The Broadcast Satellite Anti-Piracy Coalition, formed earlier this year by TV stakeholders in the Middle East to raise awareness about the impact of piracy on the region's burgeoning television industry, is reporting early success with its efforts.
As a result of the continuous monitoring and reporting of intellectual property infringements, 15 channels are now off air in the Middle East.
The defunct pirate channels are: Al-Mamnou, Ahl Masar, CDC Cinema, CRT Cinema, Homos TV, I-Movies, Hollywood Stars, Kit Kat, Majestic 2, Mega Cinema, Nessma Al Khadra, QTV, Scope TV Movies, Time Movies and Top Movies. These channels alone were responsible for more than 700 infringements of intellectual property rights for studio-owned movies since January of 2014.
Members of the coalition include Arabsat, ART, du, Egyptian Chamber of Cinema, Eutelsat, IAA, JMC, MBC Group, Motion Picture Association of America (MPA), Nilesat, Noorsat, OSN, Rotana, STN, Viewsat and WWE.
"At JMC, 300 TV channels are uplinked to different satellites," said Radi Alkhas, JMC CEO, in a statement. "We always coordinate with our customers for any copyright infringements. Up till now, we have taken down two TV channels; Al-Mamnou and Majestic 2."
Sam Barnett, MBC Group CEO, added: "The alliance of industry players is trying to combat thousands of hours of pirated content broadcasted to millions of viewers in the region. Pirate channels damage all legitimate producers, actors, production companies and broadcasters. It's essential for the health of the sector across the region, that the pirates are challenged."
Satellite remains ascendant in the Middle East. According to IHS data, at the end of 2013 satellite controlled 74.4% of the pay-TV market in the region, while IPTV’s share stood at 25.56%. BeIN Sports Arabia (formerly known as Al Jazeera Sports) and Dubai-based OSN essentially dominate MENA’s satellite pay-TV market: the combined market share of BeIN Sports Arabia and OSN has fluctuated between 85% and 82%.
“For the vast majority of MENA countries, satellite continues to be the pre-eminent service for receiving television signals, both encrypted and free-to-air (FTA),” the IHS report said. “In 2013 it exceeded a 90 percent primary TV set penetration rate among all TV households.”
However, signal piracy is an endemic problem for pay-TV operators in the region. "In North Africa, for example, Algeria has the largest base of subscribers for beIN Sports, but black market usage is estimated at three times the official beIN Sport Arabia subscriber numbers," said Khadija Lokmane, Dataxis market analyst, in a report.