Stealing cable?

[MrRant 0]

Comcast fights cable TV theft with amnesty periods and neighborhood patrols, but its most effective method remains neighbor ratting out neighbor.

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Someone in Waverly is going to regret boasting about the free cable they've been getting for years -- especially since a friend just tipped off Comcast Corp. about it.

 

"They have been having this for a while now," the e-mailer alerted the company Tuesday. "Please don't tell them it was me who did this."

 

In Maryland, Comcast spends hundreds of thousands of dollars yearly to block theft. That's a fraction of the revenue the nation's largest cable television provider says it loses to cable piracy.

 

To combat cable thieves, Comcast technicians armed with portable electronic detectors are scouring neighborhoods, while the company scrambles its cable signals to foil reception.

 

But in the end, the old-fashioned, low-tech anonymous tip is still its most effective means -- motivated not by any reward, but by as much jealousy, revenge or double-dealing as you'll ever see on an episode of The Sopranos.

 

When it comes to stealing cable television, it's quite likely someone will eventually rat you out. It could be a friend, a spouse, a boyfriend or girlfriend or next-door neighbor. It even might be the handyman who charged you more than $200 for an illegal cable box. Or maybe it's the landlord who knows the cable was never turned off when you moved into your apartment.

 

"Revenge is sweet," someone in Salisbury wrote in another e-mail to cabletheft.com. The sender didn't specify his grievance but provided the alleged thief's address to the Web site, which forwards tips to the appropriate cable companies. "I have witnessed 2 cable boxes with illegal access," the e-mail said.

 

During a recent two-week amnesty period Comcast offered to residents from Baltimore to the Eastern Shore and Delaware, nearly 5,000 people called or e-mailed to turn themselves in -- or to turn in someone they knew. The response convinced the company to extend the penalty-free amnesty until Wednesday.

 

"It's costing us millions of dollars a year," said Brian A. Lynch, area vice president for Comcast's Baltimore region. "These are people who know it's wrong to steal a candy bar from a store, but think it's perfectly all right to steal cable. It's very discouraging."

 

Company officials say they would much prefer it if people would just fess up, no questions asked. Confess now, avoid prosecution later is the message the Philadelphia company is putting out in TV and radio ads, mailings and door fliers. But for those not sufficiently swayed, Comcast contends it will find them.

 

Starting in August, 50 cable technicians began roaming the region from the subdivisions of Baltimore County to the winding roads of the Eastern Shore. In a partial audit, technicians found unauthorized cable at 10 percent of 5,000 homes reviewed.

 

By the end of November, Comcast technicians will have opened hundreds of knee-high, dark green cable stands from Port Deposit to Ocean City in a thorough house-by-house investigation.

 

They'll also use an electronic device called the "sniffer" -- a sort of digital divining rod. It beeps when it detects radio frequency leakage from loose cable connections that are sometimes fused with tape, glue or even chewing gum.

 

"Someone tried to bribe me $100 once to connect them," said technician Rob Parks, 25, on a recent probe of the Chapel Valley community in northeast Baltimore County. "I tell them it's not worth my job. It's always puzzled me why people steal cable, especially the ones who live in million-dollar homes. I don't understand it."

 

Justifications for illegal cable use include diatribes over prices and cable monopolies. Whatever the rationale, the industry reportedly loses about $6.6 billion in annual revenue to cable theft, according to a survey by the National Cable and Telecommunications Association, an industry trade group.

 

Stealing cable has become an industry unto itself.

 

Surf the Internet and you can find dozens of do-it-yourself sites offering cable hook-up instructions and helpful advice -- it's not like stealing electricity, you won't get electrocuted, the sites advise.

 

Even easier is finding someone through the Internet who will sell you a cable descrambler -- the so-called "black boxes" that intercept cable signals -- for $200 billed directly to your credit card.

 

Owning a black box is not illegal, but using it to receive free programming is a federal offense. In Maryland, penalties for cable theft range up to a year in jail and a $10,000 fine. Comcast says repeat offenders have gone to jail. That might be why so many people eventually come clean.

 

"Cable was previously turned off, but basic remained," wrote a Northwest Baltimore resident in an e-mail asking Comcast to cut the illegal connection. "Please turn off before amnesty ends to avoid any criminal action. Please disconnect cable."

 

Guilt, as parents and pastors know, can be a powerful emotion, too.

