Engineer Denies ‘Moral’ Piracy

A Christian Broadcasting Network engineer pleaded innocent today to charges of using CBN equipment to send religious messages over the Playboy Channel and another cable operation.

Thomas Haynie, 38, is charged with satellite piracy in a six-count federal indictment returned April 26. He is alleged to have substituted unauthorized messages over the Playboy Channel and Home Dish Only, on or about the evening of Sept. 6, 1987.

The printed message, allegedly transmitted about two minutes apart over the cable channels, stated: “Thus sayeth the Lord thy God. Remember the Sabbath, and keep it holy. Repent, the kingdom of God is at hand!”

Officials say the evangelical messages preempted a soft-porn movie on the Playboy Channel and an unidentified show on Home Dish Only, a New York-based firm that bought its programming. The interruption lasted 10 seconds.