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Mexico’s Televisa says court ruled against Office Depot on Roku ban – Metro US

Mexico’s Televisa says court ruled against Office Depot on Roku ban

By Noel Randewich

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – A cable operator belonging to Mexico’s largest television network said on Friday it won court rulings against requests by Office Depot and Radio Shack to resume sales of Roku video streaming devices after another court banned them.

Cablevision, a cable TV provider owned by Televisa, told Reuters via email the judgments were made by a civil appeals court on Thursday. Copies of the rulings were not immediately publicly available.

Cablevision is trying to stop the importation and distribution of Roku devices in Mexico on the grounds that they are sometimes hacked so that people can watch pirated channels.

An Office Depot spokesman did not immediately respond to a request for comment and a Radio Shack spokesman could not immediately be reached.

Connected to televisions, Roku devices provide access to Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, Starz and other services over the internet.

Cablevision called on Roku to change its software to make it unusable by hackers selling illegal content, the Mexican company said in a statement.

Roku prohibits streaming content on its devices that does not have distribution rights, including the non-certified “channels” in question in Mexico, spokeswoman Tricia Mifsud said in an email.

“We encourage our customers to be careful when adding channels to their Roku accounts, and we do not recommend, promote or encourage use of any channels not found in the Roku Channel Store,” she said.

Hackers in Mexico use messaging app WhatsApp to offer Roku owners illegal access to monthly packages of hundreds of television channels, including Televisa’s, HBO, ESPN and others.

On Wednesday, a court reaffirmed a previous court order halting the importation of distribution of the devices in Mexico. Roku had won a suspension.

(Reporting by Noel Randewich; Editing by Meredith Mazzilli and Grant McCool)