Is FTA really legal

[RonnieB]

I recently got a Fortec Lifetime Ultra and hooked it up to my DishNetwork dish while I was waiting for my Winegard 76 to arrive. I was able to get NASA, Angel One, Gol TV and music. What I've read basically says that since these things are not encrypted then it's ok to watch/listen. But I got to thinking about the music. I have Dish's AT 60 package which doesn't include music. If DishNetwork didn't mind everyone listening for free then why wouldn't they include it in the AT60 package. I guess what I'm getting at is this - Is it really legal for me to listen or watch stuff just because its not encrypted.

Sorry if this has been covered before.

Thanks guys.

 

[PSB]

Hello and WELCOME to the satellitGuys.US FTA Forum

The above channels are "In The Clear" and so are 100% legal to pick up with your receiver. If Dish wanted they would simply encrypt them, thats the deal with FTA satellite. You take what you get, while you can : )

If it were not totally legal it would not be mentioned here. The real fun starts when you get your big dish and a KU LNBF!

 

[mbutts]

You can think of FTA like backhaul feeds on c and ku band, if the networks want to, they just throw a switch and encript the channel. (and sometimes in the middle of a feed they will encript it) Some friends of mine watched the CMT awards last week on one of the telstar sats on c band. If they wanted to, they could of encripted it so I wouldnt worry about it.

 

[iammike]

It seems like I remember reading somewhere that the Supreme Court ruled back in the 80's or 90's that unencrypted signals were fair game. Can't really remember the specifics, but FTA is definitely legal.

Nice to see a question like this rather than the hacker questions that Iceberg routinely swats into oblivion.

 

[Mr Tony]

welcome

Yes the above are non-encrypted. I too do not have the audio channels on my subscribe Dish receiver but can get them with FTA

I think part of it is it takes more bandwidth on the satellite to encrypt the channels. When Sirius first came on Dish, it was free too (then Dish caught on and scrambled them)

ExpressVu in Canada we use to have 45 music channels (Galaxie...like Dish CD channels) for 4 years, and then they got scrambled

 

[Texanmutt]

There are legal untill Iceberg finds you talking about the 100 and 119 sat.

 

[TNGTony]

110/and 119 are fine if you are just looking for NASA, Angel 1 or the Muzak audio channels. They are FTA. Nothing illegal about picking them up. But asking about how to get anything that is encrypted is where the line is drawn!

See ya
Tony

 

[Mr Tony]

There are legal untill Iceberg finds you talking about the 100 and 119 sat.

nope. AS TNGTony said, as long as it isn't one fo the non encrypted stuff
-NASA
-Angel One
-Dish 101
-Music channels
-Gol TV

I'm OK with it

In fact I just rescanned 110 & 119 since some of the free channels moved transponders

 

[Tron]

In fact I just rescanned 110 & 119 since some of the free channels moved transponders

Oh, no, not again...

Everytime they move the radio channels around I have to rescan those birds. Talk about time-consuming!!! And I have a Pansat 2700 with the infamous duplicate channel problem... Oh well. Can't complain since its free

 

[rkrenicki]

sup, ima n00b, an i dont know what im doin.. how do i get the good stuff wit my pansat 3500, i hooked it up to my uber dish500, and i dont know what to do.

someone told me i need to get an upload or sumfin?

Just kidding ice

 

[Mr Tony]

Oh, no, not again...

Everytime they move the radio channels around I have to rescan those birds. Talk about time-consuming!!! And I have a Pansat 2700 with the infamous duplicate channel problem... Oh well. Can't complain since its free

no the radio channels didnt move. I think most of the free stuff on 110 TP22 moved to TP23...thats all

I accidentally nuked my channels on my KUSat, so I had to log in 110 & 119 from scratch....damn "delete all"

 

[Mr Tony]

Just kidding ice

ya gotta do it right man

its gotta start with
-I'm new to FTA
-I don't know what I'm doing
-I just got this new ______________

 

[rkrenicki]

oh sorry, ima n00b