Police crackdown on the illegal viewing of televised sport, yet

do the financially cute continue to cash in?

Police continue to raid properties with the aim of seizing illegally modified digital and cable TV set-top boxes,
but is this sufficient to inhibit the increasingly large issue of illicit viewing practices? In the midst of the
landmark case involving tenacious publican, Karen Murphy, Sky and the FA the law surrounding the use of
‘illegal’ or ‘dodgy’ foreign set-top boxes could potentially be radically adapted. For now at least the law
remains certain, Sergeant Colin Dassow states: “Members of the public should be reminded that using set-top
boxes that have been illegally modified to receive digital and cable subscription channels are committing a
criminal offence. Anyone receiving these channels and making no payment to the respective media company is
at risk of being prosecuted." This article investigates the measures the Police are going to in order to
successfully convict offenders and demonstrates examples of past cases.

The Police in Burnley alongside the Premier League have launched a huge crackdown on illegally
televised Clarets matches in Burnley pubs. Investigators said since Burnley’s promotion last year the town has
been flooded with decoder cards, typically for Albanian TV, allowing clubs and pubs to show matches without a
licence. Three pubs, including the Rose and Crown in Manchester Road on Thursday, have already been raided
and police said many more will follow. But fans groups said that the practice of using illegal satellite cards was
not hurting clubs, especially because Burnley’s attendances had been good all season. And Burnley’s chief
executive Paul Fletcher said he had sympathy for fans watching the games in pubs but said: “It is illegal and we
have to be supportive of the Premier League's actions." On Thursday police raided the Rose and Crown and
arrested the 56-year-old venue's manager on suspicion of fraud. Satellite boxes, decoding cards and
documentation were seized. Inspector Karen Edwards said: "My intention is to carry out similar raids. The
message to pubs is that further work is ongoing and I want to work with licensees on this issue. But if they
continually fail to heed warnings then we will take positive action." Mr Fletcher said: "We are always
sympathetic to our fans and understand many watch games at these pubs. But we have got to balance it out with
the laws of the land. Each club has the same problems but ours are new ones because of the promotion" Ray
Hoskin, the managing director of Media Protection Services which investigates copyright offences for the
Premier League, said there is a 'serious problem' in Burnley. He stated, "There are a lot of publicans who have
been misled into buying these decoders by organised crime gangs who tell them that they will not be prosecuted.
In Burnley's case this is a relatively new phenomenon because the club has just been promoted. These decoders
only cost £60 in Albania but are being sold to landlords for anywhere between £900 and £1,000. The Rose and
Crown will not be the last pub raided in Burnley." He said covert visits are made to offending pubs and
warnings given before raids are carried out.

