![]() ![]() ![]() What MacDougall had that most irate customers didn’t was the power of Teleport’s uplink system. Coordinates were easily found in manuals and enthusiast magazines. There was no great mystery in locating HBO’s transponder. Left alone, and slightly embittered, he decided to take a jab at HBO. It was the loss of income at his shop that led to him getting a second job at Central Florida Teleport, manning the satellite uplinks for cable providers. MacDougall saw his satellite business decline drastically. They’d also be paying $12.95 for HBO every month, $4 more than cable users. Customers thinking of getting into the equipment were put off or confused by the additional steps needed. They succeeded, and by January 1985, they became the first pay-TV service to require a descrambler box for viewing.ĭish users were angry: They had been sold on the premise that the hassle of installing the expensive equipment would mean not having a cable bill, let alone the need for a $500 set-top box. Worse, restaurant and hotel chains were able to use the dishes to grab the feed and distribute it to patrons or guests without paying HBO for commercial service.Ĭhannel executives were so bothered by the workaround that they petitioned Congress to grant them the ability to scramble their signal in 1984. ![]() But HBO was still slightly peeved that consumers were able to access their service-which cost cable users $8.95 a month-for free. Nothing about the operation was illegal, and there were enough people intimidated by the prospect of erecting a mini-NASA shrine in their yards to guarantee it would never be a serious threat to cable subscriptions. If you loved television, it was like having a master key. They also enjoyed a virtually unlimited selection of channels from the growing cable industry, as well as regional affiliates from clear across the country. Like the CB radio hobbyists before them, dish owners enjoyed patching together their own systems and exchanging tips. It was also what led MacDougall to open MacDougall Electronics in 1983, an Ocala, Florida satellite dish installation service. It was that kind of unfiltered access that led to the growth of a small but loyal group of dish enthusiasts in the 1970s and 1980s. While cable subscribers were expected to pay to have the network “unlocked,” owners of backyard-mounted satellite dishes could receive it without incurring any surcharges. When Home Box Office debuted in 1972, the premium channel transmitted its signal unscrambled. ![]()
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