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Wednesday, January 18, 2006
The real losers in cable piracy
Ella Cruz (not her real name) of Barangay Olympia, Makati City, has been a longtime cable subscriber. Recently, however, she has been feeling shortchanged. Not once has she missed paying her bills, she says, but cable service seemed better years ago when the signal was crystal clear. These days, Ella laments that her cable TV reception seems to have deteriorated.
Aling Ella may not know it, but legitimate subscribers like her are the real victims of the growing cable piracy problem in the country. If left unchecked, cable theft will divest more consumers like Aling Ella of quality cable service.
“Cable companies may have been bleeding financially, but it is the subscribers who are at the losing end in the cable piracy crisis,” said Elpidio Paras, vice-chairman and one-time president of the Philippine Cable Television Association (PCTA).
Paras said illegal cable connections cause a 30- to 40-percent degradation in cable signals. This means ghost images, static lines, blurred pictures, hissing noises, sudden flickers on screen and surges of static noise that can damage the TV set. Thus, legitimate subscribers are not just being robbed of cable signals; they are incurring other potential losses as well.
“The worst thing is, many subscribers out there don’t know they’ve been had,” Paras pointed out. “They are virtually paying for other people‘s illegal cable connection and they only complain when the signal has become so bad.”
Paras added that cable theft in Metro Manila have become so rampant that the number of illegal connections have surpassed the total number of subscribers of all the cable companies combined.
“Legitimate subscribers are paying for these illegal connections and they get nothing in return,” Paras said.
That is why cable companies are urging their subscribers to report incidents of cable theft as well as bogus linemen offering free cable in their neighborhood.
Paras said it’s very easy to spot an illegal cable connection.
“One telltale sign is the presence of multi-channel splitters in the electric post, near the main cable line,” he explained. “Cable companies don’t use three-way splitters. We keep our cable connections seamless, so all you can see is one cable wire connecting the subscriber to the main cable line. We don’t do octopus connections.”
Subscribers, Paras added, should call their cable company’s hotline whenever they see a splitter.
“Subscribers should take part in the battle against illegal connections because ultimately, they are the ones being robbed, not the cable companies,” Paras said.
For Bisaya stories from Cebu. Click here. (January 18, 2006 issue)
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