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And, it's under those difficult circumstances in an uncertain landscape that the Cable operators today signed a six figure deal with HBO. Jules Vasquez has the story:...

Jules Vasquez reporting
It may look like just another contract signing - but this is a very big deal between your local cable operator and HBO Time Warner - a multi billion dollar global corporation.

Evan Tench, President - BCTVOA
"The cable TV industry has taken the lead in intellectual property compliance in the country, having signed various copyright agreements with content providers and today is truly a proud day for the cable operators to be signing a copyright agreement with HBO Latin American Group. This agreement is the most comprehensive contract with the most content today."

And the signing is all about what you see on your TV - assuming you have cable TV.

It's the most significant, most expensive copyright agreement that the Cable Television operators association has ever signed - and just to get their logo on the same banner as HBO, they're paying in the six figure range annually:

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Would you be able to speak about the quantum of the contract?"

Evan Tench
"We have a non-disclosure agreement."

Jules Vasquez, reporter
"Are you able to just kind us a ball park to say is it in the hundreds of dollars' thousands or millions?"

Evan Tench
"We are getting over 30 channels from HBO and we believe that the contract we sign with the price that we got was a very good deal. It's a 3 years' contract."

The contract is for a raft of channels, about 30 of them - but now that the Cable operators - who built their empires on piracy - are paying for content, they are concerned about the new breed of pirates who use the internet to offer streaming services:

Evan Tench President - BCTVOA
"Unfortunately there has been an explosion of pirated streaming services now available in the market place. These IPTV boxes and streaming content are illegal in the country of Belize and take away from our operators that are now complying with copyright regulations. The Cable TV association directly employs over 500 persons and provide the government of Belize with substantive tax revenues and fees. All this employment and tax revenues are eroded when somebody decides to take the illegal route and stream pirated content. cable TV operators have taken enormous steps forward to provide legitimate content to our subscribers and we are working together with the government of Belize regulators and other partners to confront these pirated content."

Marissa Longsworth, Legal Advisor - BCTVOA
"There has to be moves on behalf of the government to ensure that those who are not paying are relevantly dealt with."

Javier Figueras, Corporate VP - HBO
"The prevalence of the illicit streaming services and devices in Belize is staggering. The criminals who operate illegal devices networks and pirate's websites are profiting from the hard work of talented creators seriously demanding damaging the content eco-system. We need collaboration and support from the government to commit to eradicating this problem, because we cannot do it by ourselves."

Marissa Longsworth, Legal Advisor - BCTVOA
"What this will do is will clarify for the Belizean public who is legitimate and who is not. Today's date marks the formal entry of HBO into the market, which means that anything that existed before this, anything that exists after this without the cable operators has not been licensed at this time."

And while the historical irony of the pirates calling for protection against pirates is worth noting, the fact is these operators were forced to comply because Belize had been blacklisted by the US for piracy:

Marissa Longsworth, Legal Advisor - BCTVOA
"It falls within the US Caribbean basin trade partnership act and essentially in that act it is stated that we will respect the rights of IP holders from the United States. Failure to do that results in sanctions against the amount of funding that we receive under the Caribbean basin trade initiative as a country."

And while they; repaying HBO millions of dollars over the life of the contract what about local content creators, like this station?:

Francine Burns, Chair - Broadcasting Authority
"We believe it is vital for content producers, particularly local content producers to be appropriately recognized for the works created by them. It is our hope that just as agreements are being negotiated and concluded with international content producers, that similar attention is given by the association to developing, recognizing and remunerating those local content producers."

So, with so many fires going at the same time - the cable industry is at a crossroads where many no longer see the need for a costly monthly bill when they can see what they want right on the internet

Javier Figueras, Corporate VP - HBO
"We estimate here in Belize 1 in 2 internet users are accessing pirated content."

Now, under the banner of digitalization, cable hopes they can hold on in a changing landscape:

Evan Tench, President - BCTVOA
"We are entering into a new era in Belize with the introduction of digital cable TV and we are changing the subscribers viewing experience. Subscribers soon will have the ultimate entertainment experience for live TV or movies on demand on any TV or on their mobile phone or tablet. Viewers will be able to watch what they want, when they want."

HBO now hopes that it's HBO GO streaming service which will now be made available in Belize - can compete with NETFLIX. Today's agreement was negotiated for a year and contains a total of 5 agreements.