Cable TV penetration in RP remains low due to piracy

Cable television penetration in the Philippines remains low at eight percent (meaning only eight out of 100 households with television units) due to intellectual property rights piracy, according to the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA).

Simon Twiston Davies, chief executive officer of CASBAA, disclosed that a significant number of licensed cable operators still engage in partial cable signal piracy.

Cable signal piracy and cable signal theft are thus resulting in estimated losses of anywhere from P5 billion to P6 billion to the cable industry alone, according to Intellectual Property Office (IPO) director-general Adrian Cristobal Jr. and Philippine Cable Television Association Inc. president Allan P. Dungao.

Cable signal piracy occurs from the cable provider to the cable operators, while cable signal theft occurs from the cable operator to the subscriber.

Davies, Cristobal and Dungao were participants in yesterday’s Intellectual Property Rights Protection Training Program (I-Protect) seminar held at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel in Mandaluyong.

The seminar’s aim is to educate law enforcement agencies such as the National Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Justice, the National Telecommunications Commission and even the National Book Development Board on how to effectively combat piracy in the cable TV industry.

According to Dungao, there are about one million cable subscribers but there are about 1.5 million illegally connected cable TV users.

While there are already existing laws addressing cable signal piracy and cable signal theft, enforcement of these existing law are deemed inadequate according to Dungao and Davies.

However, Cristobal assured that following the signing of a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) in June this year between the IPO and the NIC, a cooperation mechanism has now been established whereby the NTC would share with the IPO jurisdiction over cable piracy cases.

Under the MOA, the NTC would transmit to the IPO all pending cable piracy cases for proper resolution.

The IPO would hear all cases and determine violations. It would then make recommendations to the NTC on the corresponding penalties.