Government announces introduction of criminal penalties for unauthorised access to pay tv

On 30 June, the government announced that it would introduce criminal penalties for people who obtain access to pay TV subscription broadcasts without authorisation and payment of the subscription fee. According to the government’s media release:

'Under the new measures it will also be an offence for a pay TV subscriber to distribute a subscription broadcast to other premises or for a subscriber to use the broadcast for commercial purposes if the appropriate subscription fee has not been paid.
Pay TV signal theft is a major concern for Australia’s pay television industry which estimates it costs the industry in excess of $50 million per year in lost revenue.'

For the government's discussion paper on the issue, click here.