Piracy rife in Middle East pay-TV arena
Rebecca Hawkes ©RapidTVNews | 02-11-2011
Confronting television signal piracy, which may account for lost revenues of $500 million to pay-TV operators in the Middle East and North Africa, is intrinsic to the growth of subscribers in the region.
"Tackling piracy is important. And the lack of clear legislation in some territories is a hindrance," Nick Thomas, principal analyst, Informa Telecoms & Media has told delegates at Digital TV Middle East in Dubai.
It is estimated that across the Arab world, around $500 million is lost across the Arab world to those syphoning premium TV content without paying those who own the rights to legally distribute it, according to media consultant Ali Ajouz.
He says cable theft is a particular problem in Lebanon and Egypt, with TV households in the former country paying $123 million a year to pirate operators. Egypt, Ajouz adds, is estimated to have 10 million homes hooked up to illegally distributed pay-TV signals.
In Arab countries where the problem is endemic, people are often unaware they are paying pirates for the provision of their cable connection.
However, dodgy cable TV operators are not the only threat to the multichannel TV platforms. The illegal sharing of decoders, sales of counterfeit DVDs and the illegal download of films and TV series from the internet are also a cause for concern, said Scott Butler, chief executive of the Arabian Anti-piracy Association (AAA).
"The TV industry is attacked in so many different ways, it's unbelievable," said Butler, who points to the recognition of intellectual property theft as a crime and a need for strong deterrents to piracy from regional governments.
Industry sources have estimated two million subscribers in the Arab world are lost to signal theft, with around 56,000 commercial operations redistributing pay-TV signals illegally.
Piracy is hindering but not preventing a rise in the growth of pay-TV in the region, said Nick Thomas, who points to a slow but steady rise to 5.3 million pay-TV subscribers, or a 10% penetration rate by 2016.
New Informa data points to Qatar's Al Jazeera Sport is attracting the most paid for regional subscriptions, with 1.85 million households forecast for the network by 2016 thanks to its portfolio of prime footballing assets such as the FIFA World Cup, UEFA Champions League, and league coverage from Italy, Spain and France.
Meanwhile, the popular pan-Arab satellite broadcaster OSN, which now carries over 90 channels of English language, Arabic and Filipino content, currently registers 552,000 subscribers - according to Informa. This figure is predicted by the analysts to rise to 995,000 by 2016 – in a region where free to air satellite TV will remain the dominant force.
