AEPOC President Jean Grenier at E.U. ministerial seminar "The circulation of European works of art inside the E.U.: support mechanisms and new technologies"

	Industry’s commitment for the fight against piracy of audiovisual services extends to digital cinema
	1st AEPOC European Anti-Piracy Symposium to be held October 2nd in Vicenza (Italy)

Venice, September 2^nd 2003 - AEPOC, the European Association for the Protection of Encrypted Works and Services, was one of the co-operation partners and presenters of the E.U. ministerial seminar “The circulation of European works of art inside the E.U.: support mechanisms and new technologies” held in Venice August 28th – August 31^st in conjunction with the 60^th International Film Festival of Venice and at the occasion of the Italian presidency of the E.U..

In a closed workshop on new technologies for the circulation of European cinema and the fight against piracy President Jean Grenier explained the technical and economical implications of digital, satellite based distribution of films. At the core of his presentation Mr. Grenier pointed out the potential threats of piracy for the future of the European cinema.

The president the pan-European association left no doubt about the commitment of the media industry to effectively prevent piracy of audiovisual services on all levels. AEPOC, representing 29 important players of the media business in Europe, is complementing the media industry’s technical measures as well as its public relations and juridical activities.

Other than contributing to the public awareness for the overwhelmingly negative effects of piracy of audiovisual services AEPOC continuously analyses the legal situation in Europe. At the event Mr. Grenier pointed out that a number of shortcomings directly concern the new model of digital cinema. The foremost being the fact that the Conditional Access directive of the E.U. from 1998 does only protect those conditional access system which are used for direct remuneration, as it is predominantly the case in the Pay-TV sector. In the digital cinema scenario direct remuneration is not consistently part of the business model. This is for instance the case for the distribution of movie trailers and advertising. Other shortcomings concern the harmonisation of laws at the European level as well as the effective enforcement of existing laws.

These and a number of other topics will be at the centre of the upcoming 1st AEPOC European Anti-Piracy Symposium to be held in Vicenza during the SAT Expo 2003 on October 2nd 2003. At the occasion, Mr. Grenier extended the invitation to this event to the attendees of the Venice seminar and the European media business.

AEPOC (www.aepoc.org) is the "Association Européenne pour la Protection des Œuvres et Services Cryptés" or the "European Association for the Protection of Encrypted Works and Services". AEPOC started its activities in 1995. Its current membership consists of 28 leading digital television and telecommunication companies including TV channels, conditional access providers, providers of transmission infrastructures and manufacturers of related hardware.

AEPOC's goal is to eliminate the pirating of encrypted works and services and to encourage the development of the appropriate legal, operational and technological frameworks to increase the security and safeguarding of conditional access systems for Pay-TV, TV-based and IP services.

The AEPOC members are: BetaResearch, BSkyB, Canal+, Canal+ Polska, Conax, Digiturk, Eutelsat, Humax, Irdeto Access, Motorola, Nagravision, NDS, Nokia, NTV-Plus, Pace, Philips, Premiere, Rai, Sagem, SCM Microsystems, Showtime Arabia, Sky Italia, Sogecable, Thomson, TPS, TVCabo, UGC Europe, Viaccess - France Telecom, Viasat Broadcasting.

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