Cable Providers Summoned for Interrogation after TV Networks File Lawsuit
Some cable TV providers are supposed to appear Tuesday before investigators after the local TV networks filed a lawsuit accusing them of violating several laws.
“State Prosecutor Judge Samir Hammoud has referred to the central criminal investigations department a lawsuit filed against some companies and individuals by the local TV networks NBN, OTV, al-Manar, LBCI, TL, MTV, Future and al-Jadeed,” state-run National News Agency reported.
The cable providers were accused of “breaching articles 87 and 88 of the law protecting intellectual, literary and artistic property and Article 6 of the media law governing TV and radio stations,” NNA said.
The alleged violators “will be summoned tomorrow to the headquarters of the central criminal investigations department,” the agency added.
LBCI had earlier reported that the chairmen of the eight TV networks and their lawyer Wassim Mansouri had visited Hammoud and filed a lawsuit against the violating cable providers.
It said the move happened “after the cable providers violated the declaration issued by the eight Lebanese stations on May 1 and after some of them cut off the broadcast of LBCI and al-Jadeed.”
On Sunday, the TV networks had expressed their full solidarity with the LBCI and al-Jadeed, warning that “legal measures will be taken against violators.”
In a written statement broadcast to subscribers, the cable providers say their move is in protest at an “ultimatum” by the TV networks, which gave the distributors a one-month grace period to start paying a fee of four dollars for every subscriber they have.
“Although it might seem directed against the cable companies, this organized attack is actually targeted against Lebanese citizens with the aim of obliging them to pay a monthly fee of LBP 6,000 in return for viewing the Lebanese TV networks,” the providers say in their statement.
The distributors have also vowed to cut off the signals of more TV networks in the coming days.
The broadcast of the eight channels through cables had been prohibited in accordance to a decree issued on April 11 by Economy Minister Alain Hakim.
Those seeking to obtain the rights to redistribute the channels are to submit a request to lawyer Mansouri's office and sign relevant legal documents between May 1 and June 1, the TV networks had declared.
An Nahar daily on Saturday attributed the development to a dispute between the owners of the television stations and the cable television providers after the former accused the latter of monopolizing the air and demanded a share of the profits that are being made at their expense.
In the absence of laws regulating the telecommunications sector, most Lebanese get their subscriptions from mostly illegal cable companies that operate through piracy and charge about LBP 20,000 ($13) a month.
Y.R.
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