AEPOC Workshop in Vicenza denounced piracy of audiovisual services

	SAT Expo 2004 provided platform for discussion of the issue
	AEPOC European Anti-Piracy Symposium to be held in Amsterdam, October 21st, 2004

Vicenza, October 7^th 2004 - For the second year AEPOC (European Association for the Protection of Encrypted Works and Services) put piracy of audiovisual services on the agenda of SAT Expo, one of Europe's leading events on advanced telecommunications (www.satexpo.it). SAT Expo was held in Vicenza, Italy, September 30^th to October 2^nd.

Titled "Piracy: An existing problem" the open workshop organised by AEPOC convened more than 60 media professionals from across Europe in a lively debate on the issue. The session was moderated by Davide Rossi, Secretary General of AEPOC and member of the Intellectual Property Committee of the Italian Prime Minister's Cabinet.

In his opening remarks Jean Grenier, President of AEPOC, pinpointed the key challenge for the market: "One of the driving forces for this kind of piracy is the consumer demand. For too many people theft of immaterial goods is perceived as a peccadillo. With the ubiquity of multimedia hardware in the homes piracy threatens to become a common and socially accepted practice. It remains a key challenge to all market players to educate the public that piracy is theft."

A concise view on the future of audiovisual services was presented by Matthias Bendull of conditional access system vendor comvenient. "Bi-directional delivery platforms such as the Internet and cable environments will not only bring about new challenges. Intelligent real-time dynamical access codes will open new dimensions of content protection enabling new generations of secure personalised services."

Marcello Berengo Gardin of Sky Italia underlined the horizontal impact of audiovisual piracy affecting the entire cultural industry. "Getting a pay-TV service through pirate devices damages not only the pay-TV operators themselves, but also customers and subscribers, the content providers, the thematic channels, the producers and the authors of documentaries, shows, serials and movies. It's a cultural and economic damage that affects all of us as citizens of Europe."

In his ad hoc contribution Giuliano Berretta, Chairman and CEO of Eutelsat S.A., introduced another key element in the fight against piracy. Reporting a recent successful raid of the Italian fiscal police, Guardia di Finanza, against a group of sophisticated pay-TV pirates he stressed the importance of close and international co-operation between enforcement agencies in Europe. "The full collaboration between magistrates and police in Italy and France clearly contributed to the success of the operation."

Davide Rossi summarises the event. "The Vicenza debate clearly showed that the complexity of the piracy issue demands full attention by all parties involved. I am glad that AEPOC will offer yet another forum for interdisciplinary discussion of the issue at its upcoming Anti-Piracy Symposium." AEPOC will hold its 2^nd AEPOC European Anti-Piracy Symposium October 21^st, 2004 in Amsterdam. The registration is free of charge and can be made until October 12^th, 2004 online at www.aepoc.org.

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 31 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 (piracy of audiovisual 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 services and IP services.

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

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