Organised crime gangs similar to those mentioned in the Burnley area are repeatedly being prosecuted
by the Police in an effort to prevent the crime at the source. Police in Blackburn believe they have prosecuted a
“massive" crime ring selling illegal digital boxes. Around 200 set-top boxes were seized and six people arrested
after a series of raids in Blackburn and Preston. The raids came after a joint police and Virgin Media
investigation into the suspected illegal use and modification of digital TV set-top boxes. Virgin Media has now
said that documents and computer records seized in Monday's swoops on seven locations showed that the 200
set-top boxes could just be the "tip of the iceberg". Rebecca Burke, from the media company, said: "We are
aware that they may have traded a great deal more than just the number of boxes that were seized. There are
extensive records that need to be investigated and carefully looked at. Equipment was sold across the country,
not just in Lancashire." Police raided two houses in Livingstone Road, Blackburn, two in Assheton Road,
Blackburn, and one in Duchy Avenue, Preston. Two industrial units were also targeted in Blackburn, one in
Hamilton Street and a second in George Street West. Five men and one woman arrested on suspicion of
committing offences under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 have been bailed pending further
inquiries. Despite this potentially successful conviction, it has been admitted by both investigating parties that
the boxes that were seized did not make up a large percentage of those that had already been sold. Without
more effective measures to apprehend such distributors ‘illegal’ viewing practices will not only remain high, but
increase in the near future.
 In Ireland this issue can been seen with startling prevalence, it has been estimated that almost one in
five Irish cable television customers has an illegal decoder to unscramble channels that they are not paying for,
according to industry estimates. Unofficial set-top boxes such as Eurovox, Digivox, Starview, Kryptview and
Dreambox, which can be bought online and at weekend markets, have flooded Ireland in the past two years. The
devices, nicknamed “dodgy boxes”, give cable subscribers on basic packages access to up to 150 encrypted
channels including pay-per-view sports and movies. An industry survey of suppliers of the boxes on eBay
across the UK and Ireland estimated that up to 100,000 have been sold to Irish suppliers and consumers over the
past 12 months. The decoders work by unencrypting the digital television pictures that are sent down the cable
television network along with analogue signals. The digital signals can be received by all television cable
subscribers regardless of what service the home owner has paid for, but only the channels that have been paid
for are unscrambled by the genuine UPC box. Because the digital signals are available, the householder can
plug the television cable into the “dodgy box” and let it search for stations to unscramble. The basic digital
subscription costs !240 a year compared with !882 for access to all digital channels, including movies and
importantly for this article, sports packages. If the 100,000 customers thought to have dodgy boxes were paying
for the channels they are viewing illegally, it would generate an extra !64m a year for UPC. Using the decoders
to view content that has not been paid for is a criminal offence under the Copyright Act 2000, subject to a fine
of !1,900. On its website UPC states that “subscribing to basic subscription while accessing premium content
for free by the use of illicit devices to circumvent encryption measures of a service provider” is television piracy.
The cable operator said: “The cost of piracy affects all actors in the pay TV distribution chain. Artists,
performers, writers and producers of TV content make their living off their creativity and charge UPC copyright
fees to broadcast that content.” UPC said its anti-piracy team constantly monitors activity across its network.
“Furthermore, from a technical point of view we constantly deploy electronic counter measures to impede the
use of these illegal boxes. The latest counter measure occurred in late December and was highly successful in
disrupting use of these illegal boxes.” However, dodgy box owners can easily get their systems working again
once the new codes are cracked. One owner of an illegal decoder said: “At Christmas they blocked the channels
but within 30 minutes I had the new code. Once one person gets the code online it’s texted all round the place.
It’s not difficult to get it.” He pays UPC for its basic analogue pack of !24.50 per month, but has access to more
than 100 digital channels through the decoder. “Every second person that I know either has one or is interested
in getting one.” Despite the fact organised gangs and pub landlords have been attributed with much of the
media attention concerning this issue, the normally law abiding general public who decide to take the evidently
minor risk in engaging in illegal viewing practices, are causing considerable damage. It is clear despite Police
efforts; the financially cute viewers are continuingly evading prosecution.

As already mentioned, if the broadcasting company successfully impedes the use of dodgy boxes, this
is only a temporary measure as information is easily accessible via the internet or text messaging that will aid
the users to reinstate the encrypted channels. It was recently announced that two men have been sentenced to a
total of 15 months imprisonment for publically advising people how to bypass security settings on their set-top
boxes. Carl Morgan Davison of Llanfechell in Amlwch and Mark Taylor from Leeds got ten and five months
respectively. The two were moderators of a site called modshack.co.uk. Davison used the aliases "Hairy
Monster", "HM" or "H" and Taylor was known as "Novice Angle" and "Bubba's Boy". The site included a link
asking for donations which collected almost £27,000. The site was closed in 2006 following the arrest of
Davison and Taylor. Virgin Media and BSkyB complained to North Wales Police that between 2003 and 2005
the website helped people get services without paying for them, thereby defrauding both companies.

Whilst it is clear the Police along with various broadcasting companies are making concerted efforts to
prevent the illicit viewing of cable and digital channels there are still a large number of users exploiting
technicalities enabling to receive services they have not paid for. The task to entirely prevent such practices is
extremely unenviable. With the power of the internet to not only sell illicit set-tops but also to provide
information on how to use them I cannot envisage total prevention for some time to come. In the meantime,
those willing to take the risk and inevitably save money will continue to do so.
References:

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/05/12/set_top_virgin_sky/

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/ireland/article5537633.ece

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/5073503.Huge_crackdown_on_pubs_showing_illegal_Burnley_mat
ches/?action=complain&cid=8394525

http://www.lancashiretelegraph.co.uk/news/2235815.police_and_tv_bosses_hail_crackdown_on_illegal_settop_
boxes/