IN the overall picture, declared cable penetration in the Philippines remains relatively low with the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA) and Standard Chartered Bank (Hong Kong) Ltd.’s October 2006 Cost of Pay-TV Piracy study for Asia Pacific suggesting the country still faces an ‘uphill pay-TV piracy battle’.CASBAA blames piracy for holding back the development of the cable and satellite TV industry with nationwide cable penetration to just 8% of all TV households, or 12.1 million as per the Philippine Cable Television Association (PCTA) in October 2006. The Association also noted few signs of improvement in the year. The number of illegal pay- TV subscribers was reported at 887,000 and estimated net piracy cost due to illegal distributors, largely in the provinces, was estimated to have risen by 24% in 2006.