minow@decvax.UUCP (Martin Minow) (01/17/86)
All Things Considered (Jan. 15) reported that HBO and Cinemax are about to encrypt their satellite transmissions, with CBS network feed to follow. Private individuals who want to view HBO and/or Cinemax must purchase a decryptor for about $300, then pay a monthly fee to the service provider. The fee is comparable to what a cable viewer would pay. CBS is encrypting their signal to prevent unauthorized viewing of non-broadcast information. The decryptor will not be available. I had heard this was in the planning stages a few years ago. The person who told me this said they would use a frame scrambler controlled by a DES ecypherment -- which would be very impractical to descramble without the proper key. Martin Minow decvax!minow
dob@ihmax.UUCP (dan o'brien) (01/19/86)
> All Things Considered (Jan. 15) reported that HBO and Cinemax are > about to encrypt their satellite transmissions ... > > Private individuals who want to view HBO and/or Cinemax must > purchase a decryptor for about $300, then pay a monthly > fee to the service provider. The fee is comparable to what ^^^^^^^^^^ > a cable viewer would pay. Hardly comparable from my point of view. My local cable charges $7.00 a month for HBO on top of the basic cable service (my total bill is $17.90). I saw on network news that HBO wants $13.00 a month! Imagine what this trend is going to do to all those dish owners. $13.00 here, $12.00 there, and so on. There goes all that money they hoped to save over the cost of cable :-( And what about those folks whose only TV reception is satellite based?!?! Oh well, as Robert Heinlein once wrote: TANSTAAFL. -- Daniel M. O'Brien (ihnp4!ihmax!dob) AT&T Bell Laboratories IH 4A-257, x 4782 Naperville-Wheaton Road Naperville, IL 60566
guy@anasazi.UUCP (Guy Finney) (01/19/86)
In article <161@decvax.UUCP> minow@decvax.UUCP (Martin minow) writes: >Private individuals who want to view HBO and/or Cinemax must >purchase a decryptor for about $300, then pay a monthly >fee to the service provider. The fee is comparable to what >a cable viewer would pay. HBO says the monthly fee can be paid to any of their authorized agents. That means any cable company legally distributing their programming. Unfortunately, fees will vary enormously from system to system. HBO wants to charge $20/month if they bill you. They say the cable companies can charge whatever they want. Gouge-o-rama time. In more optimistic news, I recently read where Anheiser Busch (sp) told ESPN they wouldn't pay the same ad rates if ESPN really did scramble. They (AB) know what the viewership numbers are, and don't want to spend the same money to reach fewer people. Who knows, the marketplace might work out after all! -- Guy Finney {decvax|ihnp4}!terak!anasazi!guy