Any US actions against a subscriber?

[RedWingsinHD]

Someone on another board mentioned that there were headlines on CNN, MSNBC, etc., that the US Justice Dept. was prosecuting someone in San Diego because they were (illegally) subscribing to SC. I find it dubious that the Feds would take against simply subscribing; something else must have been in the mix.

Does anyone here know of this case and its specifics?

 

[mnassour]

A search of their websites shows nothing this evening........

 

[cablewithaview]

New one on me.

 

[BigFella]

Why would the US Justice Dept. be interested? Subscribing to a Canadian satellite service doesn't violate any US laws does it?

 

[cablewithaview]

copyrights are being paid regardless, just through a different company.

 

[daves1]

unless they were stealing the service, the feds would not get involved.
I doubt he story is real.

 

[videogreg]

As long as someone in the US is paying for their programming legitimately. There is no sanction or issue with a Star Choice receiver working in the US from the US standpoint.

ExpressVu and Direct TV/Dishnetwork has an agreement in place to not support or allow ExpressVu in the US, as long as the US equipment is not allowed in Canada, since they share the same equipment platform and could be hacked to steal each others signal. Star Choice does not have this interoperability with any current US system or suffer from the risk of hacked cards and boxes like ExpressVu/Direct/Dishnetwork.

In Canada we are not allowed to possess US satellite equipment since there is no Canadian Content on their programming options.
We have a segment of the government (CRTC) that mandates a 20% Canadian Content minimum. US systems do not have enough Canadian programming on them to meet this requirement.

In both countries the hacking of satellite boxes and cards is stealing and so, someone who does this is breaking the law in either country. We have had many raids of companies involved in this up here. The minimum fine was raised recently to $100,000 and confiscation of all of your inventory, your vehicles, your tools and any real property.

I suspect that the story (if there was one) was fake.

Star Choice requires a Canadian address, since their mandate is to supply superior Canadian programming to Canadians. (Canadians do not always live year round in Canada, but usually maintain a residence in Canada for their citizenship and health coverage)

 

[daves1]

I went through all of this with three nosy numbers, one was a local cable employee, and the other was a dish network installer. the third was a right wing religeous conservative nut bar. The nut bar thought it was disgraceful that i was importing foreign porn via satellite tv. The cable and dish guy thought it was illegal and complained to the fcc.
The fcc said it was not illegal to receive foreign tv satellite service in the usa, as long as it was not stolen or hacked. Canada requires sales to a Canadian resident, only ( not necessarily a citizen) and does not restrict the use to Canada only.The question then becomes is one violating any Canadian/ provincial law by saying they are a resident to buy service. no it is not illegal. if it were then it becomes an issue of the government illegally collecting a sales tax.
I have heard of bev disconnecting people caught using the service in the usa- ( including Canadians on vacation) but not with *C.

 

[cablewithaview]

I had a Dish installer got out right nosey as well. I refused at the time to have Dish come out here and reconnect the service, Dish fail to notify the installer. He comes out and I tell him no thanks, he goes to leave, comes back and walk around my damn house. I came out and approached him asking, "WTH???" His reply was, "I never seen that many dishes before, what are they used for?" What is StarChoice and what is the Primestar dishes for, etc." After chewing him out he left and didn't return.

 

[pappy97]

I went through all of this with three nosy numbers, one was a local cable employee, and the other was a dish network installer. the third was a right wing religeous conservative nut bar. The nut bar thought it was disgraceful that i was importing foreign porn via satellite tv. The cable and dish guy thought it was illegal and complained to the fcc.
The fcc said it was not illegal to receive foreign tv satellite service in the usa, as long as it was not stolen or hacked. Canada requires sales to a Canadian resident, only ( not necessarily a citizen) and does not restrict the use to Canada only.The question then becomes is one violating any Canadian/ provincial law by saying they are a resident to buy service. no it is not illegal. if it were then it becomes an issue of the government illegally collecting a sales tax.
I have heard of bev disconnecting people caught using the service in the usa- ( including Canadians on vacation) but not with *C.

You have SC, right?

"foreign porn via satellite tv"

So...how do you like Playboy, Hustler, and Red Light? (Seriously, I want to know. I am considering the pack that gives you all 3 channels for $29.99 CAD)

The FCC is right. It is not illegal to receive foreign satellite TV in the United States. You can't get arrested unless you are stealing service. Even if Canada made it against their own law to receive StarChoice outside Canada, it does not effect US residents because we are not subject to the laws of Canada.

