The Telecommunications Directorate-General (DGT) yesterday threatened to shut down television stations and cable operators who illegally tap satellite signals for their programming. DGT Director Rub?n Mont?s has called a meeting of all television and cable executives for next Tuesday, March 2nd, to discuss piracy of satellite signals. The meeting will clarify what the government considers to be signal piracy and the measures that will be taken to stop the practice. After the meeting DGT will shut down any station or operator who ignores the advisory. The step is being taken as the DR’s government becomes increasingly worried that it will end up on the United States’ "Priority Watch List" under the so-called "Special 301" trade law. Under the law, countries placed on the Priority Watch List by the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) can be subjected to trade sanctions if they do not take steps to combat intellectual property rights (IPR) problems identified by USTR. This could mean, for example, that the DR would lose its free entry or preferential-tariff treatment under the Caribbean Basin Initiative (CBI) and the Generalized System of Preferences (GSP), a step that would devastate the Dominican textile industry. USTR has for years warned the DR that U.S. officials regularly receive complaints from U.S. broadcasters that Dominican companies are pirating their satellite signals, tapping programs without paying royalties for the privilege as called for under international law. USTR officials have also complained several times that Dominican authorities are not doing enough to curb the practice.
