Karl Foster
09-20-02, 09:27 AM
Last night's local news on KUTV (CBS affiliate in Salt Lake) had a story about Directv's crackdown on signal piracy. Here is a trascript from it:
Newsroom:
Leann Lobb: “Directv says it is plagued by thieves, and the company is striking back.”
Mark Koelbel: “Now Directv offers a lot of channels by satellite, and some companies are illegally selling access to that programming. Rod Decker has more on this new crackdown.”
RCWilley Furniture & Electronics Store (big seller of Directv in the area):
Rod Decker: “These RC Willey TV’s are tuned to Directv. For about $30 a month you get 130 channels, and if you pay extra, you can get movie services, pay-per-view, and up to fourteen NFL games every Sunday. The programming comes by satellite and thieves are stealing it.
When you subscribe to Directv, you get a decoder like this (holding up an RCA receiver), that has a slot here, where you insert an electronic card that controls what programming you can get. Some people use pirated cards and steal signal without paying for it.
The phony cards are available on the Internet, but now Directv has sued some of the phony card makers, gotten their business records, and found out who is using the counterfeit cards. Now, lawyer Len Bronson is suing Utahns who use counterfeit cards."
Len Bronson: “We want to be fair to the end user as well, but we need to send a message that they are stealing signal and we won’t put up with it.”
Rod Decker: “Bronson has already filed federal court suits against four Utahns and he plans to file a dozen more suits next week. Directv has sent letters to other suspected signal stealers telling them to stop it and pay for what they’ve used. Rod Decker, 2News.”
Newsroom:
Leann Lobb: “Directv says it is plagued by thieves, and the company is striking back.”
Mark Koelbel: “Now Directv offers a lot of channels by satellite, and some companies are illegally selling access to that programming. Rod Decker has more on this new crackdown.”
RCWilley Furniture & Electronics Store (big seller of Directv in the area):
Rod Decker: “These RC Willey TV’s are tuned to Directv. For about $30 a month you get 130 channels, and if you pay extra, you can get movie services, pay-per-view, and up to fourteen NFL games every Sunday. The programming comes by satellite and thieves are stealing it.
When you subscribe to Directv, you get a decoder like this (holding up an RCA receiver), that has a slot here, where you insert an electronic card that controls what programming you can get. Some people use pirated cards and steal signal without paying for it.
The phony cards are available on the Internet, but now Directv has sued some of the phony card makers, gotten their business records, and found out who is using the counterfeit cards. Now, lawyer Len Bronson is suing Utahns who use counterfeit cards."
Len Bronson: “We want to be fair to the end user as well, but we need to send a message that they are stealing signal and we won’t put up with it.”
Rod Decker: “Bronson has already filed federal court suits against four Utahns and he plans to file a dozen more suits next week. Directv has sent letters to other suspected signal stealers telling them to stop it and pay for what they’ve used. Rod Decker, 2News.”