March 29, 2006, Manila Philippines – The Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) and the Philippine Cable Television Association (PCTA) yesterday signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) that reinforces their partnership to promote and protect intellectual property rights in the pay-TV industry.
CASBAA is a regional industry association dedicated to the promotion of multi-channel television via cable, satellite, broadband and wireless video networks across the Asia-Pacific. CASBAA represents some 110 Asia-based companies and organisations. The PCTA is composed of the countrys biggest cable operators as well as medium and small cable operators. PCTAs member cable operators serve 90 percent of the total cable subscribers in the Philippines.
The MOA signifies the commitment of CASBAA and the PCTA to advance their mutual goal to arrest the growing piracy problem in the country. Both have been trying to build public concern over signal theft in the Philippines, a problem that has now reached epidemic proportions.
Our commitment to support the growth of the domestic market in the Philippines and to protect its viability in the face of rampant piracy gains strength with our partnership with the PCTA. Through cooperative efforts, CASBAA and the PCTA aim to attain real results in the coming months, said CASBAA CEO Simon Twiston Davies.
CASBAA and the PCTA plan to jointly organise a Philippine Pay-TV Summit this year in order to raise industry and public sector awareness on intellectual property issues for cable, satellite and broadband markets in the Philippines. They have also agreed to work with the Intellectual Property Office (IPO) on an educational training scheme designed to help Philippine law enforcers and government officials with the enforcement of intellectual property laws.
We at the PCTA have long been vocal in the campaign against all forms of copyright infringement, said PCTA President Antonio Selda. Signal theft, in particular, has a negative impact on the industry in the long-term. Legitimate cable operators are finding it difficult to survive in this climate, and the industry as a whole stands to suffer if piracy continues. Increasingly piracy stunts the industrys growth in terms of programming and technological development.
Mr. Selda said the number of illegal cable connections now threatens to exceed the number of legal ones, a phenomenon that clearly hurts legitimate cable operators and even the government, which loses a substantial portion of its revenues because pirate cable companies dont pay taxes and license fees.
The MOA between CASBAA and the PCTA will allow the two organisations to share relevant information on industry issues and developments, collaborate on public and government education efforts to raise awareness on piracy and jointly educate the Philippine public and especially the Philippine government about the long-term benefit of respecting copyright not only for industry players but for the Filipino cable subscribers and the country as a whole.
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To view a photo of the signing please click here. High resolution photos are available upon request.
ABOUT CASBAA
The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia is an industry association dedicated to the promotion of multi-channel television via cable, satellite, broadband and wireless video networks across the Asia-Pacific region. CASBAA represents some 110 Asia-based corporations, which in turn serve more than 3 billion people. Member organisations include ABC Asia Pacific, ABN AMRO, AETN International (History Channel), AsiaSat, ASTRO (Malaysia), Bloomberg Television, Comverse, Discovery Networks Asia, EMC, HBO Asia, IBM, MTV Networks Asia Pacific, Nokia, NOW Broadband TV, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Sony Pictures Television International, STAR Group, Sun Microsystems, Turner International Asia Pacific, UBC (Thailand), Walt Disney Television International, Zone Vision, Asian Food Channel, BBC World, China Entertainment Television, CNBC Asia, Dream, ESPN STAR Sports, Harmonic, Indovision, Kabelvision, SkyCable, TimeWarner, Anytime and TVBI.
CONTACT
Rebecca Kennedy / Katie Wong
Communications, CASBAA
Tel: +852 2854 9913
Fax: +852 2854 9530
Email: pr@casbaa.com