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    The Office of the Telecommunications Authority (OFTA) and the Police mounted another successful raid operation on March 10 (Thursday) against the sale of unauthorised pay TV decoders in Sham Shui Po.

    Three suspected unauthorised decoders, 37 smart cards and nine smart card programmers were seized and three persons were taken to the police station to assist in further investigation.

    A spokesman for OFTA warned that the sale, import, export, manufacture, offer for sale or let for hire of any unauthorised TV decoder was a criminal offence under the Broadcasting Ordinance.  The offender is liable to a maximum penalty of $1 million fine and five years' imprisonment upon conviction.

    "In a recent case, the offender was convicted and jailed for three months."

     "We will not hesitate to take enforcement action against these illegal activities, which are under the close surveillance of the Police and OFTA," the spokesman said.

    The spokesman also pointed out that using illegal decoders for commercial purposes, such as pirated viewing of pay TV programmes in a restaurant, was a criminal offence. Both commercial and domestic users of the decoder will also be subject to civil court action by the pay TV operators.

   "People purchasing or using the decoders will not only suffer financial loss, but will also face serious legal consequences."

    "The Government will continue to work with the industry to clamp down on these illegal activities.  It is also the primary responsibility of the pay TV operators to adopt protective measures against TV piracy," the spokesman said.

Ends/Sunday, March 13, 2005

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