Pirate television
Encyclopedia
A pirate television station is a broadcast television station that operates without a broadcast license
. Like its counterpart pirate radio
, the term pirate TV lacks a specific universal interpretation. It implies a form of broadcasting
that is unwelcome by the licensing authorities within the territory where its signals are received, especially when the country of transmission
is the same as the country of reception. When the area of transmission is not a country, or when it is a country and the transmissions are not illegal, those same broadcast signals may be deemed illegal in the country of reception. Therefore "pirate TV" can mean many things to many people. Pirate television station
s may also be known as "bootleg TV", or confused with licensed low-power broadcasting
(LPTV) or amateur television
ATV
services.
The first known pirate TV station in the U.S.A. aired for two nights in April 1978 in Syracuse, NY, on Channel 7. It was identified as "Lucky 7," and broadcast episodes of Star Trek
and the pornographic movie
Deep Throat
. The source of the transmission was not identified, but it was speculated in an article in the New York Times that the signal may have been transmitted from the area of Syracuse University, as the signal was strongest in that area.
During the 1980s large numbers of pirate TV stations operated in Italy, Greece, Spain and Israel. Subsequent legislation lead to the licensing of many of these stations and the closure of (most of) the remainder.
.
Broadcast license
A broadcast license or broadcast license is a specific type of spectrum license that grants the licensee the privilege to use a portion of the radio frequency spectrum in a given geographical area for broadcasting purposes. The licenses are generally straddled with additional restrictions that...
. Like its counterpart pirate radio
Pirate radio
Pirate radio is illegal or unregulated radio transmission. The term is most commonly used to describe illegal broadcasting for entertainment or political purposes, but is also sometimes used for illegal two-way radio operation...
, the term pirate TV lacks a specific universal interpretation. It implies a form of broadcasting
Broadcasting
Broadcasting is the distribution of audio and video content to a dispersed audience via any audio visual medium. Receiving parties may include the general public or a relatively large subset of thereof...
that is unwelcome by the licensing authorities within the territory where its signals are received, especially when the country of transmission
Transmission (telecommunications)
Transmission, in telecommunications, is the process of sending, propagating and receiving an analogue or digital information signal over a physical point-to-point or point-to-multipoint transmission medium, either wired, optical fiber or wireless...
is the same as the country of reception. When the area of transmission is not a country, or when it is a country and the transmissions are not illegal, those same broadcast signals may be deemed illegal in the country of reception. Therefore "pirate TV" can mean many things to many people. Pirate television station
Television station
A television station is a business, organisation or other such as an amateur television operator that transmits content over terrestrial television. A television transmission can be by analog television signals or, more recently, by digital television. Broadcast television systems standards are...
s may also be known as "bootleg TV", or confused with licensed low-power broadcasting
Low-power broadcasting
Low-power broadcasting is electronic broadcasting at very low power and low cost, to a small community area.The terms "low-power broadcasting" and "micropower broadcasting" should not be used interchangeably, because the markets are not the same...
(LPTV) or amateur television
Amateur television
Amateur television is the transmission of Broadcast quality video and audio over the wide range of frequencies of allocated for Radio amateur use. ATV is used for non-commercial experimentation, pleasure and public service events...
ATV
ATV
-In broadcasting:*Amateur television*Analog television*ATV , the NBC affiliate in Aruba.*ATV , Austrian TV station*ATV Home, major Cantonese-language TV station *ATV Jordan*ATV *ATV Madiun*ATV...
services.
History
Pirate Television stations are not as abundant in the U.S.A. or U.K as pirate radio stations are. Only since 2004 has the technology for pirate television stations become easier to obtain and construct, due to advances in technologies and the availability of equipment.The first known pirate TV station in the U.S.A. aired for two nights in April 1978 in Syracuse, NY, on Channel 7. It was identified as "Lucky 7," and broadcast episodes of Star Trek
Star Trek
Star Trek is an American science fiction entertainment franchise created by Gene Roddenberry. The core of Star Trek is its six television series: The Original Series, The Animated Series, The Next Generation, Deep Space Nine, Voyager, and Enterprise...
and the pornographic movie
Pornographic movie
Pornographic films are motion pictures with the purpose of promoting sexual arousal in the viewer, often featuring depictions of sexual activity. They are sold and rented out on DVD, shown through Internet and special channels and pay-per-view on cable and satellite, and in adult...
