Broadcast signal intrusion
Encyclopedia
Broadcast signal intrusion is a term given to the act of hijacking broadcast
signals of radio and television station
s. Hijacking incidents have involved local TV and radio stations as well as cable and national networks.
the original signal. The input stage of a cheap video sender can produce the right kind of signal. A low-power microwave signal generator or a homemade equivalent from easily available components provides the signal (which is pointed at the receiving dish antenna). Most larger stations encrypt their signal, in which case one would just jam the signal, as is the case with digital. Most TV and radio stations are extremely vulnerable, but lack of knowledge has kept this from being a problem.
, the original penalties of signal hijacking were $100,000 in fines and/or one year in prison until late 1987 or early 1988, when Congress
passed a bill that would penalize violators with fines peaking to $250,000 and/or a maximum of 10 years in prison if convicted. Those who engage in such acts are often referred to as "video pirates" or "video hackers". Hijacking a signal of any kind is a felony in the United States.
At 12:32 am Eastern Time
on April 27, 1986, HBO (Home Box Office) had its satellite signal fed from its operations center on Long Island
in Hauppauge, New York
interrupted by a man calling himself "Captain Midnight". The interruption occurred during a presentation of The Falcon and the Snowman
. The intrusion lasted between 4 and 5 minutes and was seen by viewers along the East Coast. The man, who during the interruption also threatened to hijack the signals of Showtime and The Movie Channel
, was later caught and identified as John R. MacDougall of Ocala, Florida
. He was prosecuted shortly thereafter. Authorities were tipped off by a man from Wisconsin
in a phone booth at a rest area
off Interstate 75
in Gainesville, Florida
. The man filing the report said that he overheard MacDougall bragging about it.
MacDougall's guilt was confirmed by an FCC investigation that showed he was alone at Central Florida Teleport at the time of the incident and a recording of the jamming video showed that the text was generated by a character generator
at that location. He was charged with transmitting without a radio license in violation of 47 USC 301. MacDougall pleaded guilty and was fined $5,000 and served a year probation. Ambiguity about whether the 47 USC 301 charge was applicable since the transmitter had a license resulted in the passage of 18 USC 1367 which made satellite jamming a felony
.
MacDougall was able to perform the intrusion while working a second job as a master control operator at a satellite teleport in Florida, where he worked to make ends meet due to declining income from his satellite TV equipment business. He stated that he did it because he was frustrated with HBO's service rates, and that it was hurting his business selling satellite dishes (hence his second job at the teleport). The message, placed over SMPTE color bars
, broadcast by MacDougall read:
(then known as the Playboy Channel), based on the popular adult magazine
, had its signal hijacked by a man later identified as Thomas Haynie who was employed by the Christian Broadcasting Network
. He was indicted for a violation of 18 USC 1367 (satellite jamming). In a week long trial in Norfolk VA evidence was produced by the prosecutor that showed that both the character generator and the transmitter at CBN matched the tape recording of the jamming. Haynie was convicted, sentenced to probation, and was suspended from his duties under the new provisions.
mask intercepted the signals of two television stations in Chicago
. Independent station
WGN-TV
(now a CW
affiliate), owned by Tribune Company
, was hijacked first. Its signal was hijacked during the sports report on its 9:00 pm newscast for about 25 seconds. Then came PBS
station WTTW
, where the man was seen and heard uttering garbled remarks before dropping his trousers
, and was then spanked with a flyswatter before the screen went black. The interception occurred at about 11:00 pm during an episode of Doctor Who
entitled Horror of Fang Rock
and lasted almost 90 seconds. To this day, none of the individuals responsible for the intrusion have been identified. This incident got the attention of the CBS Evening News
the next day and was talked about nationwide. The HBO incident was also mentioned in the same news report, presented by Frank Currier
.
" with the Solidarity logo. The four men were eventually discovered and were charged with "possession of an unlicensed radio transmitter and publication of materials that could cause public unrest". At their sentencing, the judge noted their prize winning work in the Polish scientific community and gave each of them probation and a fine of the equivalent of US$100 each (or 3,000,000 old zlotys, now just 300 PLN
).
for wired radio networks in order to transmit their own programming, or transmit into wired radio networks during gaps in normal programming. Even though the incidents appear to have been fairly common, few of them were publicly reported for policy reasons.
. One spot showed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah
with crosshairs superimposed on him followed by three gunshots and a voice saying "Your day is coming" and shots of the Israeli Air Force
destroying targets in Lebanon
.
in the UK. The intrusion did not affect the video signal but replaced the programme audio with warnings as to the destiny of the human race and a disaster to affect "your world and the beings on other worlds around you." The IBA confirmed that it was the first time such a hoax transmission had been made.
