EDMONTON — Allarco Entertainment, owner of Canadian pay-TV provider Super Channel, announced this morning it has filed an application for an injunction with the Court of Queen’s Bench of Alberta, asking the court to order four Canadian retailers to stop selling set-top boxes designed to illegally pirate TV programming.
The four retailers named in the injunction application are Best Buy, Staples, London Drugs and Canada Computers. Super Channel has previously filed a lawsuit in 2019 against these retailers, a suit which is still pending. When the company filed its lawsuit, it backed up its claims with videotape evidence of the retailers’ staff allegedly counselling customers on how to use the set-top boxes to pirate TV content. (A compilation video can be viewed here.)
“It shouldn’t be the business of one Canadian business to hurt another Canadian business,” said Don McDonald, president and CEO of Super Channel, in a press release issued today. “We would never tolerate a retailer openly selling a device to help someone defeat security surveillance and shoplift. But that’s exactly what’s happening, and we’re asking the court to put an immediate stop to it.”
McDonald added content piracy is not a victimless crime and it hurts the Canadian television industry and costs jobs.
The broadcaster says its investigation revealed that many of the pirate devices, most of which are made in China, are pre-loaded with malware which can access customers’ home networks and private data without their knowledge.
“These boxes are really digital-theft devices, and what they’re stealing is data about you and your family,” says Dr. Eric Cole, an expert on cyber security who consulted on the lawsuit and filed an affidavit in support of Super Channel’s case, as we reported here.
“People are putting themselves at real risk, and they don’t even know it,” adds McDonald. “We hope to get the word out to people through this lawsuit, and by asking for this injunction.”
None of Super Channel’s allegations have been proven in court.
To read Super Channel’s press release, please click here.
