Gugi47
04-16-2009, 11:18 AM
Saudi targets illegal TV decoders
Saudi Arabian authorities are set to crack down on television decoder boxes which give viewers free access to subscription-based channels, the Arabian Anti-piracy Alliance said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.
The Saudi ministry of culture and information, the ministry of commerce and the ministry of finance are jointly implementing a ban on decoder boxes, and are studying ways to enforce the new rules.
“The move marks a major milestone in the [Saudi Arabia’s] intellectual property rights protection efforts,” said the Anti-piracy Alliance, a copyright enforcement advocacy group affiliated with the US-based Motion Picture Association.
“The kingdom is taking a strong stance against piracy because it compromises religious values, weakens the economy, tarnishes the country’s image, and hurts consumers,” Abdul Rahman al-Hazzaa, an undersecretary at the ministry of commerce and industry, said in the statement.
Illegal TV decoder boxes have become popular in Gulf markets, the Anti-piracy Alliance said, and despite efforts to suppress the market, access to these devices remains easy. This is leading to a collaborative effort between governments and the private sector to stamp out piracy in the region, the anti-piracy group said.
Two pay TV broadcasters, Orbit Satellite Television and Showtime backed the government’s plan and said piracy damages investors’ interests and ultimately hurts consumers.
*** Saudi Arabia has banned auto licence tags whose Arabic characters spell out offensive words when romanised, with the list of banned combinations including ‘USA’, Al Watan newspaper reported yesterday.
Saudi plates normally have three Arabic characters and three numbers, but the growing fashion is for auto owners also to display a version using the Latin alphabet and some buyers of personalised “vanity plates” deliberately choose Arabic letters which turn into words considered offensive.
The authorities in charge of issuing vanity plates have released a list of nine prohibited three-letter combinations, and ordered all branches to stop renewing plates that include them, according to Watan
Saudi Arabian authorities are set to crack down on television decoder boxes which give viewers free access to subscription-based channels, the Arabian Anti-piracy Alliance said yesterday in an e-mailed statement.
The Saudi ministry of culture and information, the ministry of commerce and the ministry of finance are jointly implementing a ban on decoder boxes, and are studying ways to enforce the new rules.
“The move marks a major milestone in the [Saudi Arabia’s] intellectual property rights protection efforts,” said the Anti-piracy Alliance, a copyright enforcement advocacy group affiliated with the US-based Motion Picture Association.
“The kingdom is taking a strong stance against piracy because it compromises religious values, weakens the economy, tarnishes the country’s image, and hurts consumers,” Abdul Rahman al-Hazzaa, an undersecretary at the ministry of commerce and industry, said in the statement.
Illegal TV decoder boxes have become popular in Gulf markets, the Anti-piracy Alliance said, and despite efforts to suppress the market, access to these devices remains easy. This is leading to a collaborative effort between governments and the private sector to stamp out piracy in the region, the anti-piracy group said.
Two pay TV broadcasters, Orbit Satellite Television and Showtime backed the government’s plan and said piracy damages investors’ interests and ultimately hurts consumers.
*** Saudi Arabia has banned auto licence tags whose Arabic characters spell out offensive words when romanised, with the list of banned combinations including ‘USA’, Al Watan newspaper reported yesterday.
Saudi plates normally have three Arabic characters and three numbers, but the growing fashion is for auto owners also to display a version using the Latin alphabet and some buyers of personalised “vanity plates” deliberately choose Arabic letters which turn into words considered offensive.
The authorities in charge of issuing vanity plates have released a list of nine prohibited three-letter combinations, and ordered all branches to stop renewing plates that include them, according to Watan