Deep Throat
Deep Throat (film)
Deep Throat is a 1972 American pornographic film written and directed by Gerard Damiano and produced by Louis Peraino and starring Linda Lovelace ....
. The source of the transmission was not identified, but it was speculated in an article in the New York Times that the signal may have been transmitted from the area of Syracuse University, as the signal was strongest in that area.
Known stations
- ABD TV - Pirate Children's TV station broadcating on UHF 32 in Chatswood Sydney Australia in 1996. They later changed to UHF 34 in 1997 and ceased transmission in 1999 after claiming that they received a warning by the Australian Broadcasting Authority.
- BB See - Sligo, Ireland. Operated during 2005 and 2006 broadcasting local events.
- Channel D Dublin, IrelandIrelandIreland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
(c. 1981) - Kanal X - Leipzig, Germany. Operated during the final days of the German Democratic RepublicGerman Democratic RepublicThe German Democratic Republic , informally called East Germany by West Germany and other countries, was a socialist state established in 1949 in the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, including East Berlin of the Allied-occupied capital city...
(East Germany). http://www.tranquileye.com/free/files/kanalx.txt http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vU_4ahjQBWo http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/3.12/meier_pr.html - Lanesville TV - Lanesville, New York, USA. Operated on VHF channel 3 by the video collective VideofreexVideofreexThe Videofreex were a pioneering video collective who used the Sony Portapak for countercultural video projects from 1969 to 1978. They were founded in 1969 by David Cort, Curtis Ratcliff and Parry Teasdale, after Cort and Teasdale met each other at the Woodstock Music Festival...
and broadcast on Saturdays from 1972 to 1977 (a total of 258 broadcasts). The collective and its station is detailed in Parry D. Teasdale's book Videofreex: America's First Pirate TV Station & the Catskills Collective That Turned It On. http://www.vdb.org/VIDEOFREEX.htmlhttp://www.mediaburn.org/Video-Preview.128.0.html?uid=4429 - LATELE - Barcelona, Spain - Operated on UHF channel 52.
- Lucky 7 - Syracuse, New YorkSyracuse, New YorkSyracuse is a city in and the county seat of Onondaga County, New York, United States, the largest U.S. city with the name "Syracuse", and the fifth most populous city in the state. At the 2010 census, the city population was 145,170, and its metropolitan area had a population of 742,603...
, USA. Operated for a two night period in April 1978 on VHF channel 7 - Network 21 - London, England - Broadcast for around 30 minutes on Friday evenings c. 1987
- New Stations Broadcasting Network - New York City, New York, USA. Intermittent series of broadcasts in Brooklyn, NY beginning in 2007 created by artist James Case Leal. In New York operates on UHF channel 17, but is also responsible for television programTelevision programA television program , also called television show, is a segment of content which is intended to be broadcast on television. It may be a one-time production or part of a periodically recurring series...
ming in other cities including Havana, Cuba (April 20 2009 - May 22 2009 Ch 16), Minneapolis, MN during the RNC 2008 (Ch 15), and Piedras Negras, Mexico (July 2008 Ch 23). http://www.HavenForTheDispossessed.org - NovaRadio NovaRadio Nova may refer to one of several different radio stations, among them:*Nova , a network of radio stations in Australia:** Nova 96.9 , Sydney 96.9 FM** Nova 100 , Melbourne 100.3 FM** Nova 106.9 , Brisbane 106.9 FM...
TV Dublin, Ireland (c. 1985) - Odelia TV - Operated briefly in 1981 on UHF channel 58, offshore of Israel. http://www.offshore-radio.de/odelia.htm
- Pirate Cat TV - Operated on VHF channel 13 by Pirate Cat Radio of San Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco, CaliforniaSan Francisco , officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the financial, cultural, and transportation center of the San Francisco Bay Area, a region of 7.15 million people which includes San Jose and Oakland...
