ITV

Tag: urges

  • CEA urges recording industry not to cry wolf over digital technologies

    MUMBAI: Don’t get burned up over CD burning! That is the basic message that US organisation Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) is trying to convey to America’s recording industry.
     
     

    CEA president and CEO Gary Shapiro issued a statement in response to recent media reports noting the recording industry’s heightened focus on music copied onto blank recordable CDs.

    “There they go again – The recent news that the recording industry now considers casual, non-commercial CD burning as a threat to be stopped comes as no surprise. Even with their recent victory in MGM v. Grokster, the recording industry continues efforts to chip away at established home recording and fair use rights.

    “We are concerned that the record industry is targeting consumer place shifting and CD burning, even as they admit that it is legal conduct. While arguing the MGM v. Grokster case before the US Supreme Court, Donald Verrilli, an attorney representing the record companies stated, ‘My clients, have said, for some time now, and it’s been on their Website for some time now, that it’s perfectly lawful to take a CD that you’ve purchased, upload it onto your computer, put it onto your iPod. There is a very, very significant lawful commercial use for that device, going forward.’”
     
     

    The US Supreme Court earlier this year had ruled that the owners of a site like Grokster are accountable for file sharing that occurs through their peer 2 peer networks. Earlier these sites used to contend that they could not do anything if their sites were being used by file sharers to distribute pirated music.

    Shapiro states that the fact is that making a backup or mix CD for personal use is not copyright infringement, and Americans who enjoy personal CD burning are not lawbreakers. Consumers have the right to make backup copies and to move (place-shift) their lawfully acquired music, movies and other material from device to device. Home recording and piracy must not be confused.

    “Rather than focussing on real commercial piracy, recording companies have chosen to alienate their customers by limiting CD recordability and making CDs incompatible with iPODs or other products. Now they have an obligation to label their products accordingly. Americans have a right to know what they are buying, and should be informed if the CD cannot meet their normal and customary expectations.

    “It is ironic that the recording industry continues to cry wolf when so many opportunities exist for the industry to leverage technology for future growth. For example, CEA forecasts sales of MP3 players to grow by more than 45 per cent this year. Online music sales continue to increase. Now that Grokster has been resolved in their favour, it is time for the music industry to finally get serious about building digital business models. Content creators should focus their considerable resources and marketing prowess on finding and expanding new business models rather than constricting consumers’ rights and strangling new technologies.”

  • Casbaa urges action on Hong Kong pay-TV theft

    MUMBAI: The Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) says it is time for the Hong Kong government to address the issue of criminalisation of the domestic use of unauthorized pay-TV decoders in the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR).

    The pay-TV piracy, which is part of the Casbaa agenda as the problem has escalated in the jurisdictions of Hong Kong, it notes.

    Casbaa estimates that pay-TV signal theft in Hong Kong cost HK$195 million last year. There is also a cost to the government in uncollected license fees and taxes, it says.

    According to an official release, the association, which represents all of Hong Kong’s pay-TV operators as well as the regional pay-TV channels, notes that recent reports of the “cracking” of the encryption codes of Hong Kong pay-TV operator i-Cable only highlights the need for a multi-faceted approach to pay-TV signal theft, including technical solutions, legal remedies and public education.

    CASBAA chairman Marcel Fenez says, “We recognise that there will always be battles to stay ahead of the technology curve. The pay-TV industry regularly adopts new technical solutions to piracy as a matter of practice.”

    “Investment in the latest encryption technology is just a part of the cost of doing business, ” he adds.

    However, the pay-TV industry and the community at large also need the support of regulators and enforcement agencies if the media industry is to continue to thrive in Hong Kong. “Technical solutions cannot stand alone,” says Fenez.

    “The pro-active enforcement of criminal controls on traders in illegal equipment — plus the introduction of criminal sanctions for the domestic usage of unauthorised pay-TV decoders – should now be a priority for Hong Kong,” he adds.

    Casbaa notes that criminal sanctions for domestic pay-TV signal theft are in place in many jurisdictions, including Singapore, Australia, the United Kingdom, France, Canada and the United States.

    Casbaa believes that clearly identifying end-user piracy as a criminal offence will significantly reduce demand for unauthorised pay-TV distribution within Hong Kong, thus making the development and sales of illegal decoders a less attractive proposition for those involved in criminal activities.

    “It’s time for Hong Kong to face up to this issue,” adds Fenez. “Unless it does so, our industry and the HKSAR’s reputation as a respected regional media hub will suffer further damage.”

    Casbaa also believes the Hong Kong government needs to eliminate any gray areas with regards to pay-TV piracy that do not draw a clear distinction between what is the legally permitted distribution of pay-TV services and what is not.

    According to Casbaa, another outstanding issue of significant concern in Hong Kong is the continued distribution of unauthorised pay-TV signals in public venues such as clubs and pubs.

    “As with the tolerance of domestic pay-TV signal theft, the public venue issue sends very negative signals to consumers, damages the media investment climate and undermines the creation of compelling TV content,” said Fenez.

  • Pakistan I&B minister urges ad agencies to prop up country’s image

    ISLAMABAD: Our neighbours are realising the value of advertising. Pakistan federal minister for information and broadcasting (I&B) Sheikh Rashid Ahmed has asked advertising agencies to play a larger role in the image building of the country, aimed at meeting the future challenges and attracting foreign direct investment. The minister was presiding over the inaugural session of ‘Round Table Conference on Advertising in Pakistan’.

    The meet was attended by I&B ministry secretaries, director generals of the national broadcasters and representatives of the ad associations and accredited advertising agencies from Islamabad, Lahore and Karachi.

    Minister Ahmed urged the ad agencies to work for promoting Pakistan as a moderate, liberal and progressive state in the world. He added that ad agencies would promote marketing values along with code of ethics for the betterment of the society.

    The minister also reassured the gathering and stated that the government would try to resolve their problems at the earliest.

    Regarding licensing for private television channels, he said the government would grant licences to private companies for setting up private channels aimed at promoting healthy competition in the field of electronic media.

    Ahmed said many companies had approached the government for setting up channels including a private channel, Star Pakistan, which would be a purely Pakistani channel. “CNN and BBC have also talked about their Urdu service,” the minister disclosed.

    The ministry officials also called upon owners of advertising agencies to make a code of ethics to discourage gloomy advertising in electronic as well as print media.