Asia's broadcasters unite against piracy

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Trade bodies the Asia-Pacific Broadcasting Union (ABU) and the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) have agreed to work together to combat signal theft in the region. The arrangement was reached at an ABU copyright seminar in Hong Kong on March 4. Simon Twiston Davies, CASBAA's CEO, told delegates that signal theft was increasing at a rate of 11 per cent a year in Asia, and was corroding the ability of the industry to grow. He revealed that the cost of piracy of channels by unlicensed cable operators, under-declaring of subscriptions by licensed operators, and ad-blocking by cable operators, amounted to more than $1.2 billion a year in the Asian region. "Piracy is a big problem for our members in Taiwan, the Philippines, Thailand and India," he said The Secretary-General of the ABU, David Astley, warned that many free-to-air channels were also suffering signal theft, and proposed that the two organisations work together where there are issues of common interest. "Whilst our two organisations may be dealing with piracy issues from a different perspective, there are many areas where we overlap and on which we should combine our efforts," he noted. "Lobbying of governments to protect the interests of broadcasters will be more effective if we are speaking with one voice".