In 2002, Falun Gong
practitioners claimed to have broken into CCTV
, the major television broadcaster in Mainland China, and other local stations in China to broadcast Falun Gong propaganda.
On January 3, 2007 in Australia, during a broadcast of an episode of the Canadian television series Mayday
on the Seven Network
, an audio loop unexpectedly started playing, clearly saying in an American accent, “Jesus Christ, help us all, Lord”. This same voice message continued to repeat itself over and over during the show for a total of six minutes. A spokesman for Seven later denied that the transmission was a prank or a security breach and claimed that the repeated line was actually part of the original broadcast and said, “Jesus Christ one of the Nazarenes”, although there is hardly any similarity between the two phrases. Subsequent investigation by independent researchers revealed that the invading transmission was actually from a video taped news broadcast of a civilian truck being ambushed in Iraq. It remains unknown whether or not this was an intentional act of television piracy or a genuine glitch of some sort.
On June 17, 2007, an intrusion incident occurred on Czech Television
's Sunday morning programme Panorama, which shows panoramic shots of Prague
and various locations across the country
, especially mountain resorts. One of the cameras, located in Černý Důl
in Krkonoše, had been tampered with on-site and its video stream was replaced with the hackers' own, which contained CGI
of a small nuclear explosion in the local landscape, ending in white noise
. The broadcast looked authentic enough; the only clue for the viewers was the Web address of the artist group Ztohoven
, which had already performed several reality hacking incidents before. Czech Television is currently considering legal action against the group, and tourism workers in the area have expressed their outrage (since the programme serves to promote tourism in the areas shown).
On July 13, 2007, a grainy photo of a man and woman interrupted Washington, D.C.
ABC
affiliate WJLA's digital or HD
signal. The picture was not transmitted over the analog signal, however. The incident was deemed a genuine signal intrusion by various websites but has since been confirmed to be the result of an older HDTV encoder
malfunctioning in the early morning hours and going undetected. Station management stated that the image was from an advertisement for The Oprah Winfrey Show
.
operator connects itself in the signal path between individual stations and the system's subscribers, broadcasters have fallen victim to signal tampering on cable systems on multiple occasions:
On May 1, 2007, Comcast
replaced the Disney Channel
's program Handy Manny
with hard-core pornography
for viewers in Lincroft, New Jersey
. Comcast's response to the ensuing complaints claimed "We are continuing to investigate the root cause of the incident." The incident remains unresolved.
On February 1, 2009, Comcast in Tucson, Arizona
replaced NBC
affiliate KVOA
's signal with graphic footage from the pornographic
video Wild Cherries 5 in portions of Arizona
for ten seconds, interrupting Super Bowl XLIII
between the Arizona Cardinals
and the Pittsburgh Steelers
during the fourth quarter. Comcast claimed "Our initial investigation suggests this was an isolated malicious act. We are conducting a thorough investigation to determine who was behind this." KVOA also announced that it will be investigating the incident. On February 4, 2011, former Cox Cable employee Frank Tanori Gonzalez was arrested by the FBI in relation to the case.
in many genres of fiction
. Common fictional usages of the act include the depictions of technologically advanced space aliens
or countercultural
figures hijacking broadcast media in order to easily spread their messages to the general population, notably in the 2006 film V for Vendetta
, where it served as a major plot device. The opening sequence to the science-fiction series The Outer Limits
claimed to be another example, with its famous line, "Do not attempt to adjust your television set...We are controlling the transmission." In parody
(such as the 1980 theatrical films Used Cars
and Simon
, and "Weird Al" Yankovic
's 1989 film UHF
), broadcast interception may be used to comic effect as a tool to discredit on-air broadcast personalities by interrupting them with rebuttal or simply as a means to broadcast nonsense
in place of mainstream programming.
In the Doctor Who
episode "Day of the Moon
", The Doctor helps humanity defeat an alien occupation by The Silence
. Humans cannot retain any memories of The Silence, except for post-hypnotic suggestions being used to control human history. The Doctor hijacks the live feed from Apollo 11. A video clip of an injured Silent claiming "You should kill us all on sight" appeared during Armstrong's first steps on the Moon, between the lines "One small step for man" and "One giant leap for mankind".
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
signals of radio and television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
s. Hijacking incidents have involved local TV and radio stations as well as cable and national networks.
