CASBAA Report: Cost of Pay-TV Piracy in Asia Rises to $1.13 Billion

HONG KONG, October 24:
According to a new report from the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association
of Asia (CASBAA) and Standard Chartered Bank, pay-TV piracy cost the
Asia-Pacific region $1.13 billion this year, up from last year’s $1.06 billion.

The fourth-annual survey
of pay-TV piracy covers Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam and this year’s new additions, Australia
and Macau. Released as CASBAA kicked off its annual convention in Hong Kong,
the study highlights the impact of pay-TV signal theft and unlicensed pay-TV
operators on regional economies.

The cost of pay-TV piracy
on the region has risen consistently over the past four years, and the number
of illegal subscriptions has risen about 20 percent to 5.2 million.

The report further notes
that pay-TV piracy will result in an estimated tax revenue loss of $158 million
to the region’s governments this year.

The situation in India is
the worst, where piracy is estimated to have resulted in $667 million in
losses, up from $632 million in 2005. Conditions have also worsened in
Thailand, with losses of $160 million and a whopping 1.27 million unauthorized
connections.

In Hong Kong, the cost of
piracy is up 29 percent to $32.4 million, in part due to increases in illegal
set-top box use and to satellite overspill reception, spurred by this year’s
World Cup.

Vietnam has the worst
ratio of piracy in the region with one legal pay-TV subscriber to 15 illegal
connections. According to this year’s study, there are 90,000 authorized
subscribers in Vietnam compared to 1.37 million illegal subscribers.

In the Philippines, the
number of illegal pay-TV subscribers is up to 887,000. The estimated net piracy
cost due to illegal distributors, largely in the provinces, has risen by 24
percent this year.

Indonesia is suffering
from a revenue leakage of US$23.8 million, while Macau has the second highest piracy rate with 10 pirated connections for every
one legal subscriber. Singapore is the only
market covered by the report to post an improvement, with a 15.8 percent
decline in pay-TV piracy costs.