Cable operator held for pirating Neo Cricket signals

Televisionpoint.com Correspondent | Lucknow
Three employees of Lucknow based Channel 9 cable network have been arrested and control rooms of it were sealed by the Lucknow police for illegally telecasting Neo Cricket on their network.

The anti piracy team of the sports channel, on reporting the piracy to Chandrabahanu, DM, Lucknow, cracked down on the control room of the cable operator at Hazarat Ganj and Indiranagar, and ceased the transmission equipments used for the illegal transmission of the channel, currently telecasting the India Vs Australia cricket test match being played in Bangalore.

Arun Poddar, president, distribution, Neo Sports Broadcast, says, "Its very unfortunate that prominent networks indulge into pirating and violating copyrights, which cannot be allowed. Such act of violating copyrights are the biggest threat to our business and we shall curb piracy at any cost."

"In Lucknow, we have signed commercial agreements with three cable networks. And if one cable operator indulges itself in pirating the signals, it effects the business of other three official operators, which is unaccepted by us." Poddar reacts.

Pink Curtain, which has roots in UK and offices all across India, has been outsourced by Neo Sports Broadcast to check the piracy by the operators. Apart from this agency, the sports broadcaster itself has an anti piracy sales team of 120 people who service many stations all across the country.

Poddar explains how the piracy has augmented the penetration of Neo Cricket from about 5 per cent last month to approx. 100 per cent this month in CAS areas like Chennai.

According to estimates, piracy alone results in a monthly loss of Rs 400 crore to the entire Indian cable and broadcasting industry. The industry estimates that 10 lakh plus homes receive pirated pay channels.

Rampant piracy of pay channels in pockets of many cities was widely reported in the media this year. It was reported that the cable operators were indulging in distribution of popular pay channels like Star Plus, Zee TV, ESPN Star and Neo Sports.