Pirate television


A pirate television station is a broadcast television station that operates without a broadcast license. Like its counterpart pirate radio, the term pirate TV lacks a specific universal interpretation. It implies a form of broadcasting that is unwelcome by the licensing authorities within the territory where its signals are received, especially when the country of transmission is the same as the country of reception. When the area of transmission is not a country, or when it is a country and the transmissions are not illegal, those same broadcast signals may be deemed illegal in the country of reception. Therefore, "pirate TV" can mean many things to many people. Pirate television stations may also be known as "bootleg TV", or confused with licensed low-power broadcasting or amateur television services.

History

Pirate Television stations are not as abundant in the United States or UK as pirate radio stations are. Only since 2004 has the technology for pirate television stations become easier to obtain and construct, due to advances in technologies and the availability of equipment.
The first pirate TV station in the US was Lanesville TV, launched in 1972, the broadcast station of video pioneers, the Videofreex.
In April 1978, a weekend broadcast on Channel 7 in Syracuse, New York called "Lucky 7" captured headlines across the nation. "Lucky 7" broadcast episodes of Star Trek and the pornographic movie Deep Throat and Behind the Green Door. The source of the transmission was not identified, but it was speculated in an article in the New York Times that the signal may have been transmitted from the area of Syracuse University, as the signal was strongest in that area.

Techniques

There are several techniques for pirate TV broadcasting, most of which have been made very difficult, or obsolete, by better security measures and the move to digital television.

Relay hijack (analogue)

Many analogue relay transmitters would "listen" to a more powerful main transmitter and relay the signal verbatim. If the main transmitter ceases broadcasting then a pirate signal on the same frequency as the main transmitter could cause the relay to "wake up" and relay unauthorized programming instead. Typically this would be done by outputting a very weak RF signal within the immediate vicinity of the relay: for example, a video cassette recorder sending its signal to a home-made antenna pointed at the relay. As the pirate signal is relatively weak, the source can be difficult to locate if it is well hidden.
A significant benefit of this attack is that the potential viewers do not have to re-tune their televisions to view the content. The content simply appears on an existing channel, after close-down.
This attack is generally now prevented by the channels broadcasting 24 hours per day, by using satellite feeds instead of repeating terrestrial signals, by electronic security to lock the relay to the authorised source, or by the switch to digital television.
Unsecured analogue satellite transponders have also been reported to have been hijacked in a similar manner.

Unauthorized transmitter (analogue)

As with most pirate radio stations, reasonably powerful VHF/UHF transmitters can be built relatively easily by any sufficiently experienced electronics hobbyist, or imported from a less strict country. The primary challenge to this technique is finding a suitable yet inconspicuous vantage point for the transmission antenna, and the risk of getting caught. If the pirate signal is strong enough to be received directly, it will also be strong enough to be tracked down.

Unauthorized multiplex (digital)

The advent of digital television makes pirate television broadcasting more difficult. Channels are broadcast as part of a multiplex that carries several channels in one signal, and it is almost impossible to insert an unauthorized channel into an authorized multiplex, or to re-activate an off-air channel. In order to broadcast an unauthorized digital TV channel, not only must the perpetrator build or obtain a VHF/UHF transmitter, he must also build or obtain, and configure, the equipment and software to digitally encode the signal and then create a stand-alone multiplex to carry it.
In Spain, in major provincial capital cities, usually operates one or more than one pirate TV digital multiplex. Some multiplexes started to operate after digital switch-over migrating pirate channels from analogue pirate television to DVB-T digital multiplexes.
Since shortly after digital switch-over and still today in secondary cities, some channels broadcast by means of a DVB-T transmitter with four analog input sources and then to amplifier, and digital signal is feed to antenna or tower. This method is the one used by most pirate TV channels. However, over the years and due to economic returns, some have begun broadcasting almost professionally. New equipment that they have been installing since three years ago allows remultiplexing of DVB-S programs into DVB-T multiplexes and most parameters can be configured at will.
Since 2010, its number has been increasing in Madrid and in Valencia, for example, and, as of March 2016, there are more than ten DVB-T pirate multiplex in Madrid metropolitan area transmitting without authorization with programming ranging from divinatory, esoteric and occult tarot or fundamentalist Christian to community television.
In other countries, there are reports of pirate TV digital multiplexes, but they are very rare and usually suspected to have been false reports, mistaking overspill from authorized multiplexes in neighboring regions or nearby foreign countries. Viewing numbers may be much smaller than analogue pirate TV since re-tuning a digital television may be an entirely automated process which may ignore unauthorized multiplexes, or place such channels in an obscure section of the electronic program guide.

Stations

Known stations

During the 1980s, large numbers of pirate TV stations operated in Italy, Greece, Spain and Israel. Subsequent legislation lead to the licensing of many of these stations and the closure of the remainder.

Proposed stations

Movies

Movies often show Pirate TV channels simply "breaking in" over the top of existing channels, often all of them simultaneously.