The Information Affairs Authority’s publications and publishing directorate in liaison with the Public Prosecution and the Ministry of Interior have dismantled an unlicensed cable TV broadcast network operating from a building in the Capital governorate and extending its services over a radius of more than 1500 meters in the district to more than 400 subscribers.
Acting director of publications and publishing directorate Yousuf Mohammed Ismael said that complaints had been received by the directorate about persons who illicitly practiced the business activity of satellite TV broadcasting via an unlicensed cable TV network. The directorate, in turn, carried out the necessary investigations, obtained permission from the Public Prosecution to inspect the building and ultimately in collaboration with the Security Directorate in the Capital governorate discovered the crime and referred the case to the Public Prosecution.
Yousuf Mohammed emphasized that the Directorate of Publications and Publishing operates in compliance with the IAA’s plans under direct instructions from IAA’s president Shaikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa to curb the phenomenon of electronic piracy and to refer the culprits to the judiciary and that the IAA is currently increasing field inspection tours in order to discover crimes related to breach of the law protecting intellectual property, copyrights and associate rights as the IAA is committed to respecting the rights of creative people in terms of literary and technical production.
The director of Publications and Publishing Directorate in the Information Affairs Authority pointed out that the Authority does not spare any effort in realizing its goals of curbing the hazards of piracy which afflict social and economic damage, adding that the directorate operates in compliance with the regulations and mechanism stipulated by the law which constitute the real deterrent to the culprits accused in this crime, citing at the same time, the unlimited cooperation on the part of the various official bodies in the directorate who carried out field work emanating from a sense of national responsibility and in order to safeguard the reputation and gains realized by the Kingdom of Bahrain in this field.
The acting director of publications and publishing directorate revealed that the directorate is ready to launch an awareness and orientation program shortly throughout the Kingdom of Bahrain’s governorates targeting individual persons, shopkeepers, artistes, producers and creative people from all walks of life in order to familiarize them with the significance of working in compliance with applicable rules and regulations.