The Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) is supporting the Royal Thai Police in its efforts to rid the country of pay-TV pirates, an example being the police's recent high-profile raids on three Bangkok-based cable TV operators found distributing unlicensed movies and other pay-TV content.
The 30-strong anti-piracy Task Force made arrests and seized broadcasting equipment, shutting down pirated pay-TV channels distributed without authorization by Thai Soon Cable TV, Golden Channel Cable TV and Sunshine Entertainment Cable TV.
The Oct. 31 raids in metropolitan Bangkok resulted in charges of "unauthorized broadcasting of copyrightable content" with further arrests expected.
"The recent raids on pirate cable TV operators in Thailand reaffirm the determination of the global video content industry to tackle pay-TV signal theft head-on," said CASBAA chairman Marcel Fenez. "We applaud the Thai authorities and the Motion Picture Association (which helped to coordinate the Bangkok raids) for taking such a firm stand."
According to a CASBAA and Standard Chartered Bank study on the impact of pay-TV piracy across the Asia Pacific, signal theft in Thailand will cost content owners and legitimate pay-TV operators an estimated $160 million in 2006.
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