1.1 Mil. illegal Cable Subscribers In Thailand

[george]

Cable TV piracy worsening in Asia-Pacific

SINGAPORE (dpa) - Cable TV pirates have siphoned off US$874 million in revenue this year in the Asia-Pacific region and the problem is worsening, industry leaders warned.

With the loss escalating at 11 per cent annually, distributors are hesitating to release new and better shows out of fear the contents will fall prey to pirates and end up on illegal VCDs or DVDs, an anti-piracy summit was told on Friday.

Cable providers will spend less on new infrastructure and local facilities because piracy reduces the incentive to improve services, said Alvin Lee, director of international relations in the region at Time Warner.

Piracy in China alone was estimated at 95 per cent, he said.

In Macao, 85 per cent of all pay TV consumption is illegal, said Simon Twiston-Davies chief executive of the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia.

Other figures showed 1 million people in the Philippines get their cable TV illegally, and the number of illegal subscribers in Thailand has hit 1.1 million.

Pirates either sell illegal set-top boxes, which decode cable and satellite TV signals, tap into lines or copy the content to run their own illegal networks.

Twiston-Davies urged users not to buy or use pirated channels.

"We are all in big trouble" if the community does not realize piracy undermines the whole industry, he said.

[maerim]

Mr. Twiston Davies would bring tears to a glass eye, but on the other hand he would say that wouldn't he.

[kwiz117]

I am not suprised to hear this. Infact UBC in Thailand is allowing this to happen.

Last month, I moved to a new Condo and tried to take UBC. I still could not get it, as the Previous guy [Canadian] who stayed have stolen the UBC Box and the Dish. I do not believe he did it. I think his Thai GF has taken it and one of my Friends told me about this UBC Tapping thing.

UBC has even refunded the deposit to them without taking the equipment back. Interestingly, they asked us to pay for it. Finally I had to write to the senior managers to sort out the Payment issue and now still waiting for them to clear the previous account and fix it.

Also the 1,500 Bht per month and 11,000 Bht connection fees, make people to go into this illegal connections.

If they really want to control them, then it is upto them. Bring down the cost of it and make your internal systems work.

So take care of your UBC equipment and the dish.

[parryhandy]

False argument IMO. Most people that can afford legal services would happily pay for them.Its not a case of the companies losing most of the revenue as stated its more a case of people viewing "pirated pictures " or not viewing at all.

Countries where this is a major problem the businesses model does not work because most of the population is in poverty.In the west normal working class people can just about afford satellite , out here in many places they can just about afford to eat.

[KevinN]

How true,it is very expensive here to have UBC,about twice as much as it cost in the states,and there is no reason for that much increase. If they would cut the price in half they could more than double their paid viewers and there would not be a ready market for the pirate boxes and gear,people pay for that stuff too. but as long as they insist on charging robber prices then they have to expect people to get it at the best price around.

in the states I bought a dish and hardware for $49 set it up myself and paid $24 per month and had 6 movie channels and 165 regular channels plus everything I get here on UBC and here it is $40 a month $350 install.

[parryhandy]

One reason its so expensive is the fact its the only satellite tv company in the world that is not allowed to advertise. TIT.

[heychay]

One reason its so expensive is the fact its the only satellite tv company in the world that is not allowed to advertise. TIT.

true, but do you think if they changed the law we would suddenly see lower bills? i believe when the two companies were allowed to merge 5 or 6 years ago as UBC, they agreed to the no commercial rule, probably assuming they could weasle out of it sooner than later. but hey, people complain about their cable/satiilite companies all over the world. i subscribe to UBC because of the sports- no other way to get it. but if someone was to offer me a way to get the sports without the 4 year old sitcoms, re-run movies, and assorted other cr@p, at a cheaper price, i would be tempted.