Singapore, 7 May 2014 – StarHub, the largest pay TV operator in Singapore, has commenced criminal prosecution against two illegal set-top box dealers today. This follows the successful raid of a storage facility by StarHub in September 2013, which uncovered a few hundred illegal set-top boxes.
Foo Yong Chun Shaun 符勇淳, aged 27, and Chen Wenqiang Daniel 陈文强, aged 32, appeared in Court this afternoon to face charges for criminal offences under the Broadcasting Act in connection with the distribution of the illegal set-top boxes seized at the raid. If convicted, they face a fine of up to S$40,000, or imprisonment of up to 3 years, or both.
Since early 2013, StarHub has been tracking a syndicate that was distributing sales flyers for the sale of illegal set-top boxes that claim to be able to unscramble StarHub TV content. After months of investigation, the importer of these boxes was identified and the raid was conducted with help from the Police.
“StarHub has, over the years, developed a resilient pay TV network delivering quality content from content creators to our customers,” said Ms Lin Shu Fen, Head of Entertainment & SmartLife, StarHub 星和娱乐与智能生活总监林淑芬. “As part of our continuous efforts to strengthen our network, StarHub recently completed an upgrading exercise migrating our pay TV customers to an enhanced encryption standard, which requires a new security smart card to decrypt our broadcast signals. This renders the illegal set-top boxes ineffective.”
It is a criminal offence to sell, import or manufacture illegal set-top boxes. It is also against the law for consumers to tap into StarHub's network using illegal boxes, with the intention to intercept and receive the content signals without authorisation. In addition to legal action, StarHub has been deploying technological means to prevent illegal boxes from accessing StarHub’s content.
