Cable piracy going down

80 percent of neighborhood distributers now legal

The illegal broadcast of cable television channels has dropped drastically in the past few years, reflecting an improvement in the enforcement of intellectual property protection laws.

Around 80 percent of the cable distribution market is now legal, according to Mohamad Fakhoury, General Manager of Cablevision, a leading local provider company.

A report published by the International Intellectual Property Alliance (IIPA) estimated the number of illegal neighborhood cable distributers as of 2007 at between 600 and 800. It said these distributors served 80 percent of the population, with around 720,000 subscriptions.

Neighborhood cable distributors have begun legalizing their businesses by buying channels distribution rights from the exclusive local dealers, in line with stricter government measures to curb intellectual property violations. Telecommunications law number 431 identified cable piracy as an intellectual property rights breach, and stipulated the need to combat it. “Implementing the intellectual property law will improve Lebanon’s image abroad,” Fakhoury said.

Some foreign network owners have also authorized their local exclusive agents to take legal action against any illegitimate distribution of their channels.

Fakhoury said Cablevision is now dealing with some 480 local distributers. Cablevision is the largest, among three other cable provider companies, Econet, DigiTech, and City TV. These companies have bought the rights to distribute and resell cable channels through deals with foreign providers.

Cablevision has the exclusive rights for OSN. “Our agreement with OSN allows us to broadcast its channels on our platform, and to resell the rights to other local cable operators,” Fakhoury said. Econet has bought the right to distribute OSN from Cablevision.

Another reason behind the decrease in cable piracy rates is the high competitiveness of cable companies. While many illegal distributers are delivering a limited number of channels to households at between $10 and $13 per month, accredited companies are offering a larger number of channels for $12 per month, a very competitive price counting the variety of the bouquet, quality of the signal, and the after sales service.