Of theatrical motion picture channels and other satellite services in order to. This led to problems with people connecting to the network without paying.We deplore these attempts to gain illegal access to scrambled satellite. The early cable-based Pay TV networks used no security. Pay television exists to make revenue from subscribers, and sometimes those subscribers do not pay.The prevention of piracy on cable and satellite networks has been one of the main factors in the development of Pay TV encryption systems.
Scrambled Satellite Channels Crack Without Employing
The number of dish owners is expected to reach about 10 million by the mid-1990's, industry analysts say. That’s difficult to crack without employing lots of.They also argue that the company is less interested in preventing piracy and improving service than in selling new equipment to the owners of existing decoders.Gene Kimmelman, a spokesman for the Consumer Federation of America, said, ''This is a bad deal for satellite dish owners because people bought the decoders with the expectation that they would work and that there would be new programming in the future.''What is more, ''video hackers'' who have found ways to steal satellite programming, say the new devices, scheduled to go on sale later this year, are not likely to be any more secure than the ones they replace.Many satellite viewers are in rural areas that are not wired for cable and are unlikely to be. Computer code inside a satellite or cable. Pay-TV smartcard hacking how easy is it.
The programmers started scrambling the signals to foil the increasing number of people with dishes. The signals were initially intended for cable operators but were accessible to people with backyard satellite dishes. The supplier informs General Instrument, which activates the customer's decoder through a signal from a satellite.General Instrument's existing system has a monopoly because its technology was chosen early on by large programmers like HBO as the best to scramble and unscramble their signals. To subscribe to a scrambled satellite channel, a consumer buys and installs a decoder and then calls the program supplier to order the service. But television programming for which a subscription fee is charged is scrambled. Some Programs Are FreeSome satellite programming, like network shows and hobbyist, educational and foreign-language programs, costs nothing to receive, and thus such signals are not scrambled to prevent freeloading.
While these video pirates acknowledge that the theft of satellite programming is illegal, they are only demonstrating how to steal, not telling people to do it. Legislation ProposedThe subcommittee chairman, Senator Albert Gore, Democrat of Tennessee, recently introduced legislation that would require any replacement or modification of decoders to be done at no cost to consumers.General Instrument's Videocipher division, which is based in San Diego, said that its new decoder, the Videocipher 2 Plus, is ''99 percent foolproof'' and that the new device, combined with the Government's aggressive efforts to crack down on satellite television piracy, would give program suppliers incentive to offer a greater variety of programs.But people who sell the illegal decoders say that they have already figured out how to break into the Videocipher 2 Plus and that by the end of next year, consumers will have access to the pay-television programs as easily as they do now.Some satellite-dish owners even participate in an informational network that includes newsletters, conferences, videocassettes, satellite programs and hotlines with instructions on how to unscramble coded transmissions. 'Easily Compromised'Video pirates say many satellite dish dealers have given consumers the chips needed to unscramble signals for free as an incentive to buy dish systems.Given this situation, ''it is wrong for owners of legal equipment to pay for General Instrument's inability to produce a device that actually works,'' said Roy Neel, staff director of the consumer subcommittee of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee. Industry experts say at least half the 1.6 million existing Videocipher 2 devices are now receiving satellite signals illegally. High-tech bandits designed computer chips that could be fitted into the decoders to unscramble signals without paying the programmer to activate the device. The decoder is so well accepted that it is included when most satellite dish systems are sold.But within a year of its introduction in 1986, the existing General Instrument decoder, called the Videocipher 2, was compromised.
'Make No Sense'Home Box Office, a leading cable and satellite movie programmer, said it had no plans to offer programming only through the new decoder. General Instrument said the new decoder would increase the number of available scrambled channels from 56 to 256 and allow the company to accommodate about 50 million subscribers, compared with its current capacity of five million.Mike Walker, vice president of General Instrument's Videocipher division, said the company would not allow existing programmers to abandon channels available on the old decoder.''Consumers will still have legal access to all programming that is currently available on the Videocipher 2,'' Mr. General Instruments says it must therefore try to make its signals more secure, but also protect customers using its existing system.So, starting in April, General Instrument will allow satellite dish owners to trade in their current decoders for a Videocipher 2 Plus for $129.
Price Dropped SharplySatellite television has become more popular as the price of a dish system has dropped sharply. Home Dish Satellite Network, which offers adult programming through its American Ecstasy ($240 a year) and Tuxedo ($60 a year), plans to provide current subscribers who renew their subscriptions with a Videocipher 2 Plus. Before they switch to the new system, the programmers must first build a new subscriber base on the Videocipher 2 Plus, he said.One programmer plans to foot the bill for the new decoders in order to retain its subscriber base. Kenny said he expected the majority of the satellite television programmers to move to channels received by the new decoder within a year for added security.
A complete system including decoder now costs less than $2,500.
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