Method of intrusion
For analog stations it is relatively easy to break into the transmission network. All that is needed is to determine the frequency used in the studio-to-transmitter link, then generate a higher-powered signal at the same frequency from a position near the broadcast transmitter site, essentially jammingRadio jamming
Radio jamming is the transmission of radio signals that disrupt communications by decreasing the signal to noise ratio. Unintentional jamming occurs when an operator transmits on a busy frequency without first checking whether it is in use, or without being able to hear stations using the frequency...
the original signal. The input stage of a cheap video sender can produce the right kind of signal. A low-power microwave signal generator or a homemade equivalent from easily available components provides the signal (which is pointed at the receiving dish antenna). Most larger stations encrypt their signal, in which case one would just jam the signal, as is the case with digital. Most TV and radio stations are extremely vulnerable, but lack of knowledge has kept this from being a problem.
United States
According to the Federal Communications CommissionFederal Communications Commission
The Federal Communications Commission is an independent agency of the United States government, created, Congressional statute , and with the majority of its commissioners appointed by the current President. The FCC works towards six goals in the areas of broadband, competition, the spectrum, the...
, the original penalties of signal hijacking were $100,000 in fines and/or one year in prison until late 1987 or early 1988, when Congress
United States Congress
The United States Congress is the bicameral legislature of the federal government of the United States, consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives. The Congress meets in the United States Capitol in Washington, D.C....
passed a bill that would penalize violators with fines peaking to $250,000 and/or a maximum of 10 years in prison if convicted. Those who engage in such acts are often referred to as "video pirates" or "video hackers". Hijacking a signal of any kind is a felony in the United States.
Captain Midnight on HBO
North American Eastern Time Zone
The Eastern Time Zone of the United States and Canada is a time zone that falls mostly along the east coast of North America. Its UTC time offset is −5 hrs during standard time and −4 hrs during daylight saving time...
on April 27, 1986, HBO (Home Box Office) had its satellite signal fed from its operations center on Long Island
Long Island
Long Island is an island located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of New York, just east of Manhattan. Stretching northeast into the Atlantic Ocean, Long Island contains four counties, two of which are boroughs of New York City , and two of which are mainly suburban...
in Hauppauge, New York
Hauppauge, New York
Hauppauge is a hamlet and CDP in the Town of Islip and the Town of Smithtown in Suffolk County, New York, United States. The population of the CDP was 20,100 at the time of the 2000 census....
interrupted by a man calling himself "Captain Midnight". The interruption occurred during a presentation of The Falcon and the Snowman
The Falcon and the Snowman
The Falcon and the Snowman is a 1985 film directed by John Schlesinger about two young American men, Christopher Boyce and Daulton Lee , who sold U.S. security secrets to the Soviet Union...
. The intrusion lasted between 4 and 5 minutes and was seen by viewers along the East Coast. The man, who during the interruption also threatened to hijack the signals of Showtime and The Movie Channel
The Movie Channel
The Movie Channel is an American premium channel owned by Showtime Networks, Inc., a subsidiary of CBS Corporation, which shows mostly movies, as well as special behind-the-scenes features, softcore adult erotica and movie trivia....
, was later caught and identified as John R. MacDougall of Ocala, Florida
Ocala, Florida
Ocala is a city in Marion County, Florida. As of 2007, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau was 53,491. It is the county seat of Marion County, and the principal city of the Ocala, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area, which had an estimated 2007 population of 324,857.-History:Ocala...
. He was prosecuted shortly thereafter. Authorities were tipped off by a man from Wisconsin
Wisconsin
Wisconsin is a U.S. state located in the north-central United States and is part of the Midwest. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake Michigan to the east, Michigan to the northeast, and Lake Superior to the north. Wisconsin's capital is...
in a phone booth at a rest area
Rest area
A rest area, travel plaza, rest stop, or service area is a public facility, located next to a large thoroughfare such as a highway, expressway, or freeway at which drivers and passengers can rest, eat, or refuel without exiting on to secondary roads...
off Interstate 75
Interstate 75
Interstate 75 is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the Great Lakes and Southeastern regions of the United States. It travels from State Road 826 and State Road 924 in Hialeah, Florida to Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan, at the Ontario, Canada, border...
in Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the largest city in, and the county seat of, Alachua County, Florida, United States as well as the principal city of the Gainesville, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area . The preliminary 2010 Census population count for Gainesville is 124,354. Gainesville is home to the sixth...
. The man filing the report said that he overheard MacDougall bragging about it.
