An anti-piracy commission established under a Vice Premier in June 1995 has never met. An interministerial coordination committee for anti-piracy efforts has been proposed and is now under study by the Ministries of Interior, Culture, Justice, Finance, and the Vice Premier. A functioning enforcement structure still needs to be put in place if there is to be further progress in combatting sound recording piracy in Bulgaria. Motion Pictures Video piracy is a widespread problem in Bulgaria. Typically, master cassettes are brought in from abroad, dubbed, copied and distributed through numerous small pirate networks and the over 10,000 video shops in the country.
Organized crime is heavily involved in the pirate video distribution business in Bulgaria.
Violence is common in such operations. Cable TV piracy is increasing rapidly in Bulgaria. Fifty percent of households now have television and an estimated 500 cable TV systems operate in Bulgaria, each transmitting exclusively pirate programming up to 24 hours a day to 500 to 2000 subscribers. Although the Bulgarian Government has begun limited licensing of cable TV systems, it has taken no action against pirates. Losses due to cable and other forms of piracy are considerable, but difficult to quantify at this time.