Now what I wonder is whether any US laws are implicated by receiving:

1.) US Networks outside of your own locals (Distants that you shouldn't have)

2.) NFL Sunday Ticket (The NFL owns the copyrights to the broadcasts and only allows US residents to enjoy the games via DirecTV. That is well in their right as the copyright holder. Is receiving Canadian Sunday Ticket a circumvention around this and thus copyright infringement under US law?) Let's also not forget that getting NFL Sunday Ticket via StarChoice eliminates blackout problems if you live in a market with a really bad team that can't sell out its games (one of the teams in my area fits this descrp).

[The NFL has in the past successfully sued bars that used high powered antennas (and even a C-Band satellite to pick up a distant netwotk) to pick up the local game outside the blackout radius under a copyright infringement theory]

I think the NFL thing is a good question and if StarChoice gains popularity in the US (to the detriment of DirecTV), we might get the NFL seriously looking into this.

 

[Oilers]

THe same copyright / rights issues involving the NFL ST would be true for all programming on Canadian stations.

 

[pappy97]

THe same copyright / rights issues involving the NFL ST would be true for all programming on Canadian stations.

Not true because not all programming on Canadian stations have US copyright attached to them.

I heard some people get StarChoice to watch Coronation Street.

Coronation Street does not have US copyrights attached to it, so it is perfectly fine to watch Coronation Street via StarChoice in the US. This could violate the copyrights under foreign law, but foreign law has no applicability in the US.

But with NFL ST, they are all US broadcasts, hence have US copyrights that attach, the NFL, as owner of the copyrights, has decided to limit the viewing of their copyrighted material by people in the US to those who sub to NFL ST on DirecTV.

 

[Oilers]

Not true because not all programming on Canadian stations have US copyright attached to them.

I heard some people get StarChoice to watch Coronation Street.

Coronation Street does not have US copyrights attached to it, so it is perfectly fine to watch Coronation Street via StarChoice in the US. This could violate the copyrights under foreign law, but foreign law has no applicability in the US.

But with NFL ST, they are all US broadcasts, hence have US copyrights that attach, the NFL, as owner of the copyrights, has decided to limit the viewing of their copyrighted material by people in the US to those who sub to NFL ST on DirecTV.

You are right, I think. I shouldn't have used the word "all" programming.

However, just because someone hasn't purchased US rights to certain programming doesn't mean it can be shown by a foreign broadcaster in that market. Did CBC (or whomever shows Cornonation) purchase North American rights to it? I doubt it.

 

[starchoice]

Coronation Street does not have US copyrights attached to it, so it is perfectly fine to watch Coronation Street via StarChoice in the US. This could violate the copyrights under foreign law, but foreign law has no applicability in the US.

Coronation Street, for example, has no distribution rights in the U.S. This probably doesn't present a problem if no U.S. broadcaster has purchased rights to show it. However, if you are watching a show for which distribution rights have been purchased by a U.S. broadcaster, the Canadian broadcaster cannot show the program and Star Choice, thereby, cannot, legally, broadcast the show in the U.S. This is why SC can shut off your service if it's determined that you are a U.S. citizen subscribing to its service.

 

[Oilers]

Not sure what studio (BBC?) our example, Coronation Street is produced /owned by, but if they sold Canadian rights to Canada to the CBC and the CBC was intentionally showing it in areas that they did not purchase rights to the studio would have an issue with it.

Bottomline is that the number well respectable is so small, it flies under the radar.

 

[daves1]

first I don't sub to the porn channels- the lady was upset at all porn available esp ppv on *c
second- there's a difference between a bar ( public place) and a person using service in their home. nfl sunday ticket would first have to find us people that sub to *c or bev and then next somehow try to figure out which of those were subbed to nfl. and *c bev would say we do not sell to us residents, which is probably in the nfl contract anyway. I do not think they could possibly do it.
I would not worry about it.

 

[daves1]

to the person who asked about getting distant us nets via Canadian satellite- us says the cable co and sat co in the us cannot supply distant us nets ( there are a few exceptions) but it it not illegal for a us citizen to obtain distant nets from a foreign satellite.

 

[stone phillips420]

Who cares if your in mexico usa canada or artic circle and you have starchoice all that matters is that you pay your bill
I get caller id from my us residence on my starchioice irds eventhough account associated with my canadian residence
not to mention autopay paperliss billing
they get there money and couldnt be happier

 

[Mr Tony]

Who cares if your in mexico usa canada or artic circle and you have starchoice all that matters is that you pay your bill
I get caller id from my us residence on my starchioice irds eventhough account associated with my canadian residence
not to mention autopay paperliss billing
they get there money and couldnt be happier

:up :up

so true. As long as SC gets their money each month, they're happy

 

[daves1]

what is irds? Do you have your receiver plugged into your us phone line? I use their tel no to order ppv.