Two men charged with dealing in illegal set-top boxes

SINGAPORE — Two men were charged in court yesterday with dealing in illegal cable television set-top boxes, which purportedly allow users to watch StarHub’s channels for free.

Daniel Cheng Wenqiang, 32, and Shaun Foo Yong Chun, 27, were busted after sales flyers for these set-top boxes — allegedly distributed by their syndicate — led investigators to a storage facility in Tampines that was used to store the devices. In the raid, 233 set-top boxes were found.

Cheng, who was the subscriber of three mobile phone numbers printed on the sales flyers, as court documents showed, was charged with one count. Foo faces two charges — of importing and selling the set-top boxes.

Since 2008, StarHub has been going after those dealing in these devices, which decode the pay-TV operator’s encrypted broadcast signals and give users free access, in some instances, to all channels.

In September last year, SingTel cried foul two weeks after it began sharing its English Premier League broadcasts with StarHub under the Media Development Authority’s cross-carriage rules, saying such bootleg set-top boxes allowed illegal access to these matches.

To counter the problem, StarHub in 2012 started upgrading its security technology in its existing set-top boxes to deny unauthorised access to its channels.

In 2010, it estimated that there were 5,400 owners of illegal set-top boxes, which amounted to a loss of S$2.6 million for the company.

In a media statement yesterday, StarHub Head of Entertainment and SmartLife Lin Shu Fen said the company had developed a resilient pay-TV network over the years.

“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,” said Ms Lin. “This renders the illegal set-top boxes ineffective.”

Under the law, it is an 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 such devices, with the intention to intercept and receive content signals without authorisation.

For allegedly committing the offences under the Broadcasting Act, Cheng and Foo each face jail terms of up to three years and/or fines of up to S$40,000.