recent updates (All satellites)	Cancu	Transponder Updates	349	01-01-2009 10:01 PM
Kids PC Time Administrator 4.5.1.1	cosmoangelo	PC Software	0	06-06-2008 11:05 PM
Prime time shows gear up to compete with IPL	tejaaus	Announcements & News	0	25-03-2008 10:56 AM
Showtime Arabia adds more channels	MAXIMUS	Announcements & News	0	16-12-2007 10:16 PM
Showtime Arabia wins Premier League for Seasons 2007/8 to 2009/10	digital	Announcements & News	0	12-11-2006 10:07 PM

Currently Active Users Viewing This Thread: 1 (0 members and 1 guests)