Cable television as you know it might be coming to an end - and that’s because - after years of avoidance - copyright compliance could be imposed upon Belize soon. Today executives from HBO Latin America were in Belize to have what we are told was a stiff meeting with the Belize Cable TV Operators Association. According to a two sentence release from the BCTVOA, their Board of Directors, quote, “held a meeting today…to outline a road map to copyright compliance.” End quote. We are told the meeting was led by Phil Welcome - who is the Director of anti-piracy for HBO Latin America.
It’s the first time an executive with such seniority and specialization has come to Belize to discuss anti-piracy - and it denotes a change in tone on this long lingering issue. That change in tone is also apparent at the state level where the office of the United States Trade Representative is pressuring Belize to become copyright compliant.
So what does “the road to copyright compliance” mean for you? Well, probably anywhere between 75% and 90% of those 225 cable channels you get on your TV are pirated. And that includes all those premium channels such as HBO, STARZ, SHOWTIME, CINEMAX, ENCORE, SCI-FI…and the list goes on and on…
But, once cable operators are forced to be copyright compliant, they may have to pull those channels - or pay for it, and offer them as a premium package which you would have to pay more to see.
HBO is the first premium channel owner to arrive and they could be demanding as much as five dollars per subscriber from cable operators. Both sides are expected to meet again in a few weeks.
Rampant piracy has persisted in Belize since the advent of television - and it has made for the cheapest channel for channel cable package - probably in the world. Today’s meeting suggests that the free ride could finally be coming to an end.
We’ll keep following the story.
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