Christopher Tarnovsky, smartcard programmer, gives a fascinating insider account of his years in the cloak-and-dagger world of satellite TV piracy. Tarnovsky began as a satellite pirate himself before being hired by a DirecTV contractor to develop anti-piracy electronic countermeasures; he was allegedly responsible for the "Black Sunday" attack on DirecTV pirates. [more inside]
posted by whir on May 31, 2008 - 13 comments

Watch Iran's new media coup, Press TV, online and take a look at its news website.
posted by hoder on Jul 4, 2007 - 35 comments

I noticed tonight that my Dish TV basic-subscription service no longer offers MSNBC and suddenly does offer FOX News. Strange indeed, but the bigger issue methinks is a potential plus in that a la carte programming may be on its way soon. Great, you say, right? Perhaps not -- because if you only pay for what you get, that means that the little guys (like Link TV, the RFD network and Free Speech TV) likely face a big honkin' challenge in being visible and thus viable. So. Given that...do we really want pay-per-channel programming? Or is this just a moot point considering that "convergence" is creeping ever so closer?
posted by diastematic on Dec 16, 2005 - 53 comments

Bridges TV was launched today and plans to "celebrate the American Muslim lifestyle and culture". Unlike satelite channels Al Jazeera and Al Arabiya, Bridges TV plans to focus on English-speaking American Muslim youth rather than their parents. So what kind of cheesy programming can you look forward to? "One show features a Muslim newspaper reporter named Jinnah who solves whodunits. A soap opera explores the melodrama of a Muslim father confronted with his daughter's desire to marry a non-Muslim." It should be noted that Al Jazeera plans to launch an English-language channel in 2005.
posted by exhilaration on Nov 30, 2004 - 4 comments

beam me up! the ultimatetv thread made me wonder which satellite TV system would be best for me (and why is directTV evil?) -- anyway with this gadget you can watch DISH channels plus upload AND download via satellite IP. too good to be true?
posted by subpixel on Jan 8, 2001 - 12 comments