MacDougall's guilt was confirmed by an FCC investigation that showed he was alone at Central Florida Teleport at the time of the incident and a recording of the jamming video showed that the text was generated by a character generator
Character generator
A character generator, often abbreviated as CG, is a device or software that produces static or animated text for keying into a video stream. Modern character generators are computer-based, and can generate graphics as well as text...
at that location. He was charged with transmitting without a radio license in violation of 47 USC 301. MacDougall pleaded guilty and was fined $5,000 and served a year probation. Ambiguity about whether the 47 USC 301 charge was applicable since the transmitter had a license resulted in the passage of 18 USC 1367 which made satellite jamming a felony
Felony
A felony is a serious crime in the common law countries. The term originates from English common law where felonies were originally crimes which involved the confiscation of a convicted person's land and goods; other crimes were called misdemeanors...
.
MacDougall was able to perform the intrusion while working a second job as a master control operator at a satellite teleport in Florida, where he worked to make ends meet due to declining income from his satellite TV equipment business. He stated that he did it because he was frustrated with HBO's service rates, and that it was hurting his business selling satellite dishes (hence his second job at the teleport). The message, placed over SMPTE color bars
SMPTE color bars
The SMPTE color bars are a type of television test pattern, and is most commonly used in countries where the NTSC video standard is dominant, such as those in North America. The Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers refers to this test pattern as Engineering Guideline EG 1-1990...
, broadcast by MacDougall read:
Religious takeover
In September 1987, Playboy TVPlayboy TV
Playboy TV is a premium monthly subscription television channel. Since its launch in 1982 in partnership with Cablevision which eventually sold their share back to Playboy, Playboy TV has become a leading entertainment channel for adult entertainment...
(then known as the Playboy Channel), based on the popular adult magazine
Playboy
Playboy is an American men's magazine that features photographs of nude women as well as journalism and fiction. It was founded in Chicago in 1953 by Hugh Hefner and his associates, and funded in part by a $1,000 loan from Hefner's mother. The magazine has grown into Playboy Enterprises, Inc., with...
, had its signal hijacked by a man later identified as Thomas Haynie who was employed by the Christian Broadcasting Network
Christian Broadcasting Network
The Christian Broadcasting Network, or CBN, is a fundamentalist Christian television broadcasting network in the United States. Its headquarters and main studios are in Virginia Beach, Virginia.-Background:...
. He was indicted for a violation of 18 USC 1367 (satellite jamming). In a week long trial in Norfolk VA evidence was produced by the prosecutor that showed that both the character generator and the transmitter at CBN matched the tape recording of the jamming. Haynie was convicted, sentenced to probation, and was suspended from his duties under the new provisions.
Max Headroom incident
On November 22, 1987, an unidentified man wearing a Max HeadroomMax Headroom (character)
Max Headroom is a fictional British artificial intelligence, known for his wit and stuttering, distorted, electronically sampled voice. The character was created by George Stone, Annabel Jankel, and Rocky Morton in the mid nineteen eighties, and portrayed by Matt Frewer as "The World's first...
mask intercepted the signals of two television stations in Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
. Independent station
Independent station
An independent station is in the category of television terminology used to describe a television station broadcasting in the United States or Canada that is not affiliated with any television network....
WGN-TV
WGN-TV
WGN-TV, virtual channel 9 , is the CW-affiliated television station in Chicago, Illinois built, signed on, and owned by the Tribune Company. WGN-TV's studios and offices are located at 2501 W...
(now a CW
The CW Television Network
The CW Television Network is a television network in the United States launched at the beginning of the 2006–2007 television season. It is a joint venture between CBS Corporation, the former owners of United Paramount Network , and Time Warner's Warner Bros., former majority owner of The WB...
affiliate), owned by Tribune Company
Tribune Company
The Tribune Company is a large American multimedia corporation based in Chicago, Illinois. It is the nation's second-largest newspaper publisher, with ten daily newspapers and commuter tabloids including Chicago Tribune, Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Orlando Sentinel, South Florida...
, was hijacked first. Its signal was hijacked during the sports report on its 9:00 pm newscast for about 25 seconds. Then came PBS
Public Broadcasting Service
The Public Broadcasting Service is an American non-profit public broadcasting television network with 354 member TV stations in the United States which hold collective ownership. Its headquarters is in Arlington, Virginia....
station WTTW
WTTW
WTTW channel 11 is one of three Public Broadcasting Service member public television stations serving the Chicago, Illinois market; the others are WYCC and WYIN. WTTW began broadcasting on September 6, 1955 and it is owned and operated by Window to the World Communications, Inc., a not-for-profit...
, where the man was seen and heard uttering garbled remarks before dropping his trousers
Trousers
Trousers are an item of clothing worn on the lower part of the body from the waist to the ankles, covering both legs separately...