, USA http://www.diymedia.net/archive/0605.htm#060905 http://www.piratecatradio.com/ - Star Ray TVStar Ray TVStar Ray TV is a community television station in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The station, which broadcasts on channel 15 in Toronto's Beaches neighbourhood, was launched in 1997 when Jan Pachul, an amateur radio , applied to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission for licence...
- Broadcasting on UHF channel 15 in the BeachesThe BeachesThe Beaches is a neighbourhood and popular tourist destination located in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is located on the east side of the "Old" City of Toronto. The original boundaries of the neighbourhood are from Fallingbrook Avenue on the east to Kingston Road on the north, to Woodbine Avenue...
neighborhood of Toronto, Ontario, Canada - Telefis na Gaeltacht (c. 1987) ConnemaraConnemaraConnemara is a district in the west of Ireland consisting of a broad peninsula between Killary Harbour and Kilkieran Bay in the west of County Galway.-Overview:...
, Ireland (not to be confused with its similarly named legal successorTG4TG4 is a public service broadcaster for Irish language speakers. The channel has been on-air since 31 October 1996 in the Republic of Ireland and since April 2005 in Northern Ireland....
). Several Irish deflector systems (normally used for relaying British television signals on UHF) occasionally carried local programmingLocal programmingThe term Local Programme, Local Programming, Local Content or Local Television refers to a television programme made by a television station or independent television producer for broadcast only within the station's transmission area or television market...
. - Telstar TV (c. 1984) BirminghamBirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, United Kingdom. Broadcast for about eight weeks on the BBC2 transmitter in the NorthfieldNorthfield-Places:Australia*Northfield, South AustraliaCanada*Northfield, Nova Scotia England* Northfield, BirminghamScotland* Northfield, EdinburghUnited States* Northfield, Connecticut* Northfield, Illinois* Northfield, Indiana...
and RuberyRuberyRubery is a village in the Bromsgrove district of Worcestershire. Part of the village forms a southern suburb of Birmingham, England in the West Midlands. The village is from Birmingham city centre....
areas of Birmingham. Showed a mixture of films and pop videos after BBC2 closed at weekends and went unnoticed by the authorities for several weeks much to their embarrassment.http://freespace.virgin.net/mickey.nold/britains%20first%20pirate%20tv.htm - TelestreetTelestreetTelestreet is an Italian movement that set up pirate TV stations in several metropolian areas in Italy. The movement has started up in Bologna with a small transmitting station, OrfeoTv, which was founded by media theorist and activist Franco "Bifo" Berardi; since June 2002, this micro-tv has been...
- ItalyItalyItaly , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
- Movement that set up pirate TV micro-stations - Thameside TV - London, England - A very early pirate TV station set up by Thameside RadioThameside RadioThameside Radio was a pirate radio station launched in the Winter of 1977 which offered "very slick pop rock with competitions", according to Time Out magazine...
. There were only two known broadcasts in December 1987. http://www.thamesideradio.net/events.htm - TV Noordzee - A 1964 TV station on VHF channel 11 which, along with Radio Noordzee (not to be confused with the later Radio North Sea InternationalRadio North Sea InternationalRadio North Sea International also known as Radio Nordsee International in German and Radio Noordzee Internationaal in Dutch, was a European offshore radio station, run by the Swiss firm Mebo Telecommunications, jointly owned by Swiss engineer, Edwin Bollier, and his business partner, Erwin Meister...
), broadcast from "REM IslandREM IslandREM Island was a platform built in the Republic of Ireland and towed off the Dutch coast in 1964 as the pirate broadcasting home of Radio and TV Noordzee. Both stations were dismantled by armed forces of the Netherlands. It was six miles off Noordwijk....
