According to sources within the Satellite Underground, the Echostar test device is, in fact, real and has been running flawlessly. The source told SWN that, "folks who still have their Battery card, L-card or T-card from the early days of DSS testing can now reload their cards with a new file for use with the Echostar system.
The only major requirement is that the test card still be able to produce the preview channels on a DSS system before one loads the new Echostar file into the card. All Echostar test card files are presently being offered at no charge through the Internet."
Howdy All
Well here it is 1999, and good riddance 1998. 1998, what a year! For those of us in the satellite industry, 1998 was very interesting to say the least. The DTH satellite folks reported record activations. The C-Band folks reported losses in the thousands of subscribers. For those who could afford to play the stock market, there were more ups and downs than I have seen in a long time. So 1999 should be an uphill climb.
C-Band, the big dish, still offers the best in entertainment. During Desert Fox in Iraq, there was a 24-hour feed for one of the networks carried on S-4. This type of feed allows the viewer to see exactly what is happening as it happens. Not having to wait for the networks to come back out of their commercials can really enhance in-depth viewing. I will always have a big dish.
At this point in my editorial, I would like thank you, the SWN subscriber, for your continued support.
Without each and every one of you this publication would not be possible. As most of you now know, the
year ahead will be a battle for the Satellite Watch News and myself, in that the lawsuit filed against us by
DirecTV will be picking up steam. The publication as well as our legal defense fund will need all the
support that you can afford. We as Americans must challenge and defend what few freedoms that we have
left. With your support, I am willing to stand tall and defend our Constitution and the right to freedom of
the press.
WRITERS WANTED!
The Satellite Watch News is looking for a couple of contributing editors. If you feel that you would be able to contribute articles of interest to our readers, we would like to hear from you. You can call our office Monday-Wednesday at (517) 685-3970, or by e-mail to dmorgandb@i-star.com and let know me what you have to offer.
I have included the following editorial comment from the Toronto Star. This Canadian makes his point very well.
The Toronto Star December 21, 1998 SATELLITE TV: CANADIANS' RIGHT TO CHOICE IS THE ISSUE
Re the Dec. 3 `Your Business’ article, Growing `gray market' for satellite TV.
The issue of Canadians acquiring access to programming via satellite from other than the two small dish companies cuts to a Canadian's right to choice. Yet the fact that the issue is currently in front of the Supreme Court on the basis of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms was not mentioned once in the article. Canadians have been accessing satellite programming from outside the Canadian "electronic curtain" for almost 20 years. After all this time, the right of access is slandered as illegal only after Bell Canada's ExpressVu and Shaw Cable's Star Choice have a business plan to execute on the Canadian market. One needn't shake the bushes for a nefarious conspiracy theory as to why all of a sudden international access to programming is the target of police raids. The testimony of an RCMP officer in a recent case suggests there may be some credence to there being some alternative agendas.
Your article bundles the freedom to access programming and the compromising of system security under one legal umbrella, as if they were one and the same, albeit the handful of cases involving the pirating of signals has been summarily thrown out of Canadian courts on the grounds of no jurisdiction. But the difference between stealing signals in this fashion and subscribing to the respective programmers are poles apart. One is at the very least an ethical issue of circumventing proper payment to a programmer, and the other cuts to the heart of a Canadian's right to choice, no matter if the programming originates from England, Italy, Buenos Aires, Hong Kong, or the U.S.
There are more satellite systems available than the couple the RCMP have been targeting that allow reception of signals from Europe, South America and the Pacific basin with programming in Portuguese, Chinese, Japanese, Polish, Greek, Spanish, Russian, Ukrainian, Italian, etc. Is every venue of programming reception other than the Canadian dish services to be categorized as illegal? Are all ethnic interests precluded? Are ham radios next on the list to be sought out by the programming police? Marc Etherington
Until Next Month, Dan
Dish Network Security wishes to offer the following warning to those considering the purchase of a "blocker technology" to impact the normal operation of the EchoStar smartcard. First of all, the modification of or the use of a modified EchoStar receiver/smartcard pair, to view programming without payment of subscription fees, is a violation of federal law, with penalties for conviction of fines up to $500,000 and/or imprisonment for up to five years. If you have not been keeping current on recent announcements, people are being prosocuted and put in jail for similar activities related to Direct TV security issues. Dish Network is committed to use all means available to us under the law to prosocute people involved in theft of our signal.
Secondly, Dish Network Security has been tracking the attempted development of this and other alleged "hacks" of our system since the launch of our service, and has examined the functionality of the "blocker technology". Despite the claims of those attempting to market these devices, they do not allow unrestricted viewing of all services, and do not allow for unlimited purchase of pay-per-view events. Lastly, the nature of EchoStar's integrated, service wide, security system allows us to disable the "blocking" ability of these type devices and permanently "tag" the receiver/smartcard unit as tampered with. Anyone who installs such a device into their IRD runs the risk of us remotely and permanently disabling the subsequent use of that IRD even under legitimate conditions. EchoStar will also pursue criminal or civil legal action against those individuals we believe have been involved in this activity in any capacity to the fullest extend allowed under state and federal law.
EchoStar takes the threat of signal theft very seriously, we will take whatever legal and technical efforts are required to reduced and/or eliminate this problem. We are confident in our ability to make the use of such devices on our system prohibitively difficult and expensive. As an entertainment provider, we are committed to providing our customers with quality service. Those engaged in the distribution of illegal "hacking" devices by definition do not, and will have little concern for leaving their "customer" left holding the bag when the devices they sell no longer function as promised. In other words, Caveat Emptor (Buyer Beware)!
Dish Network Security