MUMBAI: What's happening? A World Cup under way and none of the usual reports of rogue cable ops resorting to piracy and raids conducted to get after them.

That might just be about to change if one is to go by the "caution notice" issued today by Sony Entertainment in The Times of India. The notice warns of "strict criminal as well as civil prosecution" against cable operators transmitting unauthorised feeds of the ongoing tournament.

According to industry sources, SET officials have received reports of cable ops getting hold of smart cards for signals meant for Africa and the Middle East (much like what Ten Sports faced during the Fifa soccer World Cup in mid-2002). The biggest problem areas are the western border state of Gujarat and to a lesser extent in Rajasthan, they say.

Mumbai has not been immune to the problem either. Reports of pirating of signals have come in from different pockets in the city, especially north-east Mumbai, the sources say.