 

"I am reporting myself," confessed an Annapolis e-mailer Tuesday. "About a year ago, I received six months of free HBO/Cinemax. When the six months were up, the HBO/Cinemax did not show up on my bill."

 

When Comcast offered a similar amnesty in the same Baltimore-Eastern Shore-Delaware region two years ago, it netted 25,000 people who called about illegal cable connections. More recently, during a month-long amnesty in Washington and its Maryland and Virginia suburbs, 10,000 people called or e-mailed in August.

 

"Look, the company does not want to see us bringing suit against a 78-year-old woman," says Ned S. Kodeck, an attorney for Comcast who has worked with local prosecutors on cable theft cases during the last 17 years. "No one's going to believe she climbed up a pole to hook herself up. We're looking for chronic offenders.

 

"But, if that 78-year-old lady is a frequent offender, we would at least want her to explain to us how she keeps getting cable," Kodeck says.

 

During the audit, the discovery of an unauthorized connection prompts a few polite, non-accusatory entreaties from Comcast.

 

"Dear Neighbor," says one of its door leaflets, "we have discovered that cable service was mistakenly left active at your address. We have corrected our error."

 

Comcast says it would rather avoid court, although it prosecutes between 100 and 125 cases a year in Maryland alone.

 

It's, of course, easier if someone receiving illegal cable would just agree to cough up the $35.93 a month for 65 channels to see the cursing Osbournes on MTV, for example, or pay an extra $14 or $15 for a "premium" channel offering HBO or ShowTime.

 

An alleged Parkville cable thief "is a friend of mines," someone e-mailed Comcast two weeks ago. "I know that she is stealing cable because I seen it, and she also admitted to me that she hat it installed illegal."

 

"I just saw your commercial about cable theft and there is a guy I know that has it hooked up all through his house," a Baltimore woman informed a Comcast service agent during a telephone call that same day. "He is renting rooms and he is charging people for it and he is not paying for it."

 

A West Baltimorean's e-mail hinted at the immense value some people place on free cable: "This person has had cable illegally for the past three years. It was obtained in return for a sexual favor."

 

Kodeck, the Comcast attorney, sounds a tad remorseful about all the outpouring of community informants.

 

"It's almost like cherry picking," he says. "The response is just phenomenal."

 

Up here we audit all the time and if someone is stealing cable we usually find them pretty quick. I've talked to many people before who called/e-mailed to rat out their neighbors. Fun stuff.

[The Czech Republic 0]

Myth: Stealing cable is wrong.

Fact: Cable companies are large, faceless corporations, so that makes it okay.

[MrRant 0]

I used to love cutting people off. It brought pleasure to my day.

[Styles 0]

I dont have illegal cable. The only reason I (and many others here) would want it is for the free PPV, since I order pretty much every wrestling show and it gets expensive...

[MrRant 0]

I agree it gets expensive... however I have seen people get fined (usually around $5000) for doing so.

[Youth N Asia 0]

We still paid for cable, this was years ago...but when I use to change it to channel 1 I'd get a free ppv of whatever was playing. I must have seen Boyz in the Hood and Don't Tell Mom, The Babysitter's Dead a dozen times or more

[cynicalprofit 0]

Im always goign to rememebr the add saying cable compaines lost 100 million due to theft....the average america makes 1 million in their entire life....where should my sympathy for the cable companies come from?

 

If you loose that much have probably are making an even larger amount. No love for you at all.

 

And have cable prices ever actually gone down? Never happened to me. And why is it I have to pay for channels I never want or watch. Id spend 7 bucks a month for spike, comedy central, and upn, but after that, I dont want other crap, yet I get no choice in the matter.

 

Ya know maybe if the price of cable actually went down, more people would pay for it.

 

(rant over)

[Firestarter 0]

But why do you care? I mean, cavemn had no taxes or jobs other then being self sufficient, whats so wrong with that? Surely a decently run world wouldn't need cable television. We'd all live like cavemn. Why do you pay for cable in the first place? Why do you watch any channels at all?

[Jobber of the Week 0]

I wasn't paying attention to that thread so I have no clue what old troll Marney is trying undoubtedly trying to dredge up, but the phrase "We'd all live like cavemn" makes me laugh hard and I just had to post to say that.

 

Also, satelite >>> cable.

