Dominican Cable Providers Steal the Signal

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
33,997
83
0
Many cable companies steal satellite signals, top official warns

Santo Domingo.- National Copyright Office (Onda) director Marino Feliz Terrero on Thursday revealed a high number of copyright violations, related to satellite signals for programs across the country.

He said Onda works in all provinces to halt the practice, where a high number of TV cable service providers operate illegally and cannot obtain contracts or permits as legal suppliers, called signal source producer entities.

The official called on the Dominican Telecomm Institute (INDOTEL) to define the legal status of those companies, since Dominican Republic assumed major commitments by signing the U.S.-Central America-Dominican Republic (CAFTA-DR) free trade agreement.

this is in direct contravention of WTO and CAFTA agreements. funny how the government does nothing about it.
 

drSix

Silver
Oct 13, 2013
1,323
0
36
Yea, that's funny. We just got cable hooked up in Sosua, and every once in a while the channel would go out and the Dish Network 'Searching for Signal' message would pop up. I was curious, now I know!
 

the gorgon

Platinum
Sep 16, 2010
33,997
83
0
Yea, that's funny. We just got cable hooked up in Sosua, and every once in a while the channel would go out and the Dish Network 'Searching for Signal' message would pop up. I was curious, now I know!

the searching for signal interval is the time between the signal being lost, and the tech guy coming over to hack some codes.
 
Apr 13, 2011
680
0
0
Yea, that's funny. We just got cable hooked up in Sosua, and every once in a while the channel would go out and the Dish Network 'Searching for Signal' message would pop up. I was curious, now I know!

This was my suspicion as well whenever the "searching for signal" message came up on my cable tv subscription (not satellite) - so I had a feeling the cable company was hacking in to some satellite signals...
 

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
42,211
5,966
113
Yes JD, that is precisely what my point is. As long as there is enough bandwidth from the server, there are no dropouts from the card sharing over the internet. When more people are sharing than the system can respond to, you get freezes and dropouts.
 

Ken

Platinum
Jan 1, 2002
13,884
495
83
the searching for signal interval is the time between the signal being lost, and the tech guy coming over to hack some codes.

But why do these signal searches generally occur when it starts to rain. It starts to there are a number of US channels, like CNN, Fox, ESPN that go off while many other channels, even from the US, such as HDN stay on the air.

I've been thinking all along that the deterioration in the weather was what caused the loss of the signal
 

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
42,211
5,966
113
But why do these signal searches generally occur when it starts to rain. It starts to there are a number of US channels, like CNN, Fox, ESPN that go off while many other channels, even from the US, such as HDN stay on the air.

I've been thinking all along that the deterioration in the weather was what caused the loss of the signal

One of the two US satellites has a stronger signal than the other. The pirates have to get larger dishes to overcome the rain fade.
 

donP

Newbie
Dec 14, 2008
6,942
178
0
Ku-Band and C-Band

But why do these signal searches generally occur when it starts to rain. It starts to there are a number of US channels, like CNN, Fox, ESPN that go off while many other channels, even from the US, such as HDN stay on the air.

Signal strength and signal quality mainly depend on the satellite and transponder a channel is on.
With a well aligned, good quality 6-ft dish you can get almost 100% quality for many US channels and only heavy downpours would bring the signal down (to pixeling and going off).

Recently I put up a fine Master Channel dish for C-band in order to capture the "Deutsche Welle" on Intelsat 21 (58 degr. West) which can be received as an FTA channel and legally free. :)
Because of our position in the satellite's footprint the signal quality only reaches about 70% max., but is fairly stable even in cloudy weather.
Needs tweaking, I suppose...


donP
 
Last edited:

windeguy

Platinum
Jul 10, 2004
42,211
5,966
113
donP brings up a good point. No matter what size the dish is, (and size does matter), it could also be the quality of the dish as well as the alignment. With improper alignment, the signal could fade in a drizzle (and once again you would get DRopouts!) .
 
Feb 7, 2007
8,005
625
113
There are some agreements where channels agree that the DR cable provider uses their feed from Dish as a transmission route. With all paperwork included. There are some stations that cannot be otherwise had coverage-wise in the DR.

THe signal may go out during heavy rains but the cable operator should have at least 6ft dish antenna for this to minimize signal downtime.