DKSat Posted July 11, 2007 Share Posted July 11, 2007 A SYDNEY-based multicultural pay TV service has been served with a court order from Greece demanding they stop broadcasting one of the country's major channels to Australia. UBI World TV received legal documents late last month, claiming they were breaching Australian copyright and distribution laws by illegally broadcasting the ERT channel. A civil application by Comart, a Greek telecom company that looks after ERT's broadcasting rights in Australia, was heard before a presiding judge in Greece on June 27. Comart accused UBI of broadcasting ERT without any official agreement with the channel, and threatened its chairman Mike Boulos with jail time if he refused to pull the plug. Mr Boulos told Neos Kosmos English Edition last week he did not understand why UBI was being targeted, arguing he was allowed to broadcast ERT because it was a free-to-air channel in Australia. He claimed UBI has never charged customers or the channel itself to broadcast ERT. "I believe we have done everything correctly in terms of broadcasting ERT in Australia as a free-to-air signal," he said. "It's in accordance with a set of guidelines... saying anyone that was capable of re-broadcasting the ERT signals, as long as they didn't charge for it... were allowed to do it." He went on to highlight Greek Foreign Undersecretary Theodoros Kassimis' visit to Australia last year, where he promised to continue allowing free access to the ERT satellite channel. Mr Boulos said he was baffled as to why ERT did not launch the order itself, or why they never responded to any of his written statements. A spokesman from the Greek Embassy in Canberra told NKEE they have received minimal information about the order, other than confirmation that ERT did not issue it. Mr Boulos said UBI would fight the order, and would not pull the plug on ERT. "Absolutely not, unless I receive responses to my letters, and the Greek citizens of Australia say 'take it off'," he said. "It's just farcical. I provide it as a service to the Greek community. "With no disrespect to the Greek court, UBI is an Australian company. It does nothing in Greece, it doesn't even get its ERT channel from Greece. It receives the ERT channel from a signal that is available free-to-air over Australia, and it retransmits it to anyone who wants to see it that's within the footprint. "If Comart would like to contest this, I look forward and welcome them to Australia where this matter can be dealt with accordingly." Comart refused to comment on the record about the order, referring all questions to ERT President Christos Panagopoulos. Pay TV provider SelecTV, who also provides Greek channels to Australia, including ERT, told NKEE they were "keen" to see UBI cease transmitting the channel. "It just makes a mockery of paying rights for foreign TV channels," SelecTV's CEO Jim Blomfield said. "They're taking an unfair advantage by transmitting it without permission from the rights holders. "We have a very straightforward relationship with the Greek audiences and it's disappointing when you're trying to run a straightforward business and do everything as per broadcast regulation and the courts." Mr Blomfield said SelecTV broadcasted ERT legally from a US signal in cooperation with Comart, while UBI abused the use of the B3 satellite, where the channel can be accessed free-of-charge. "We're paying licence fees, which you're meant to if you're going to transmit or retransmit that channel," he said. "We find it offensive that somebody else is transmitting it without paying any fees. Cleary there's a disadvantage to us when others feel they don't need to pay." Mr Blomfield said SelecTV may also take legal action against UBI depending on the conclusion of Comart's case. "Once we see the outcome of the current proceedings... we will then consider what action we will take," he said. Mr Boulos said UBI appointed a lawyer to appear at the necessary court hearings in Greece. DKSat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Grk101 Posted July 11, 2007 Share Posted July 11, 2007 I dont know what to make of the artcle since I dont live in Australia, but reading the last half of the article where the SelectTV person is talking, made me think that they had something to do with the lawsuit against UBI... :ph34r: Too bad for the Greek-Australians if UBI is forced to take down ERT. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kolossos Posted July 11, 2007 Share Posted July 11, 2007 Yes to me there is no doubt about it that SELECTV have something to do with it As UBI broadcast ERT FREE TO AIR to anyone that wants to watch ERT but even if UBI do lose ERT its stil FREE TO AIR on the same satellite UBI operate on so ERT will still be available to UBI subscribers just abit of a retune is needed to recieve ERT and they get ERT back again To me it seems ERT is wanting to turn into a PAY TV Channel in Australia and no be FTA anymore proberly SelecTV is putting some pressure on them since SelecTV dont have much of a greek package and need to entice greek subscribers some how... my 2 cents worth Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liski Posted July 11, 2007 Share Posted July 11, 2007 UBI is a pay-tv business providing the Greek community with 10 TV and 12 radio channels. 