", an artificial platform 6 miles offshore of Noordwijk in the Netherlands. Both of the stations were knocked off the air by a sea and air raid by the armed forces of the Netherlands. http://www.btinternet.com/~roger.beckwith/bh/pirates/pirates.htm - TV Syd - A short-lived offshore TV station that broadcast on UHF channel 41. It was the sister station of Radio SydRadio SydRadio Syd was a Swedish pirate radio station. It began life as Skånes Radio Mercur, the first "pirate radio" in Sweden, and started to broadcast in December 1958.- History :...
and broadcast from the MV Cheeta 2 anchored off the SwedishSwedenSweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
coast. http://www.bvws.org.uk/405alive/history/pirate_tv.html - W10BMW10BMW10BM is a low power television station in Morehead, Kentucky, broadcasting on Channel 10. The station is rebroadcast locally on Time Warner cable channel 5. The FCC's database indicates that the station's licenses have been canceled. Fees have been accepted and processed; however, the FCC, for...
- Morehead, KentuckyMorehead, KentuckyAs of the census of 2010, there were 6,845 people, households, and families residing in the city. The population density was 726.2 people per square mile. There were 2,356 housing units at an average density of 253.3 per square mile. The racial makeup of the city was 93.2% White, 3.2% African...
, USA - Originally a licensed LPTV station on VHF channel 10, it is presently operating on a canceled license, making it a pirate broadcaster.
During the 1980s large numbers of pirate TV stations operated in Italy, Greece, Spain and Israel. Subsequent legislation lead to the licensing of many of these stations and the closure of (most of) the remainder.
Proposed stations
- Caroline TV - Advertised in 1970, this was to have been a project related to Radio CarolineRadio CarolineRadio Caroline is an English radio station founded in 1964 by Ronan O'Rahilly to circumvent the record companies' control of popular music broadcasting in the United Kingdom and the BBC's radio broadcasting monopoly...
, which at the time was off the air. Artwork showing the proposed station's identification graphics were released, but the station, which was to be broadcast from an airplane (similar to StratovisionStratovisionStratovision was an airborne television transmission relay system from aircraft flying at high altitudes. In 1945 the Glenn L. Martin Co. and Westinghouse Electric Corporation advocated television coverage of small towns and rural areas as well as the large metropolitan centers by fourteen aircraft...
), never materialized, although there is a website called www.radiocarolinetv.co.ukhttp://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/VOLUME05/LodgeUK.shtml http://www.icce.rug.nl/~soundscapes/DATABASES/CAR/car05.shtml - City TV - Was to have broadcast from a decommissioned minesweeper offshore of England. Plans for the station were announced on 8 June 1965, and was to have broadcast on VHF channel 3, but the station never materialized. http://www.bvws.org.uk/405alive/history/pirate_tv.html It is not to be confused with the later CityTVCitytvCitytv is a Canadian English language television system owned and operated by Rogers Communications under its Rogers Broadcasting Ltd. division...
in Toronto and Vancouver, Canada, which began operation in 1973 and are fully licensed and legal full-power stations. - Sealand Television - Was to have broadcast on Channel 28 from the Principality of SealandPrincipality of SealandThe Principality of Sealand is an unrecognized entity, located on HM Fort Roughs, a former World War II Maunsell Sea Fort in the North Sea 10 km off the coast of Suffolk, England, United Kingdom ....
, a micronationMicronationMicronations, sometimes also referred to as model countries and new country projects, are entities that claim to be independent nations or states but which are not recognized by world governments or major international organizations...
established on a World War Two gunnery platform off the coast of Essex, England. The station, which was announced to start in September 1987, was to have been financed by Wallace Kemper, who was facing fraud and conspiracy charges. http://www.amfm.org.uk/tx/tx15/news.html http://www.offshore-manual.com/taxhavens/IsleofMan.html - Tower TV - Was to have broadcast from Sunk Head Fort, 14 miles offshore of Essex, England. Reportedly held a test transmission at 4:20 AM on Tuesday 9 November 1965. http://www.bobleroi.co.uk/ScrapBook/Tower_2/Tower_2.html It was feared that if any transmissions were made on the proposed VHF Channel 5 they would have interfered with Radio astronomyRadio astronomyRadio astronomy is a subfield of astronomy that studies celestial objects at radio frequencies. The initial detection of radio waves from an astronomical object was made in the 1930s, when Karl Jansky observed radiation coming from the Milky Way. Subsequent observations have identified a number of...
research work being carried out in the UK at the time.
