Germany has strengthened the laws against the growing problem of pay-TV piracy by penalising the sale of devices that can be used to illegally decrypt pay-TV signals. According to the Federal Ministry of Commerce and Industry, the new law, which came into force last month, aims to prevent the commercial distribution of devices intended to bypass the protected access to television and radio broadcasts as well as multimedia services.

Companies and individuals that produce, advertise or maintenance of these devices are now liable to fines or criminal prosecution. “This necessary protection will provide companies offering pay-services more investment security,” said Federal Minister of Commerce and Industry Werner Muller. He added that the new law will support the development of next-generation information services for the high-speed distribution of voice, data, graphic, video and TV material as well as rapid market penetration of modern technologies such as broadband Internet access through the telephone network, mobile phones and broadband cable networks.

–Jorn Krieger