80% of the UBI Greek subscribers are over the age of 60. ERT is a Government channel and currently rating 7th in the Greek TV market, however is a highly respectable channel. Certain ERT management is in conflict with the direction of the Government and the people appointed by the Greek people. During the Deputy Foreign Minister Mr. Kassimis’ tour of Australia he clearly advised that ERT would remain FTA in Australia and anyone wishing to rebroadcast as it is as a FTA signal can do so – you can read more about his visit http://www2.mfa.gr/www.mfa.gr/Articl...06_McC1511.htm Also here in Greek Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DKSat Posted July 11, 2007 Author Share Posted July 11, 2007 I thing that Antenna has something to do with ERT World being rebroadcast on the UBI Platform. Here in the US when o customer orders the Antenna package from Dish Network they force you to get ERT World ether you want the channel or not. In my case i canceled ERT from my mothers subscription package and 3 days later ERT was back up on her channel line up and on the monthly invoice DKSat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Savarakatranemia Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 UBI will continue to rebroadcast ERT at the expense of UBI for the benefit of the Greek subscribers and of course the benefit of the wider Greek community. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agrimi Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 Such a great contract for Comart, representing ERT all over the globe, speaking on behalf of ERT and...... NOT A SIGNLE MENTION OF THIS GREAT BIG COOPERATION AND CONTRACT ON ITS WEB SITE....UNLESS COMART EVER HAD ANY BIGGER CONTRACTS http://www.comart.gr/ SOMETHING'S HAS ALWAYS BEEN FISHY IN THIS COMART-ERT DEAL - SMELLS LIKE BANANA REPUBLIC KINDA DEAL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kolossos Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 Your not wrong there agrimi COMART are big crooks..... The tender process ran like 3 times over for the distribution of ERT world wide and many companies including UBI put there proposals forward to ERT and yet COMART always won the tender process as everything kept changing to benefit COMART I think ERT has given to much power to COMART on handling ERT deals worldwide and its time ERT started doing some of there own deals as COMART isent doing them any favours if anything its making things worse.... This order for UBI to remove ERT was not ordered by ERT but was ordered by COMART..... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agrimi Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 yeah Colossus thats how the Grek Government intents to work toward and affect (via Greek TV) ex-pat voting, with people and practices that are reminiscent of 30's MAFIA Comart may not have always been crooks my friend, but when you deal with this ERT , then you certainly become one Dont know much about UBI, but from what I read theyre not angels either agrimi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kolossos Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 Dont know much about UBI, but from what I read theyre not angels either agrimi No one are angels in this day and age but hey its better the one you know then the one you dont know :) LOL :gr: :not: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agrimi Posted July 13, 2007 Share Posted July 13, 2007 whatever ;) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DKSat Posted July 15, 2007 Author Share Posted July 15, 2007 Comart Telecom SA Greece . Comart Telecom represents France Telecom GlobeCast in the Balkan Area. A broad range of satellite transmission and worldwide connectivity services are offered for the Telecom and Broadcast industries. DKSat Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agrimi Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 quite impressing, so included in the "wide range" is ERT SAT Greece's State Television Channel - What other channels are being handled by Comart? Come on guys, this is a JOKE!!! agrimi Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agrimi Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 so where does our subscription money goes (from Dish500) ? 1. ERT hands over all monthly subs monies to Comart (Thats the way banana governments hand over projects to their own boys) 2. Comart pockets approx 100K USD (without a tender of course) and gives some to ERT (god help us) some to its mother company France Telecom and has a party with the rest 3. I want that too...! $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agrimi Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 100k USD per MONTH if u know what i mean jelly bean Marko Polo Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agrimi Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 its JAIL TIME in LA (Lekanopedio Attikis) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
agrimi Posted July 16, 2007 Share Posted July 16, 2007 " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Liski Posted July 17, 2007 Share Posted July 17, 2007 agrimi, I don't see how UBI's naming of their packages or even recognising Macedonia makes it a problem for the Greek package or to you. UBI are in the business of providing the best value and quality package for all the languages and doesn’t involve itself with political issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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