Calcutta, Feb. 8: As Brett Lee runs in to Sachin Tendulkar, up pops a white patch with a code of digits. The blob hogs centrescreen as the little master fishes outside off stump.

These are not screen pop-ups gone wrong; they are deliberate piracy checks by broadcasters to prevent unauthorised distribution of the channel.

The risk of channel piracy has picked up pace with ESPN-Star Sports becoming available on Zee’s direct-to-home (DTH) platform Dish TV from the beginning of this month. Channel piracy has become easier for cable operators with the launch of DTH that utilises the KU band instead of the conventional C band for transmission.

All that a potential pirate needs is a small dish antenna and a set-top box, something that any DTH subscriber has to buy. The signal is then passed on through a modulator to subscribers but the cablewallah pays the broadcaster for only one connection.

DTH, and the resultant piracy, debuted in Delhi but is fast catching up here. “We have detected about 15 cases in the eastern region,” said a senior Zee official. Zee hasn’t promoted DTH actively in the city and is concentrating on districts. Therefore, reports of piracy have come in from Midnapore, Haldia, Malda and several other towns.

Code-popping is a way to check piracy. “Some operators use filters to block the code from being displayed, so we place it randomly,” said a Zee official.