Piracy Costs For Cable TV Are Increasing

Piracy cost pay-television operators and broadcasters in Asia $1.75 billion in lost revenue for the year ended in June, according to a rough estimate by an industry association.

The figure, which is 14% higher than last year, tracks missed revenue stemming from pirated set-top cable boxes, unauthorized satellite connections, and gray-market cable operators. It was compiled by the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia, which developed the estimate with Standard Chartered Bank. The estimate was influenced by currency fluctuations.

The increase comes as the $26 billion Asian pay-TV industry is booming, with subscribers increasing by 17% in the same period last year, according Casbaa. 'As the product becomes more valuable, it is more prone to theft,' said Marcel Fenez, the chairman of the organization.

Casbaa's piracy estimate doesn't account for losses related to Internet piracy, which could be high in Internet-savvy markets such as China and South Korea.

The industry uses its estimate to lobby governments to adopt antipiracy measures and convince them that the problem costs them tax revenue. The best solution, said Mr. Fenez, is digital-cable technology that is harder to steal, but often is more expensive.

But in a region where many cable-TV systems are mom-and-pop companies stringing cable connections to homes, piracy can be a murky problem. Only $187 million of the estimated loss came from people who bought pirated set-top boxes.

The vast majority -- some $1.1 billion in lost revenue -- comes from India. Most of the 85 million cable-TV homes there pay for cable, but receive their signal through a gray-market provider that doesn't report all connections to channel providers.

Even as it loses subscription revenue through this system, the Indian TV industry still uses data on unreported subscribers to sell advertisers on pay TV's vast reach.

'Still, that is theft from the legitimate value chain,' said Mr. Fenez, and it forces channels to rely too much on cyclical advertising revenue.

据电视行业一家协会组织的粗略估计，截至6月份的一年中，亚洲付费电视运营商和电视公司因盗版流失的收入达到17.5亿美元。

这个数字较上一年度上升了14%，它反映了因走私机顶盒、非法卫星接收装置和半合法有线运营商导致的正规运营商损失的收入额。它是由亚洲有线与卫星电视广播协会(Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia，简称Casbaa)和渣打银行(Standard Chartered Bank)共同调查得出的。上述数字会受到汇率变动的影响。

盗版的扩大伴随着亚洲付费电视行业的蓬勃发展而来。据Casbaa的数字，亚洲付费电视市场规模已达260亿美元，去年同期订户数增长了17%。该协会主席菲奈兹(Marcel Fenez)说，随着产品越来越有价值，也越来越会被盗版。

Casbaa估计的盗版损失数字不包括通过互联网的盗版行为，这类行为在中国、韩国等互联网运用发达的国家可能不会少。

广告该行业正根据这些估计数字向各国政府部门呼吁采取反盗版措施，并说服他们此类盗版行为也带来税收流失。菲奈兹说，最佳解决办法是采用难以盗取的数字电视技术，但这样的成本会比较高。

不过，在亚洲地区，许多有线电视企业都是夫妻店式的小公司，他们要做的就是将电缆连到订户住宅里就完事大吉，在这种环境下，对盗版问题很难做出全面考察。在该协会估计的盗版损失中，只有1.87亿美元来自那些购买盗版机顶盒的人。

盗版损失最大的源头是印度，损失额约为11亿美元。该国8,500万家庭有线电视用户大部分都会支付有线接入的费用，但他们接收的信号来自半合法供应商，这些供应商不会向频道供应商报告实际接入的全部用户数。

印度电视行业虽然损失了这部分用户收视费，但他们在向广告客户销售广告时段时，仍会采用包括未报告用户在内的用户数。

菲奈兹说，这是从合法价值链上偷盗，这迫使电视频道在很大程度上依赖涨跌不定的广告收入。