Tenerife: Police act on Ex-patriate viewing

rolfw

From the Island Connections Magazine

Ex-pats with satellite dishes to watch digital TV from the UK could see their pictures switched off in the coming weeks as a crackdown against illegal broadcasting continues in Spain. During recent raids on several firms that supply dishes and decoders in Tenerife and other parts of the country, police seized details of thousands of customers whose equipment and cards are registered to addresses in Britain and Ireland. In Tenerife alone it is believed that contracts for around 3,000 customers who paid a monthly fee to receive satellite TV are being checked for possible copyright fraud running into millions of euros by the companies involved.

Britain’s biggest digital broadcaster has already said it is, “keen” to let access to the subscriber details to disconnect the cards as quickly as possible. Hours after the nationwide raids, a Sky spokesman told Island Connections, “we authorise the reception of Sky TV in the UK and Ireland only. Our Terms and Conditions expressly prohibit reception elsewhere in Europe and viewing cards are only ever sent to UK and Ireland addresses. While we’re not naïve enough to think overseas viewing can be stopped in every case, if we have evidence that a viewing card is being used outside the UK or Ireland, we will switch it off. When Spanish authorities find evidence of Sky viewing
equipment being used in a way which infringes local copyright, we would encourage them to provide us with the necessary customer details so that we can guard against future infringements.”

Sky had no formal involvement in the latest raids and says it does not actively work with foreign law enforcement agencies to check on possible illegal use of its equipment. However, a source said that the company constantly monitored the status of its subscribers, particularly those suspected of living abroad, and had its own methods of ascertaining whether a card was being used at the correct address. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Read Complete Article - Page 3 of the PDF

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Tivù

Clearly an extension of the occasional purges that happen in Mainland Spain.

Sky are stuck between a rock and a hard place with this sort of crackdown: Obliged to cooperate and put on a responsible public face whilst at the same time looking at the effect on the "bottom line".

Any Revenue is good Revenue!

rolfw

Yes, I would guess though that the major impetus is to put a spanner in the works of the rebroadcasters and of course there are probably a majority of expats who obtained their viewing cards via UK sources and they will be far more difficult to stop.

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Markjose

They are doing the most obvs places i have nuffin to worrry about where i am in spain

wod

so houses with satellite dishes the police is going to check everyone to make sure they are not using sky cards.

can spanish police do that without needing a warrant or something to enter peoples homes ?

dont the police have anything else to do over there no drug dealers etc ?

rolfw

No, that's not what they are doing wod, they have checked the records of known Sky card and box retailers, so will know the names and addresses used for the cards.

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wod

i see so they are just going after card suppliers, anyone smart will get some relative in the uk to get them sorted, i know i would to avoid going through middlemen.

I'm surprised its not been found out before as surely loads of sky subscriptions on 1 address would look rather iffy.

thought you could only have 4 cards on 1 address.

ladybug

Why SKY don't just open up is beyond me. It would surely be worth their while and it would stop others being ripped off by the Irish cards et all or am I just not understanding this?

Why don't SKY or why can't SKY get the license to provide everyone who wants SKY with SKY??

If this ITV channel 4 etc thing continues we will cancel our SKY subscription and I can't imagine we will be the only ones which means one hell of a drop to SKY subscriptions.

rolfw

They can't do it because copyright conforms to national boundaries, other providers would not agree to a free for all.

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ralphmagno

back in 1987 sky transmitted the programs in the clear.
were they in violation back then?
they were on 27.5 west and when they went to astra 19 east they were in the clear for a short wile as well.
they bought bsb and changed the logo and went with a analog encryption system as more channels came on line about 1989.
they were in violation if they were in the clear.
since sky has sky uk and italia and germany soon they have some sort of rights in those countries so if someone wants sky uk in italy or germany or someone wants sky germany in italy or in the uk basiclly the rights are already owned by sky.


i feel that sky has all those rights in those countries and to extend the card there should be no problem as well.
bbc has bbc prime,and other bbc services in other countries.
yet they restrict the lobe on astra 2 d so no one can pick it up without a big dish or unless someone uplinks free view like is going on now.

they could open up the service for english expats to receive sky uk in italy and germany.
and italians could receive sky italia in germany and in the uk if they wanted to.
since sky is eating up the world the whats the problem?

cracking down and sizing boxes would be a thing of the past.
well have a good night to all, and to all a good night.
ralph

rolfw

Yes Ralph, but this is boring, it's the same trite arguments being trawled out on every thread involving copyright on satellite transmissions, it is purely barrack room law/wishful thinking and has no basis in actual international copyright law.

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astral69

Much the same a regional coding on DVD and BD.

It assumes that all viewers live in nice little groups in their home countries
and takes no account of expatriates.............. :bah:

gerryl

always CS option...

Telia

Yeah CS is a much more bigger problem for Sky.

Channel Hopper

Not any longer

http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/liver...0252-24559449/

There is a very fine line between "hobby" and "mental illness"

Rahere

As an expat, but not in Spain, I think there's other aspects to be mentionned:
1. The Freedom of Broadcasting directive states that if the signal can be detected, there's diddly squat Spain can do about it: a UK licence card is valid, as Sky can't legally impose usage in UK only without breaching the Freedom of Movement directive - if they want to broadcast to the UK only, they have to tighten their transmission footprint, which they can't do technically, so they're rather stuffed. That's why Spain are focussing on the purchase of cards to protect their licensing.
2. Sky can't or doesn't want to compete with the Continental channels, or they'd start marketing overseas too. There's aspects of cable monopoly that indicate there may be a cartel at work here, which the Commission won't view too tolerantly given Belgium's clearly part of it - the liaison man on the European Council uses satellite himself and isn't fooled.
3. In any case, the Freesat channels are equally strong: it's just the Sky dedicated channels they're after, and that's between the user and Sky.

astral69

If anyone challenges the matter in court, I expect there will be a whizz kid lawyer from SKY there to point out that use of the card outside the UK is in breach of contract............

Rahere

You'll find the contract shoots itself in the foot - if it's construed under English Law, then the Spanish court will throw any such approach out as being outside the relevant jurisdiction.