, and was then spanked with a flyswatter before the screen went black. The interception occurred at about 11:00 pm during an episode of Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
entitled Horror of Fang Rock
Horror of Fang Rock
Horror of Fang Rock is a serial in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who, which was first broadcast in four weekly parts from 3 September to 24 September 1977.-Synopsis:...
and lasted almost 90 seconds. To this day, none of the individuals responsible for the intrusion have been identified. This incident got the attention of the CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News
CBS Evening News is the flagship nightly television news program of the American television network CBS. The network has broadcast this program since 1948, and has used the CBS Evening News title since 1963....
the next day and was talked about nationwide. The HBO incident was also mentioned in the same news report, presented by Frank Currier
Frank Currier
Frank Currier was an American actor and director of the silent era. He appeared in 133 films between 1912 and 1928. He also directed 19 films in 1916...
.
"Telewizja Solidarność" (TV Solidarity)
In September 1985, four astronomers at Poland's University of Torun, Zygmunt Turlo, Leszek Zaleski, Piotr Lukaszewski and Jan Hanasz, used a home computer, a synchronizing circuit, and a transmitter to superimpose messages in support of the labor movement Solidarność (Solidarity) over state-run television broadcasts in Torun. The messages read "Enough price increases, lies, and repressions. Solidarity Torun" and "It is our duty to boycott the electionElection boycott
An election boycott is the boycotting of an election by a group of voters, each of whom abstains from voting.Boycotting may be used as a form of political protest where voters feel that electoral fraud is likely, or that the electoral system is biased against its candidates, or that the polity...
" with the Solidarity logo. The four men were eventually discovered and were charged with "possession of an unlicensed radio transmitter and publication of materials that could cause public unrest". At their sentencing, the judge noted their prize winning work in the Polish scientific community and gave each of them probation and a fine of the equivalent of US$100 each (or 3,000,000 old zlotys, now just 300 PLN
Polish zloty
The złoty , which literally means "golden", is the currency of Poland. The modern złoty is subdivided into 100 groszy . The recognized English form of the word is zloty, plural zloty or zlotys...
).
The era of Soviet pirate broadcasting
According to numerous claims, memoirs and witness reports, broadcast signal intrusion was a common practice in the USSR during the 1970s and 1980s, due to the absence of and high demand for any non-government broadcasting. Hijackers would overpower the signal on relay stationsAirborne radio relay
Airborne radio relay is a technique employing aircraft fitted with radio relay stations for the purpose of increasing the range, flexibility, or physical security of communications systems.-Use in Vietnam:...
for wired radio networks in order to transmit their own programming, or transmit into wired radio networks during gaps in normal programming. Even though the incidents appear to have been fairly common, few of them were publicly reported for policy reasons.
2006 Lebanon War
During the 2006 Lebanon War, Israel overrode the satellite transmission of Hezbollah's Al Manar TV to broadcast anti-Hezbollah propagandaPropaganda
Propaganda is a form of communication that is aimed at influencing the attitude of a community toward some cause or position so as to benefit oneself or one's group....
. One spot showed Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah
Hassan Nasrallah
Hasan Nasrallah, became the third Secretary General of the Lebanese political and paramilitary organization Hezbollah after Israel assassinated the previous leader, Abbas al-Musawi, in 1992. Hezbollah in its entirety is considered a terrorist organization by The United States, the Netherlands,...
with crosshairs superimposed on him followed by three gunshots and a voice saying "Your day is coming" and shots of the Israeli Air Force
Israeli Air Force
The Israeli Air Force is the air force of the State of Israel and the aerial arm of the Israel Defense Forces. It was founded on May 28, 1948, shortly after the Israeli Declaration of Independence...
destroying targets in Lebanon
Lebanon
Lebanon , officially the Republic of LebanonRepublic of Lebanon is the most common term used by Lebanese government agencies. The term Lebanese Republic, a literal translation of the official Arabic and French names that is not used in today's world. Arabic is the most common language spoken among...
.
Other incidents
In November 1977, a hoax audio message, purporting to come from outer space, was broadcast during an ITN news bulletin on Southern TelevisionSouthern Television
Southern Television was the first ITV broadcasting licence holder for the south and south-east of England from 30 August 1958 until the night of 31 December 1981. The company was launched as Southern Television Limited and the title Southern Television was consistently used on-air throughout its life...
in the UK. The intrusion did not affect the video signal but replaced the programme audio with warnings as to the destiny of the human race and a disaster to affect "your world and the beings on other worlds around you." The IBA confirmed that it was the first time such a hoax transmission had been made.
