“In the weeks and months to come, we will, with the help of the police forces, proceed to the dismantling of pirate networks in Conakry,” Grâce Loubassou, head of institutional relations at Canal+ Afrique, told the press. This was during a press conference organized by the group in Conakry, to announce new measures to deal with individuals who hack the channels of its packages.
“There is also unfair competition practiced by minor operators who steal our images, to sell them at an unbeatable price to our rivals. We have pictures attesting of hacking with spider cables which redistributes images almost all over the Guinean territory,” denounced at the conference Canal+’s commercial representative in Guinea, Oscar Lanfranchi, clearly upset.
In Guinea, pirates supposedly generate every year an informal sum of more than $6.2 million. No tax is paid on these revenues. In addition, this earnings are not invested in Guinea’s broadcasting industry, and this does not favor Guinean content producers. “It’s an illegal acquisition of our images and it inhibits the growth of Guinea’s audiovisual industry, “said a saddened Grâce Loubassou.
According to Canal+, at least 50% of the Guinean population watches TV using pirate cables. “Our main rival are pirates,” the firm said. Thus, to jugulate the phenomenon, Canal+ will locate pirates’ bases and get them arrested by the police forces.