18 How Does My Descrambler Talk Back To The Satellite? How Does It Know WhereI Live So It Can Black Out Sports Events Of My Local Teams?
Description
This article is from the Satellite TV FAQ, by Gary Bourgois flash@lopez.marquette.mi.us with numerous contributions by others.
18 How Does My Descrambler Talk Back To The Satellite? How Does It Know WhereI Live So It Can Black Out Sports Events Of My Local Teams?
Your Descrambler does not "talk back" to the satellite through your IRD. In
the case of VIDEOPAL, which is an automatic PAY PER VIEW ordering system,
your descrambler is hooked to the phone line. When you order a PPV Movie, it
will place a call to the ORDER center once a month and tell them what movies
you ordered. This is the only "talk back" system built into the VIDEOCIPHER,
and this is only on the units that have VIDEOPAL. The VCRSi boards
(Purple/pink in color) do not have this feature, so you have to call the
order center 800 number yourself and order the movie by voice, so it is no
big deal. As far as "knowing" where you live for sports blackout purposes,
this is a very low tech operation. What they do is have the computer search
the index of subscribers by ZIP CODE. If you live in 600XX you won't see the
Chicago Cubs, for example. Many people get around the sports blackout
"feature" of the Subscription system by having their Auntie in Keokuck do
their subscribing for them. Then they can get all the sports with no
blackouts. This "Grey Market" kind of thing is also used by Canadians so
they can get USA programming (And by Americans so they can watch Canadian
Programming). While technically illegal, and not recommended, this type of
thing is done every day by sports fanatics.
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