Scramblers/Descramblers Getting Good Reception

Ignoring last month’s cryptic message from a high-tech prankster who successfully disrupted Home Box Office’s programming, Showtime/The Movie Channel on Tuesday successfully scrambled its cable-television programming, confounding viewers who previously had used satellite dishes to receive its programs for free.

More than 20 programmers will utilize a scrambling and descrambling system developed and operated by M/A-Com Corp.’s Video Products Group in San Diego. They include HBO and Cinemax, which began scrambling in January, and ESPN, Cable News Network, Music Television and the Disney Channel, which will scramble later this year.

The message from “Captain Midnight,” which was seen by HBO customers during a late-night movie on April 27, warned that there was “no way” that satellite-equipped viewers would pay $12.95 a month to view Showtime/The Movie Channel offerings that they previously enjoyed at no cost.

M/A-Com, which has sold 11,000 satellite descramblers to pay-TV subscribers since introducing them in January, sees an immediate “potential of between 1.5 million and 2 million sales to owners of home dishes,” according to J. Lawrence Dunham, executive vice president of M/A-Com’s video products group.

However, sales could hit an “infinitely higher level” during coming years as consumers gain access to the next generation of satellite receiving technology, Dunham said. That growth will occur as satellite programmers commercialize the technology that will allow the use of smaller and less costly satellite dishes, Dunham said.

5 Million Devices

In addition to manufacturing the scrambling and descrambling devices, M/A-Com also operates a computer center in San Diego that activates in-home descramblers around the country. The center, which now can handle up to 1 million descramblers, can be upgraded to control more than 5 million of the devices, Dunham said. The center, which is scrambling and descrambling signals for HBO, Cinemax and Showtime/The Movie Channel, is the only “authorization center” in the country, said Dunham, who added that the facility could be geared up to handle about 240 satellite channels.

Although cable programmers devised the scrambling/descrambling system to protect their U.S. markets, M/A-Com has been contacted by satellite dish owners in Canada, Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, all of which receive programming beamed to the U.S. M/A-Com anticipates receiving U.S. government approval to ship commercial descrambling systems to foreign countries.

M/A-Com also has sold a commercial version of its scrambling/descrambling unit to CBS Television, which now scrambles its network news feeds to affiliate stations.

M/A-Com is marketing the more expensive scrambling and descrambling system to other network news operations as well as to networks that use satellites to beam audio and visual signals from sporting events to their studios. Backyard dishes can now grab those unscrambled signals.

Dunham predicted that scrambling will spread to other organizations that provide entertainment that is beamed via satellite. For example, major league sports teams could insist that cable-television companies turn to a scrambling system that would prevent unauthorized viewing of games.