News piracy allegations should be investigated by police: Conroy

Source: Sydney Morning Herald

Judith Ireland
March 28, 2012 - 12:22PM

Media reports that Rupert Murdoch's News Corp promoted the pirating of its international pay-TV rivals were serious, and allegations of any criminality should be investigated by police, the Australian government said today.

"These are serious allegations and any allegations of criminal activity should be referred to the Australian Federal Police for investigation," a spokesperson for Senator Conroy said.

Separately, Treasurer Wayne Swan told a conference in Melbourne that the allegations of News piracy were "concerning".

The Australian Financial Review said today that News Corp had used a special unit, Operational Security, set up in the mid-1990s, to sabotage its competitors.
Their actions devastated News's competitors, and the resulting waves of high-tech piracy assisted News to bid for pay TV businesses at reduced prices – including DirecTV in the US, Telepiu in Italy and Austar. These targets each had other commercial weaknesses quite apart from piracy, the AFR says.

READ THE FULL STORY NOW : http://afr.com/p/business/marketing_media/pay_tv_piracy_hits_news_OV8K5fhBeGawgosSzi52MM

Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/opinion/political-news/news-piracy-allegations-should-be-investigated-by-police-conroy-20120328-1vxn0.html