http://www.neoskosmos.com.au/070709/nkew/maxmail/maxmail_index.shtmlUBI ordered to stop broadcasting ERT
MANNY TSIGAS
A SYDNEY-based multicultural pay TV service has been served with a court order from Greece demanding they stop broadcasting one of the country's major channels to Australia.
UBI World TV received legal documents late last month, claiming they were breaching Australian copyright and distribution laws by illegally broadcasting the ERT channel.
A civil application by Comart, a Greek telecom company that looks after ERT's broadcasting rights in Australia, was heard before a presiding judge in Greece on June 27.
Comart accused UBI of broadcasting ERT without any official agreement with the channel, and threatened its chairman Mike Boulos with jail time if he refused to pull the plug.
Mr Boulos told Neos Kosmos English Edition last week he did not understand why UBI was being targeted, arguing he was allowed to broadcast ERT because it was a free-to-air channel in Australia.
He claimed UBI has never charged customers or the channel itself to broadcast ERT.
"I believe we have done everything correctly in terms of broadcasting ERT in Australia as a free-to-air signal," he said. "It's in accordance with a set of guidelines... saying anyone that was capable of re-broadcasting the ERT signals, as long as they didn't charge for it... were allowed to do it."
He went on to highlight Greek Foreign Undersecretary Theodoros Kassimis' visit to Australia last year, where he promised to continue allowing free access to the ERT satellite channel.
Mr Boulos said he was baffled as to why ERT did not launch the order itself, or why they never responded to any of his written statements.
A spokesman from the Greek Embassy in Canberra told NKEE they have received minimal information about the order, other than confirmation that ERT did not issue it.
Mr Boulos said UBI would fight the order, and would not pull the plug on ERT.
"Absolutely not, unless I receive responses to my letters, and the Greek citizens of Australia say 'take it off'," he said. "It's just farcical. I provide it as a service to the Greek community.
"With no disrespect to the Greek court, UBI is an Australian company. It does nothing in Greece, it doesn't even get its ERT channel from Greece. It receives the ERT channel from a signal that is available free-to-air over Australia, and it retransmits it to anyone who wants to see it that's within the footprint.
"If Comart would like to contest this, I look forward and welcome them to Australia where this matter can be dealt with accordingly."
Comart refused to comment on the record about the order, referring all questions to ERT President Christos Panagopoulos.
Pay TV provider SelecTV, who also provides Greek channels to Australia, including ERT, told NKEE they were "keen" to see UBI cease transmitting the channel.
"It just makes a mockery of paying rights for foreign TV channels," SelecTV's CEO Jim Blomfield said. "They're taking an unfair advantage by transmitting it without permission from the rights holders.
"We have a very straightforward relationship with the Greek audiences and it's disappointing when you're trying to run a straightforward business and do everything as per broadcast regulation and the courts."
Mr Blomfield said SelecTV broadcasted ERT legally from a US signal in cooperation with Comart, while UBI abused the use of the B3 satellite, where the channel can be accessed free-of-charge.
"We're paying licence fees, which you're meant to if you're going to transmit or retransmit that channel," he said. "We find it offensive that somebody else is transmitting it without paying any fees. Cleary there's a disadvantage to us when others feel they don't need to pay."
Mr Blomfield said SelecTV may also take legal action against UBI depending on the conclusion of Comart's case.
"Once we see the outcome of the current proceedings... we will then consider what action we will take," he said.
Mr Boulos said UBI appointed a lawyer to appear at the necessary court hearings in Greece.
