The Nigerian Copyright Commission and the Department of State Services (DSS) have shut down three stations in Abia state for pirating the broadcast signals of rights owners including StarTimes and MultiChoice.
NCC Rivers state office coordinator Ifeoma Ezinma said raids on Popular Broadcasting Service (PBS) and Modern Communication Limited (MCL)’s premises uncovered equipment including broadcasting decoders for Ben Sports and Canal+, and those for the retransmission of StarTimes, Communications Trends Nigeria Limited TV and MultiChoice Nigeria content.
Ezinma said: “Based on intelligence and surveillance reports, the broadcast facilities of PBS and MCL being used for copyright infringement activities were confiscated on Thursday March 12, while employees engaged in broadcast piracy were arrested during joint-enforcement operations by three separate teams of NCC and DSS operatives.
“Following months of surveillance and intelligence-gathering, the illicit broadcast operations at the three facilities located in Aba and Umuahia in Abia state were interrupted when copyright inspectors from NCC and DSS operatives raided the facilities.”
NCC director-general John Asein added: “The joint operation is a demonstration of a common objective of relevant agencies to ensure that the laudable economic policies being introduced by government are not thwarted by the illegal activities of unscrupulous persons.”
Asein also appealed to the public to desist from patronising copyright pirates and urged them to report suspected copyright violations to the commission.