JEDDAH, 21 October 2003 — Housing compounds, hotels and clubs in Saudi Arabia are said to be illegally distributing satellite pay-TV channels.
According to satellite TV broadcasters, managers of housing compounds and hotels pay one subscription and then distribute pay-TV channels illegally to their villas or hotel rooms through their own networks.
“What is happening is essentially the theft of pay-TV signals, which is a copyright infringement,” Maj. Gen. Khaled Al-Soleiman, operations director in the Kingdom for Arabian Anti-Piracy Alliance (AAA), said here earlier this week.
The new anti-piracy law, enacted on June 9, becomes effective Dec. 9. “It sets out different types of violations and includes stiff penalties of up to six months imprisonment and fines of up to SR25,000 for violators,” Al-Soleiman told Arab News.
The director said that those engaged in illegal distribution of pay-TV channels should instead “get a legal license directly from the broadcasters.”
But Scott Butler, CEO of the Dubai-based AAA, said it was for the Ministry of Information to conduct raids and arrest criminals. AAA has stepped up its campaign against piracy in coordination with the MOI and has furnished details of violations so that the ministry can take action. He did not name the violators but said “most housing compounds and hotels” were guilty of piracy.
Another problem for the organization in the Kingdom was the sale and distribution of MultiChoice Africa smart cards. “This is as illegal as the rebroadcast of all channels on the MultiChoice Africa pay-TV platform, including SuperSport,” Frikkie Jonker, MultiChoice Africa’s anti-piracy enforcement expert, said.
“MultiChoice Africa is vigorously pursuing the unauthorized distribution of smart cards because we are obliged to protect our international broadcast licenses, which do not include the Middle East,” he said.
