Roku set-top boxes, which entered Mexico in 2015, have been banned in the country due to rampant hacking.
Cable TV operator Cablevision, which is owned by Mexican media giant Televisa, won a legal case to stop the sale of Roku streamers in the country, claiming that users kept utilizing the devices to pirate channels, Reuters reports. Hackers are said to be using messaging app WhatsApp to offer access to packages for Televisa, HBO, ESPN, and others. In its latest ruling, the Mexico City tribunal upheld a previous order to temporarily suspend Roku throughout the country.
“Cablevision cannot allow the content that it licenses from domestic and foreign companies to be illegally used,” Cablevision spokeswoman Maria Eugenia Zurita told Reuters. “We would also like Roku to better supervise the use of its software so that it’s not used inappropriately.”
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Roku, for its part, called the situation a “complex legal matter” and vowed to fight the decision so that Mexican consumers would be able to continue to procure its products. As of last week, Roku devices were still available for purchase on the Mexican websites for Amazon, Best Buy, and Wal Mart, according to Reuters. Last year, Roku accounted for more than half of all such streaming devices in the U.S.
