A JW I know was describing his satellite installation, which he describes as "Free To Air", consisting of a dish and a receiver which does not use acess cards, hooked up to his TV, allowing hundreds of channels with no monthly subscription or payment to a satellite provider.
Is this legitimate, or is he receiving something free which he should be paying for, in effect "stealing" satellite TV?
Free To Air Satellite TV - Is this "stealing" satellite?
by gaiagirl 8 Replies latest jw friends
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gaiagirl
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brinjen
There is legitimately free satellite TV, which you can access free to air channels from around the globe. The catch is, the setup fees are much higher than subscription TV, (can run into thousands of dollars) though cheaper in the long run.
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OnTheWayOut
Even if it is not the actual "free" satellite stuff:
There are huge debates about this. Look at broadcast television. A signal is in the air and people
are free to capture that signal with wire antennas. If someone sends that signal over and into your
property, isn't someone else free to capture it?I have been in apartments where I was not paying for cable television, but the cable someone ran
into my apartment had basic cable on it. I just needed a way to switch channels. Most televisions
can do that. You could say I was "stealing" basic cable, but I did not ask that a wire be left lying
on the living room floor. I could say they are stealing my space.The only illegal part about grabbing a signal with a dish would be in violating licenses to descramble
anything or stealing codes. But if someone built a descrambler on their own without paying for
illegal information, then it's fine. This is often the case, but then it would usually be illegal to sell
your descrambler technology (violation of FCC laws) to others. That's typically where the law is
broken. -
dust
A "Free To Air" (FTA) broadcast is a channel that is not encrypted, and which thus offers its programmes free of charge. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free-to-air
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uwishufish
How many people remember the big dish recievers 4 or 5 feet across. I had access to like 20 satelites with like 20 chanals each. no cost.
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uwishufish
This need s to be added to my last post. Some of the channals were network feeds so you could watch games commercial free.
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besty
I was working for Sky, a satellite broadcaster in the UK. Google Freesat if you want to know about Sky's FTA offering.
The responsibility lies with the broadcaster to secure their content properly - no point in suing Joe Schmo for stealing. Better off making your platform secure in the first place.
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kurtbethel
In the US, it is legal to watch content that is broadcast in the clear.
A basic FTA setup can be obtained for about $300 ans after the initial expense it only requires the electricity to run it. There are lots of channels that are available, in many languages. -
Satanus
Are there commercials in fta?
S