In 2002, Falun Gong
Falun Gong
Falun Gong is a spiritual discipline first introduced in China in 1992 by its founder, Li Hongzhi, through public lectures. It combines the practice of meditation and slow-moving qigong exercises with the moral philosophy...
practitioners claimed to have broken into CCTV
China Central Television
China Central Television or Chinese Central Television, commonly abbreviated as CCTV, is the major state television broadcaster in mainland China. CCTV has a network of 19 channels broadcasting different programmes and is accessible to more than one billion viewers...
, the major television broadcaster in Mainland China, and other local stations in China to broadcast Falun Gong propaganda.
On January 3, 2007 in Australia, during a broadcast of an episode of the Canadian television series Mayday
Mayday (TV series)
Mayday, also known as Air Crash Investigation in the United Kingdom, Australia and Asia and Air Emergency and Air Disasters in the United States, is a Canadian documentary television programme produced by Cineflix investigating air crashes, near-crashes and other disasters...
on the Seven Network
Seven Network
The Seven Network is an Australian television network owned by Seven West Media Limited. It dates back to 4 November 1956, when the first stations on the VHF7 frequency were established in Melbourne and Sydney.It is currently the second largest network in the country in terms of population reach...
, an audio loop unexpectedly started playing, clearly saying in an American accent, “Jesus Christ, help us all, Lord”. This same voice message continued to repeat itself over and over during the show for a total of six minutes. A spokesman for Seven later denied that the transmission was a prank or a security breach and claimed that the repeated line was actually part of the original broadcast and said, “Jesus Christ one of the Nazarenes”, although there is hardly any similarity between the two phrases. Subsequent investigation by independent researchers revealed that the invading transmission was actually from a video taped news broadcast of a civilian truck being ambushed in Iraq. It remains unknown whether or not this was an intentional act of television piracy or a genuine glitch of some sort.
On June 17, 2007, an intrusion incident occurred on Czech Television
Czech television
Czech television may refer to:*Television in the Czech Republic*Česká televize...
's Sunday morning programme Panorama, which shows panoramic shots of Prague
Prague
Prague is the capital and largest city of the Czech Republic. Situated in the north-west of the country on the Vltava river, the city is home to about 1.3 million people, while its metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of over 2.3 million...
and various locations across the country
Czech Republic
The Czech Republic is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Poland to the northeast, Slovakia to the east, Austria to the south, and Germany to the west and northwest....
, especially mountain resorts. One of the cameras, located in Černý Důl
Černý Důl
Černý Důl is a market town and municipality in Trutnov District in the Hradec Králové Region of the Czech Republic. -Notes:...
in Krkonoše, had been tampered with on-site and its video stream was replaced with the hackers' own, which contained CGI
Computer-generated imagery
Computer-generated imagery is the application of the field of computer graphics or, more specifically, 3D computer graphics to special effects in art, video games, films, television programs, commercials, simulators and simulation generally, and printed media...
of a small nuclear explosion in the local landscape, ending in white noise
White noise
White noise is a random signal with a flat power spectral density. In other words, the signal contains equal power within a fixed bandwidth at any center frequency...
. The broadcast looked authentic enough; the only clue for the viewers was the Web address of the artist group Ztohoven
Ztohoven
Ztohoven is an award-winning Czech guerrilla artist collective known for its pranks. The best known of these pranks – and the one which led to six of its members being prosecuted – was the June 17, 2007 "Media Reality" incident, in which they hacked into a weather forecast being broadcast on Česká...
, which had already performed several reality hacking incidents before. Czech Television is currently considering legal action against the group, and tourism workers in the area have expressed their outrage (since the programme serves to promote tourism in the areas shown).
On July 13, 2007, a grainy photo of a man and woman interrupted Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
affiliate WJLA's digital or HD
High-definition television
High-definition television is video that has resolution substantially higher than that of traditional television systems . HDTV has one or two million pixels per frame, roughly five times that of SD...
signal. The picture was not transmitted over the analog signal, however. The incident was deemed a genuine signal intrusion by various websites but has since been confirmed to be the result of an older HDTV encoder
Encoder
An encoder is a device, circuit, transducer, software program, algorithm or person that converts information from one format or code to another, for the purposes of standardization, speed, secrecy, security, or saving space by shrinking size.-Media:...
malfunctioning in the early morning hours and going undetected. Station management stated that the image was from an advertisement for The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show
The Oprah Winfrey Show is an American syndicated talk show hosted and produced by its namesake Oprah Winfrey. It ran nationally for 25 seasons beginning in 1986, before concluding in 2011. It is the highest-rated talk show in American television history....
.
