Colombia. Within the cable television industry in Colombia, whether this non-profit or subscription community, it is known by all the use of FREE satellite channels to complement the grid of channels, which are transmitted without any type of encryption with the aim that they can be received and retransmitted at no cost.
Many of these channels must be present in the programming grids of the cable operator, in the case of Colombia the national, regional, university, congressional , religious and educational channels are classified as free.
So far so good, the problem lies at the moment in which the cable operator must buy satellite receivers to receive these signals, if these are not provided by the channel directly.
Thanks to pirates, this import, market and install FTA (free to air) receivers has become a headache. One of the first sentences issued in this regard, was issued by the 44th Criminal Court of the Bogotá Circuit, sentenced Juan Camilo Rojas for the violation of the mechanisms of protection of copyright and related rights, as well as for the illicit use of communications networks, which will be worth evaluating more deeply.
Techniques such as IKS (internet key sharing), SKS (Satellite key sharing) and many others, are used by those who make piracy their business focus, have put in the sights of the authorities all those who use FTA receivers.
Although the vast majority of these devices are used to receive legal and free signals, it does not mean that these FTA receivers do not contain codes, keys, software or hardware that enable the use of these hacking techniques which make them proof of a criminal offense. It is for this reason that it should be clear what type of receivers to buy from now on.
First of all, when purchasing FTA receivers , it should be taken into account that these receivers do not contain SLOTS or slots to insert smart cards since these are not required to receive free signals. Similarly, the equipment must not contain any CAS (Conditional Access Service) that is used to decrypt encoded signals. The receiver must not have a double IF tuner (two satellite inputs) and to finish it must not have installed any serial or parallel port that allows its connection to the internet.
These are just some of the recommendations I give you and should be considered when acquiring this equipment, if you are a distributor of this technology much more. Remember that ignorance does not exempt you from the law.
The document issued by the ANTV in this regard can be consulted at the following link:
http://www.antv.gov.co/sites/default/files/130704-concepto_equiposfta.pdf
Text written for TVyVideo+Radio by engineer Luis Pinto.
