Six unlicensed public satellite antenna service providers announced yesterday they were voluntarily suspending the broadcast of at least eight encrypted and copyright-protected TV channels.

The move comes at a time when the Legislative Assembly is gearing up to approve a new copyright law, which would mean that anyone retransmitting satellite TV signals after a decoding procedure for commercial purposes and without authorisation from the copyright holder would be violating the law.

Unlicensed public satellite antenna service providers charge a low rental fee of about MOP25 per month, to retransmit TV channels from around the region to households, using unlicensed cable networks and without authorization from the copyright holders.

These antenna services are very popular in Macau with the majority of the population receiving TV signals in this way, a practice that has been tacitly allowed by the government.

Macau Cable TV has been the only legal concessionaire of cable television services since 1999.