[Styles 0]

I wasn't paying attention to that thread so I have no clue what old troll Marney is trying undoubtedly trying to dredge up, but the phrase "We'd all live like cavemn" makes me laugh hard and I just had to post to say that.

 

Also, satelite >>> cable.

Yeah, I think poor Marney had a little too much to drink before posting, because I have no idea what relevance her non-sequitor added to the discussion of stealing cable.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Hey, let's not pay for ANYTHING if it comes from a big corporation. After all, they don't need the money...

Edited September 29, 2003 by kkktookmybabyaway

[Jobber of the Week 0]

Makes sense to me. No reason some guy should drive a BMW due to the contributions of thousands who can't afford one, but anyway...

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

And if that guy doesn't buy the BMW, then those thousands of contributors would have to find something else to contribute toward...

[Henry Spencer 0]

Marney, thank you for that link. That is officially the best thread ever.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

I just thought I'd take cynicalprofit's post and paste the text over some images to show just how insane it is... Or just to be artistic.. Or something. But that post simply can't be ignored.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Dr. Tyler; Captain America 0]

^^

 

Post of the century.

[Firestarter 0]

Yeah, I think poor Marney had a little too much to drink before posting, because I have no idea what relevance her non-sequitor added to the discussion of stealing cable.

It wasn't really relevant. <g> But most of cynicalprofit's posts consist of ludicrously funny groups of misspelled and syntactically insane words which simply BEG to be taken out of context. And I've always loved the idea that we should all live like cavemn and we should never have messed around with oil. It's too much like SKBF's vision of Joe Smloe for me to ignore.

[Skywarp! 0]

I have no sympathy for any corporation that's so powerful they have enormous regional monopolies.

 

Steal away. It's not hurting a soul.

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

*howling with laughter at political cable thieves*

[Stephen Joseph 0]

At my old apartment in atlanta the company left the cable on in 1 room.

 

We called the cable company about it, and they decided it wasn't worth their time to come out and turn it off.

 

Guess that means we got free cable legally.

[Skywarp! 0]

*howling with laughter at political cable thieves*

Why is it that amusing? A lot of the same people use the same arguments in music and movie piracy, and those generally aren't scoffed at.

[Mole 0]

At my old apartment in atlanta the company left the cable on in 1 room.

 

We called the cable company about it, and they decided it wasn't worth their time to come out and turn it off.

 

Guess that means we got free cable legally.

How come stuff like that can't happen to me?

[Guest Agent of Oblivion]

*howling with laughter at political cable thieves*

Why is it that amusing?

Because it had pictures, and I was imagining all of those people fiddling with black boxes, wires, and duct tape.

[Guest MD2020]

*howling with laughter at political cable thieves*

Why is it that amusing?

Because it had pictures, and I was imagining all of those people fiddling with black boxes, wires, and duct tape.

Yes, with the added bonus of imaging Greenspan (I hope that guy was Greenspan) watching UPN.

[cynicalprofit 0]

I dont think how wanting to be in control of my viewing habits makes me insane, nor do I think supporting the technology race to see who blows up who first makes me nuts.

 

Supporting the system might though.

 

BTW, jobber, if your going to get artistic, do a better job.....come on be a little less lazy then political pics and hitler, couldn't you have found something a tad more distrubing? It was still nice an all, but you could have done better.

[Skywarp! 0]

*howling with laughter at political cable thieves*

Why is it that amusing?

Because it had pictures, and I was imagining all of those people fiddling with black boxes, wires, and duct tape.

Ooooooh, you're talking about the picture post above. I thought you were laughing at people's pro-theft arguments. I'm sorry.

[Jobber of the Week 0]

[cynicalprofit 0]

eh, it was still in the same format as the previous.

[Guest Haro972]

Anybody else ever buy a black box ans not have it work? And YES, it was said to replace the particular I was using. CLEARLY stated that it would work with my model. Plug it in, no good. Could the cable company be blocking the use of illegal boxes? I'm interested to know. Also, does anybody know a way around this? Thanks-Jim

[Jobber of the Week 0]

eh, it was still in the same format as the previous.

You didn't understand the message delivered by the previous picture though.

 

Your use of grammar is horrible and and an affront to English. Thus, pasting your posts in front of charismatic and/or articulate people can make it funny, and at least slightly relevant to the forum at hand. Observe:

 

 

Now go away, or I shall taunt you a second time.