CBC now pirate free

Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation television (CBC-TV) has succeeded in shaking off the pirates after several tries.This has been accomplished through a new software encoding programme that has made the company’s subscription television (STV) invincible to the pirates’ popular programme snatching tool, the Dreambox.In recent weeks, owners of these satellite, terrestrial and cable digital television receivers have seen channels vanish one by one from their menus.The last straw was the disappearance of the local Channel 8 from the Dreamboxes.CBC’s chief Multi-Choice TV (MCTV) officer, Andrew Greene, declined comment but Dreambox owners say this is the first time CBC has been so successful.Usually, Dreamboxes are back into pirating MCTV within days of CBC’s changing its codes to tighten security. But for several week now  Dreamboxes have been silent.One Dreambox salesman, speaking on condition that he not be identified, said the trouble was that a software reading package could not be found to crack the codes encrypted in the cards provided MCTV subscribers.At the same time, CBC is said to have drastically reduced to just a few the number of people with knowledge of the codes in a field where information is relentlessly sought by many people.The programme was said to be so secretive that even some CBC managers were kept in the dark.Late last year it was known that CBC was planning to make its biggest assault to date on the pirates.CBC hired a Canadian company solely for the purpose of providing new encryption software to protect its paying customers and stop a revenue leakage estimated at millions of dollars.CBC officials did not confirm it, but many Dreambox owners are blaming a Chinese “connection” for the “nightmare” they now have.CBC started the year with an estimated 25 000 paying customers, but Dreambox salesmen say their own clientele might be bigger, stretching across homes, sports and other bars and even apartments.Many of the Dreambox owners buy a basic MCTV package from CBC to get the antenna and to give their service a look of legality and then stop paying the MCTV bill.But with the demise of the Dreambox, MCTV subscription numbers are rising again, with some Dreambox owners signing up to get back popular channels. Dreamboxes, imported from places including China, England and Miami, have been a hot item in recent years, retailing for as much as $1 200 in some cases.Now sales have vaporised as Dreambox owners and the people who have been selling them ponder the next move.CBC apparently views the latest crackdown on piracy as just one step in a continuing security programme, given rapid changes in technology and the popularity of hacking into networks. (TY)