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 PORT OF SP 00000568 001.2 OF 002 ¶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. -------------- TV piracy - an old story in T&T -------------- ¶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. -------------- Regulatory Regime Changes -------------- ¶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 PORT OF SP 00000568 002.2 OF 002 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. -------------- Taking a New Tack Against Piracy -------------- ¶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