Radio
It is a more frequent event to intrude on various radio stations, as many simply rebroadcast a signal received from another radio station. All that is required is an FM transmitter that can overpower the same frequency as the station being rebroadcast. Other methods that have been used in North America to intrude on legal broadcasts include breaking into the transmitter area and splicing audio directly into the feed.Cable television
As a cable televisionCable television
Cable television is a system of providing television programs to consumers via radio frequency signals transmitted to televisions through coaxial cables or digital light pulses through fixed optical fibers located on the subscriber's property, much like the over-the-air method used in traditional...
operator connects itself in the signal path between individual stations and the system's subscribers, broadcasters have fallen victim to signal tampering on cable systems on multiple occasions:
On May 1, 2007, Comcast
Comcast
Comcast Corporation is the largest cable operator, home Internet service provider, and fourth largest home telephone service provider in the United States, providing cable television, broadband Internet, and telephone service to both residential and commercial customers in 39 states and the...
replaced the Disney Channel
Disney Channel
Disney Channel is an American basic cable and satellite television network, owned by the Disney-ABC Television Group division of The Walt Disney Company. It is under the direction of Disney-ABC Television Group President Anne Sweeney. The channel's headquarters is located on West Alameda Ave. in...
's program Handy Manny
Handy Manny
Handy Manny is a Disney animated children's television program that premiered on September 16, 2006. The program was originally part of the Playhouse Disney daily block intended for preschoolers...
with hard-core pornography
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
for viewers in Lincroft, New Jersey
Lincroft, New Jersey
Lincroft is a part of Middletown Township, in Monmouth County, New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States Census, the Lincroft census-designated place had a population was 6,135.-Geography:Lincroft is located at ....
. Comcast's response to the ensuing complaints claimed "We are continuing to investigate the root cause of the incident." The incident remains unresolved.
On February 1, 2009, Comcast in Tucson, Arizona
Tucson, Arizona
Tucson is a city in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona, United States. The city is located 118 miles southeast of Phoenix and 60 miles north of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 2010 United States Census puts the city's population at 520,116 with a metropolitan area population at 1,020,200...
replaced NBC
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network and former radio network headquartered in the GE Building in New York City's Rockefeller Center with additional major offices near Los Angeles and in Chicago...
affiliate KVOA
KVOA
KVOA is a full-service NBC-affiliated television station serving Tucson, Arizona. It broadcasts in digital on UHF channel 23 from its transmitter on Mount Bigelow, northeast of Tucson. Per FCC regulations, the station identifies itself on television tuners as channel 4 through PSIP...
's signal with graphic footage from the pornographic
Pornography
Pornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
video Wild Cherries 5 in portions of Arizona
Arizona
Arizona ; is a state located in the southwestern region of the United States. It is also part of the western United States and the mountain west. The capital and largest city is Phoenix...
for ten seconds, interrupting Super Bowl XLIII
Super Bowl XLIII
Super Bowl XLIII was an American football game pitting the American Football Conference champion Pittsburgh Steelers against the National Football Conference champion Arizona Cardinals to decide the National Football League champion for the 2008 season. The game was played on February 1, 2009,...
between the Arizona Cardinals
Arizona Cardinals
The Arizona Cardinals are a professional American football team based in Glendale, Arizona, a suburb of Phoenix. They are currently members of the Western Division of the National Football Conference in the National Football League...
and the Pittsburgh Steelers
Pittsburgh Steelers
The Pittsburgh Steelers are a professional football team based in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. The team currently belongs to the North Division of the American Football Conference in the National Football League . Founded in , the Steelers are the oldest franchise in the AFC...
during the fourth quarter. Comcast claimed "Our initial investigation suggests this was an isolated malicious act. We are conducting a thorough investigation to determine who was behind this." KVOA also announced that it will be investigating the incident. On February 4, 2011, former Cox Cable employee Frank Tanori Gonzalez was arrested by the FBI in relation to the case.
In fiction
Broadcast signal intrusion is used as a plot devicePlot device
A plot device is an object or character in a story whose sole purpose is to advance the plot of the story, or alternatively to overcome some difficulty in the plot....
in many genres of fiction
Fiction
Fiction is the form of any narrative or informative work that deals, in part or in whole, with information or events that are not factual, but rather, imaginary—that is, invented by the author. Although fiction describes a major branch of literary work, it may also refer to theatrical,...
