REGION (ABC / Pacific Media Watch): The development of legitimate television services in the Pacific is being hampered by rampant piracy, a veteran television executive says.
Fiji-based consultant Ken Clark told Radio Australia commercial pay TV operators were using digital set-top boxes to import signals intended for legitimate Australian addresses.
"They package it all up with a bunch of others [programs] - some of which are legitimate - and charge the customers for it," he said.
Clark, who has previously worked in senior roles at TV stations in Papua New Guinea and Fiji, told the Pacific Beat programme major sporting events such as the NRL and Olympic Games were often pirated.
He said the practice was rarely challenged.
"Consumers don't care that much. They want the signal they want and they're happy to have it in their home."
Clark has helped mount legal cases through Australian broadcasters which own the rights to the content being pirated.
But he said using the courts was "cumbersome, costly and hasn't gone anywhere".
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Pacific Media Watch
