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| Tuesday, 28 September 2004 |
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Satellite piracy hits Govt's revenue - Micro Vision Satellite Systems MD by Shirajiv Sirimane Satellite piracy is taking place in Sri Lanka in a big way and there is an urgent need to monitor and regularise these foreign broadcasts. If the government can set up a special unit they could collect revenue by way of an annual licence fee from the broadcast companies. According to Managing Director Micro Vision Satellite Systems, Palitha Nugaliyadde, this is evident specially in the Pay Television circuit. There are many local companies providing movie channels to the public on a monthly rental. Some of these services are downloaded from a satellite and then beamed to their viewers. He said that the authorities must ensure that these companies pay a percentage from their profits to the government. "Government should benefit by way of revenue but this is not happening now," he said. Though in most countries including India there are institutions monitoring the use of satellite this area is not strong in Sri Lanka. "Even the laws (Sri Lanka Telecom Act) in Sri Lanka are not fully geared to tackle these issues and some are exploiting the loopholes in the law," he said. Nugaliyadde who is one of the first to manufacture dish antennaes in Sri Lanka said that there should be a powerful authority to handle this area. "The Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC) alone cannot handle this," he said. He said that plans are under way to introduce the controversial Direct to Home (DTH) system to Sri Lanka. India restricted this for many years and finally gave the green light after heavy licensing fees and with a clause that it should be operated only in Indian territory. He said that the government should investigate this as it would have a major negative impact on the local dish and antennae manufacturing industry where over 50,000 are directly and indirectly employed. |
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