Broadcast Satellite Anti-Piracy Coalition takes down 15 illegal feeds

The Broadcast Satellite Anti-Piracy Coalition, formed earlier this year by TV stakeholders in the Middle East to raise awareness about the impact of piracy on the region’s television industry, has taken 15 channels off air.

The defunct pirate channels are: Al-Mamnou, Ahl Masar, CDC Cinema, CRT Cinema, Homos TV, I-Movies, Hollywood Stars, Kit Kat, Majestic 2, Mega Cinema, Nessma Al Khadra, QTV, Scope TV Movies, Time Movies and Top Movies.

Rapid TV News reports these channels alone were responsible for more than 700 infringements of intellectual property rights for studio-owned movies since January of 2014.

Members of the coalition include Arabsat, ART, du, Egyptian Chamber of Cinema, Eutelsat, IAA, JMC, MBC Group, Motion Picture Association of America (MPA), Nilesat, Noorsat, OSN, Rotana, STN, Viewsat and WWE.

“At JMC, 300 TV channels are uplinked to different satellites,” said Radi Alkhas, JMC CEO. “We always coordinate with our customers for any copyright infringements. Up till now, we have taken down two TV channels; Al-Mamnou and Majestic 2.”

Sam Barnett, MBC Group CEO, added: “The alliance of industry players is trying to combat thousands of hours of pirated content broadcasted to millions of viewers in the region. Pirate channels damage all legitimate producers, actors, production companies and broadcasters. It’s essential for the health of the sector across the region, that the pirates are challenged.”