CABLE TV PIRACY IN TRINIDAD

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 PORT OF SPAIN 000568

SIPDIS

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETRD KIPR TD XL
SUBJECT: CABLE TV PIRACY IN TRINIDAD

REF: POS 181

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1. SUMMARY: Trinidad affiliate of DIRECTV has
threatened legal action against T&T cable company
Columbus Communications if Columbus does not cease
illegally broadcasting HBO U.S. signals. The threat
appears to be partly directed at the T&T regulator,
which as yet has taken no action to require Columbus to
air only those channels for which it has licenses. End
summary.


2. The days may be numbered for Trinidad & Tobago cable
TV viewers that are used to seeing premium movie
channels, showing the same broadcast streams as seen in
the U.S. DIRECTV Trinidad, Ltd., part of California-
based DIRECTV Group, announced on May 4 that it would
take legal action against monopoly Trinidad cable TV
provider, Columbus Communications, if the cable company
did not cease its transmission of unlicensed feeds of
HBO and related channels. The company and HBO jointly
declared that DIRECTV is the only company with rights
to show HBO programming in T&T. Columbus entered the
local market in January with its purchase of incumbent
provider CCTT, and has a concession from the GOTT to
provide cable services.

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TV piracy - an old story in T&T
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3. The issue of piracy of U.S. satellite feeds has
existed in T&T since the 1990s. U.S. satellite
coverage "footprints" extend to some Caribbean islands,
making it easy for local companies to download U.S.
domestic transmissions. Advantages for local consumers
have included seeing U.S. sports events on ESPN and
latest cable releases of Hollywood films on channels
like Starz, HBO and Showtime. Viewers of Latin
American affiliates of those channels experience lags
of six months or later, as rights holders withhold
films until they have finished their theatrical runs.
U.S. rights holders did not take steps to halt those
transmissions, partly because the markets are small and
the cost of negotiating separately with companies in
each island nation is prohibitive. However, pressure
to conform led CCTT to make subtle changes, shifting
some channels, such as Turner Classic Movies and TNT,
to Latin American feeds (TCM-LA and TNT-LA),dropping
ESPN in favor of ESPNdeportes, and so forth. But
transmission of U.S. feeds of HBO, Cinemax, TMC and
others continue unchanged.


4. Meanwhile, DIRECTV operates in accordance with U.S.
IP rules, and does not transmit U.S. satellite feeds,
except as permitted by agreements it may have with
rights holders. It has chafed at the continuing theft
of those feeds by the cable operator, which gave CCTT a
competitive advantage in urban areas.


5. In 2004 U.S. rights holders approached Embassy to
explore how they might induce CCTT to cease
transmitting U.S. satellite feeds. They followed up by
visiting T&T and meeting with GOTT officials, econoffs
and DIRECTV. Last year some of those companies sought
to negotiate some kind of license with CCTT. While
those talks showed promise, they did not lead to any
agreement. Meanwhile, GOTT established a cable TV
committee that made recommendations to the government
at the end of the year. That report went to the GOTT
Cabinet in February and remains there.

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Regulatory Regime Changes
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6. The regulator, Telecommunications Authority of T&T
(TATT),took the position last year that it was
powerless to impose penalties on CCTT for unlicensed
transmission of U.S. channels on grounds that CCTT had
received its authority to broadcast before the 2004
establishment of TATT. However, the arrival of
Columbus Communications has changed the equation. A
standard clause in TATT concession documents awarded
since February 2005 for broadcasters is the following:
"The concessionaire shall not broadcast any programmes,
information or other material without first obtaining
all required permissions from the relevant owners of
any intellectual property in such programmes,
information and other material, and shall not otherwise
infringe the intellectual property rights of any

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person." A TATT official confirmed to Econ Chief that
the Columbus Communications concession document also
contains this language. We note that TATT is in the
process of considering issuing concessions to
additional companies for provision of cable services,
and IPR language would certainly be in those award
documents as well.

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Taking a New Tack Against Piracy
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7. Aware of this commitment, DIRECTV communicated its
concern to TATT about continuing signal theft, but we
understand that the company has not received
satisfaction from the regulator. The latest twist in
the story was the announcement by HBO and DIRECTV,
which was published in the April 29 Trinidad Express.
An excerpt is as follows: "HBO announced today that
DIRECTV is the only multi-channel provider in Trinidad
and Tobago authorized to use HBO trademarks and
broadcast HBO programming. HBO's Director Affiliate
Relations for Latin America and the Caribbean - Luis
Fonseca - confirms that `DIRECTV is the only company
licensed to broadcast HBO and Cinemax services in
Trinidad and Tobago.'"


8. In discussing with Econ Chief his latest tactic in
the ongoing struggle against signal theft, DIRECTV
Trinidad general manager Bernard Pantin underscored
that DIRECTV did not have an exclusive right to those
programs, but was the only company currently authorized
to do so. He told us that his May 4 threat, which was
the cover story in the Trinidad Guardian the next day,
was an effort to provoke some form of action since
Columbus was continuing the illegal transmissions of
its predecessor, CCTT.


9. In its public response, Columbus has admitted that
it lacks an agreement with HBO. It claims, however,
that its customers deserve the latest possible programs
(i.e., U.S. market feeds),and asserts that it would be
subject to receiving Spanish language programming (HBO
reps earlier told Econ Chief that rebroadcasters could
choose between audio tracks on its programming). For
his part, TATT Executive Director John Prince has not
taken a position yet, though he was quoted in the
Express as saying he did not any information or
evidence that Columbus was pirating.


10. COMMENT: The threat by DIRECTV to sue Columbus is
unlikely to lead to swift judicial action. It may be
more successful in prodding TATT to prevail upon
Columbus to negotiate a license with HBO, as its
license terms require. We note that TATT was effective
last year in postponing for a full week the planned
launch of TV station CNC-3, which TATT claimed had
failed to obtain its permission to operate. TATT also
has an eye on future market entrants, and has an
interest in providing competent and fair regulation.
Either way, an end could be in sight to the long-
running era of U.S. satellite-signal theft.

SWEENEY