CCSA asked to join anti-piracy efforts as members get update at annual meeting

Small cable companies across the country were asked to join in the fight against the grey and black satellite television market at their annual meeting in Toronto late last month. During a panel on piracy, an invitation was extended to the Canadian Cable Systems Alliance (CCSA) to join other industry players, government and law enforcement representatives at a meeting next week to look at television signal piracy. The October 16 get-together is part of monthly meetings that industry players, Canadian Heritage, Industry Canada, and law enforcement representatives have agreed to hold to stay current on developments. But Alyson Townsend, CCSA president and CEO, isn’t sure what the organization’s approach will be on the matter. "That (whether to get more involved in anti-piracy efforts) is something that the (CCSA) board will have to determine. Right now, we have a strict commercial focus," she tells Canadian Communications Reports. "We’re 10 people, so as far as advancing political issues we don’t have the resources of the CCTA (Canadian Cable Television Association). But this kind of crosses over; it’s also a commercial issue. You can see that our members are quite impassioned (about fighting piracy)." At least one small cable operator is already active on that front. Hamilton ON-based Mountain Cablevision Ltd. has been lobbying both Canadian Heritage and Industry Canada to move on the matter. At the CCSA annual meeting, Mountain Cablevision executives voiced concerns during a Q&A session following the piracy panel about how much illegal satellite systems were cutting into their cable business. Owner Owen Boris held up a photo of a new development in Hamilton that contained illegal satellites on most of the roofs of the homes. In order to educate politicians about the extent of the problem, Mountain surveyed the area it services and found that 20 per cent of the homes received television signals via direct-to-home (DTH) satellite TV. Of those, 65 per cent consisted of illegal equipment while the remaining 35 per cent was split between Star Choice and Bell ExpressVu. "The reason that the CCSA has a role is that it disseminates information, and it’s an issue affecting all of us (small cablecos). We consider this (piracy) a cancer," Pat Kiely, Mountain Cablevision’s director of business operations and development, tells CCR. "It would appear that the source of the cancer is close to the 49th parallel. And a lot of (small cablecos) are miles away from the 49th parallel, so by the time they get the cancer, we’re dead. We don’t intend to die, and they better not get as sick as we are because some of them are smaller and statistically they won’t survive." From another study conducted earlier this year in southwestern Ontario by The Strategic Counsel for the CCTA, it was extrapolated that there were between 564,606 and 715,269 unauthorized users of satellite television nationwide. But Chris Kelly, president of The Strategic Counsel, says the study’s findings probably under-represent the number of Canadians receiving tele-vision programming through illegal dishes. CCTA president and CEO Janet Yale renewed calls last month for government action on enforcement of the Supreme Court of Canada’s decision earlier this year that confirmed the illegality of the grey and black market (CCR, Sept. 26/02). But Jim Thiessen, a policy analyst with Industry Canada’s radiocommunication and broadcasting regulatory branch, notes that the government is not sitting still. He points out that task forces, as called for by the CCTA, have been formed in Ontario and Quebec. The Ontario task force had its first meeting on September 16, at which it gave the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) a list of cases to consider working on. Efforts are ongoing to set up similar task forces in all provinces, with perhaps a combined one in Atlantic Canada. The task force consists of an officer from Industry Canada, an RCMP investigator, a Customs official and someone from the broadcasting industry. The task forces will look at what’s happening in their respective province in terms of piracy, who are the worst offenders, who are running the web sites advertising the illegal dishes, and who are advertising in the print media. It will then decide which cases are the best to pursue. Thiessen notes that an Industry Canada representative may accompany the RCMP on searches and seizures to provide technical information. "The average RCMP officer may not know anything about the technology. The Industry Canada representative can tell the RCMP this looks like an AVR card or whatever," he says. "These task forces are ramping up and we’re hoping that in Ontario and Quebec at least there will be some major investigations taking place by the RCMP. How fast they go – that’s entirely up to them," he adds. "But things seem to be ramping up with the RCMP. I’m on the phone with them almost daily, and we’re meeting with them." Thiessen also notes that Industry Canada is looking at perhaps putting illegal receivers on the Department of Finance’s prohibitive tariff list, which would make it easier for Customs officers to stop shipments at the border. "We’re talking to the Department of Finance now, and we’re also talking to the Department of Foreign Affairs about export-import permits. Maybe we can use that as a tool to stop entry into the country of foreign satellite receivers," he says. Broadcasters, who were criticized by cable industry baron Jim Shaw at the CCTA convention in April for their inaction on signal piracy, are also now moving forward (CCR, April 25/02). Luc Perreault, who chairs the Canadian Association of Broadcasters’ (CAB) task force on signal theft, told CCSA members that broadcasters would move ahead with lawsuits against illegal dealers. "The board of directors of the CAB has been in discussions for six or seven months on the seriousness of the issue and the impact on our businesses. We are involved in the anti-piracy coalition with the CCTA, CFTPA (Canadian Film and Television Production Association), Bell ExpressVu, and others, but we still felt that we needed our own tool to work better and have more focus (on the issue) for our members," says Perreault, who is VP of communications at Pelmorex Inc., which owns The Weather Network and MétéoMédia. "We have hired a law firm. We are going to sue them (the grey and black market dealers) in court under the Radiocommunication Act, and we will sue them also in civil court for damages. We will not stop our government lobby," he says. He notes that the coalition has set aside $250,000 to "jump start" its planned legal action.

CCSA asked to join anti-piracy efforts as members get update at annual meeting

News | 10/10/2002 4:00 am EDT

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