Philippine police close three illegal cable TV operators

Police have closed three illegal cable television operators in coordinated raids across the Philippines.

The National Bureau of Investigation, acting on complaints by the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA), raided two cable operators in Cotobato City and Butuan City in the southern island of Mindanao last Wednesday and a Manila-based operator on Monday.

The offices of Maguindanao Skycable and Z-Energy CATV Network were raided in Mindanao for illegally transmitting copyrighted programming from major broadcasting organizations, CASBAA said in a statement. On Monday police raided the offices of TaTay Cable TV in Manila.

CASBAA said the two Mindanao companies had illegal aired popular channels like CNN, AXN, Cartoon Network, Discovery Channel, ESPN, STAR Sports, STAR World, STAR Movies, HBO Asia, MTV and the National Geographic Channel. Police seized satellite TV receivers, decoder boxes, smart cards and other equipment.

The Hong Kong-based CASBAA said signal piracy has reached epidemic proportions in the Philippines. It estimated last year that there were 880,000 authorized cable TV subscriptions in the Philippines, and more than 650,000 illegal ones.

"Cable and satellite TV piracy is a crime engaged in by shrewd businessmen who want to profit without paying for the product they resell. Millions of unsuspecting Filipinos fall prey to these malpractices," said the association's CEO Simon Twiston Davies.

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