Estimates of the number of pirate dishes range in Canada range from 700,000 to one million.

Bush-Waterhouse Communications 2002 Theft of Cable Service and Industry Loss Survey[230K] was released to the industry and made available to the general public. Wednesday, 17 April, 2002

Cable piracy real priority, CRTC head promises

VANCOUVER (CP) - The new head of Canada''''s broadcasting regulator promised Tuesday to help the cable-television industry combat piracy, which the industry sees as a serious threat to its revenue base.

"I would like to reassure you that we share your concerns regarding black-market satellite systems," Charles Dalfen, chairman of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, told cable operators at their annual convention.

The Canadian Cable Television Association has filed a complaint with the commission over the chronic problem of unauthorized satellite systems pirating signals. Some are grey market, meaning Canadians buy a U.S.-based service, which does not have broadcasting rights in Canada, but most are black-market, involving the use of illicit equipment to steal Canadian-bound signals.

In both cases, legitimate operators are deprived of revenue and it shrinks the pool of money they pay into funds to produce Canadian films and TV shows.

In his first major address since being appointed last November, Dalfen said the commission was prepared to support new legislation if it is needed to deal with piracy. "It may be that we will have to be a bit more proactive on that front," said Dalfen, a communications lawyer, professor and senior federal bureaucrat.

"Like you, we believe the black market is hurting all of us and threatens to draw away money from the Canadian broadcasting system as a whole," he said. Speaking to reporters later, Dalfen would not say what kinds of strategies the commission was considering to deal with piracy.

"This is theft, essentially and it has to be stopped," he said. "A way will be found eventually to do that and it should come sooner rather than later." Estimates of the number of pirate dishes range in Canada range from 200,000 to one million.

Dalfen said grey-market dishes are less of a threat because Canadians seeking channels not available here must go to the trouble of registering a phony U.S. address to get service from an American operator.