#45298 - 5 minutes 42 seconds ago Ethnic Pay TV Operator Welcomes Piracy Sentencing
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Registered: Sun 18 Feb 2001
Posts: 10004
Loc: Sydney, Australia
(10.0.0.1)
PRESS RELEASE


ETHNIC PAY TV OPERATOR WELCOMES PIRACY SENTENCING

Australia's largest multi-cultural subscription TV and radio broadcaster, UBI WORLD TV today welcomes the sentencing of two men following Australian Federal Police (AFP) raids last November regarding the widespread piracy of pay television cards.

UBI worked with FOXTEL and AUSTAR to initiate the AFP raids after using a
private investigator to establish that piracy was occurring.

Since discovering the piracy scam and informing the AFP, UBI switched its cards
to a different format, stamping out the current spate of piracy.

Yousseff Nahlous was sentenced this afternoon to 26 months in prison with an 18 month non-parole period for selling pirated Pay TV decoder boxes under section 135ASB (1) of the Copyright Act 1968 and dealing proceeds of crime. The sentence will be served on a periodic basis. His son Habib Nahlous was given a $2,500 fine in the Sydney District Court, Downing Centre.

Police believe there have been as many as 50,000 fake pay television encryption cards in use across Australia.

Chief Executive of UBI, Mrs Regina Boulos, said "We are very proud that we initiated the AFP's investigation, raids and arrests regarding the fake cards and continue to work closely with them to infiltrate other illegal piracy operations.

"Piracy is one of the worst afflictions for the Pay TV industry and we hope this illegal activity can be wiped out completely, as it affects everyone", she added.

UBI WORLD TV provides 100 channels of entertainment, sport and news across a range of languages, including Greek, Arabic, Turkish, Spanish, Portuguese, Balkan, Filipino, Persian and Kurdish.

With headquarters in Sydney, UBI World TV operates direct-to-home satellite service, sourcing its channels from 20 countries and is now the largest provider of non-English digital TV channels to Australia's ethnically diverse population.

For Further Information Call:

Cass Mathews Tim Allerton
UBI WORLD TV City PR
(02) 9776 2009 (02) 9267 4511.