. Common fictional usages of the act include the depictions of technologically advanced space aliens
Extraterrestrial life
Extraterrestrial life is defined as life that does not originate from Earth...
or countercultural
Counterculture
Counterculture is a sociological term used to describe the values and norms of behavior of a cultural group, or subculture, that run counter to those of the social mainstream of the day, the cultural equivalent of political opposition. Counterculture can also be described as a group whose behavior...
figures hijacking broadcast media in order to easily spread their messages to the general population, notably in the 2006 film V for Vendetta
V for Vendetta
V for Vendetta is a ten-issue comic book series written by Alan Moore and illustrated mostly by David Lloyd, set in a dystopian future United Kingdom imagined from the 1980s to about the 1990s. A mysterious masked revolutionary who calls himself "V" works to destroy the totalitarian government,...
, where it served as a major plot device. The opening sequence to the science-fiction series The Outer Limits
The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)
The Outer Limits is an American television series that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1965. The series is similar in style to the earlier The Twilight Zone, but with a greater emphasis on science fiction, rather than fantasy stories...
claimed to be another example, with its famous line, "Do not attempt to adjust your television set...We are controlling the transmission." In parody
Parody
A parody , in current usage, is an imitative work created to mock, comment on, or trivialise an original work, its subject, author, style, or some other target, by means of humorous, satiric or ironic imitation...
(such as the 1980 theatrical films Used Cars
Used Cars
Used Cars is a 1980 comedy satire film. It stars Kurt Russell, Jack Warden , Deborah Harmon, and Gerrit Graham.Kurt Russell portrays a devious car salesman working for affable but monumentally unsuccessful used car dealer Luke Fuchs . Luke's principal rival, located directly across the street, is...
and Simon
Simon (1980 film)
Simon is a 1980 American comedy film. It was directed by Marshall Brickman and stars Alan Arkin.- Plot summary :The Institute for Advanced Concepts, a group of scientists with an unlimited budget and a propensity for elaborate pranks, brainwash a psychology professor named Simon Mendelssohn who was...
, and "Weird Al" Yankovic
"Weird Al" Yankovic
Alfred Matthew "Weird Al" Yankovic is an American singer-songwriter, music producer, accordionist, actor, comedian, writer, satirist, and parodist. Yankovic is known for his humorous songs that make light of popular culture and that often parody specific songs by contemporary musical acts...
's 1989 film UHF
UHF (film)
UHF is a 1989 American comedy film starring "Weird Al" Yankovic, David Bowe, Fran Drescher, Victoria Jackson, Kevin McCarthy, Michael Richards, Gedde Watanabe, Billy Barty, Anthony Geary, Emo Philips and Trinidad Silva, in whose memory the film is dedicated.The title refers to Ultra High Frequency...
), broadcast interception may be used to comic effect as a tool to discredit on-air broadcast personalities by interrupting them with rebuttal or simply as a means to broadcast nonsense
Nonsense
Nonsense is a communication, via speech, writing, or any other symbolic system, that lacks any coherent meaning. Sometimes in ordinary usage, nonsense is synonymous with absurdity or the ridiculous...
in place of mainstream programming.
In the Doctor Who
Doctor Who
Doctor Who is a British science fiction television programme produced by the BBC. The programme depicts the adventures of a time-travelling humanoid alien known as the Doctor who explores the universe in a sentient time machine called the TARDIS that flies through time and space, whose exterior...
episode "Day of the Moon
Day of the Moon
"Day of the Moon" is the second episode of the sixth series of the British science fiction television series Doctor Who. Written by show runner Steven Moffat, and directed by Toby Haynes, the episode was first broadcast on 30 April 2011 on BBC One in the United Kingdom and on BBC America in the...
", The Doctor helps humanity defeat an alien occupation by The Silence
Silence (Doctor Who)
The Silence is a fictional religious order or movement in the British science fiction television series Doctor Who.Executive producer Steven Moffat created the Silence, intending them to be "scarier" than past villains in Doctor Who...
. Humans cannot retain any memories of The Silence, except for post-hypnotic suggestions being used to control human history. The Doctor hijacks the live feed from Apollo 11. A video clip of an injured Silent claiming "You should kill us all on sight" appeared during Armstrong's first steps on the Moon, between the lines "One small step for man" and "One giant leap for mankind".
External links
- CBS News report on Max Headroom Chicago Takeover at YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- Broadcast intrusion on Czech Television by Ztohoven (Flash video; accompanying text in CzechCzech languageCzech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
) - Statement made by art group ZTOHOVEN regarding their attack at the public service broadcaster in the Czech Republic
- An artistic group interfered with the Czech TV broadcast with fictitious nuclear explosion
- Video of the "Telewizja Solidarność" signal intrusions at YouTubeYouTubeYouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
- Polish Tv pirate