Movies
Movies often show Pirate TV channels simply "breaking in" over the top of existing channels, often all of them simultaneouslySimultaneity
Simultaneity is the property of two events happening at the same time in at least one frame of reference. The word derives from the Latin simul, at the same time plus the suffix -taneous, abstracted from spontaneous .The noun simult means a supernatural coincidence, two or more divinely...
.
- Death Race 2000Death Race 2000Death Race 2000 is a 1975 cult action film directed by Paul Bartel, and starring David Carradine, Simone Griffeth and Sylvester Stallone. The film takes place in a dystopian American society in the year 2000, where the murderous Transcontinental Road Race has become a form of national entertainment...
(1975) - Political revolutionaries use broadcast signal intrusion to announce their plans to sabotage a transcontinental road race. - District 13 (2004) - The protagonists force a Defense Secretary into admitting he was planning to detonate a neutron bomb, and the videotaped confession is broadcast via pirate transmission.
- Free Amerika Broadcasting (1981) - A dramatic film about a pirate television station run by revolutionaries in a hypothetical USA where Vice-President Spiro T. Agnew declares martial lawMartial lawMartial law is the imposition of military rule by military authorities over designated regions on an emergency basis— only temporary—when the civilian government or civilian authorities fail to function effectively , when there are extensive riots and protests, or when the disobedience of the law...
after President Richard NixonRichard NixonRichard Milhous Nixon was the 37th President of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. The only president to resign the office, Nixon had previously served as a US representative and senator from California and as the 36th Vice President of the United States from 1953 to 1961 under...
is assassinated. - HackersHackers (film)Hackers is a 1995 American thriller film directed by Iain Softley and starring Angelina Jolie, Jonny Lee Miller, Renoly Santiago, Matthew Lillard, Lorraine Bracco and Fisher Stevens...
(1995) - One of the characters, Dade "Zero Cool" Murphy, hacks into a TV station's network feed and switches the programming to an episode of The Outer LimitsThe Outer Limits (1995 TV series)The Outer Limits is an American television series that originally aired on Showtime,the Sci Fi Channel and in syndication between 1995 and 2002...
. A fictional TV show, Hack the Planet, is shown on a pirate TV channel. - Riders of the Storm (1986) (released in Australia as The American Way) - Disgruntled Vietnam War veterans operate S&M TV, a pirate TV station, from an airborne B-29 airplane.
- Robocop 3RoboCop 3RoboCop 3 is a science fiction action film, released in 1993, set in the near future in a dystopian metropolitan Detroit, Michigan, and filmed in Atlanta, Georgia. Most of the buildings seen in the film were slated for demolition to make way for facilities for the 1996 Olympics. Nancy Allen as...
(1993) - Dr. Lazarus and Nikko transmit over Mediabreak to tell the city about the goings-on in Cadillac Heights. - The Running ManThe Running Man (film)The Running Man is a 1987 American action film loosely based on Stephen King's 1982 novel of the same name. Directed by Paul Michael Glaser, the film stars Arnold Schwarzenegger, María Conchita Alonso, Jesse Ventura, Jim Brown, and Richard Dawson....
(1987) - Revolutionaries uses broadcast signal intrusion to "detour" a popular TV game show. - SerenitySerenity (film)Serenity is a 2005 space western film written and directed by Joss Whedon. It is a continuation of the short-lived 2002 Fox science fiction television series Firefly, taking place after the events of the final episode. Set in 2518, Serenity is the story of the captain and crew of a cargo ship...
(2005) - Criminals with a sense of honor use a pirate television broadcast to expose a large governmental cover-up. - SimonSimon (1980 film)Simon is a 1980 American comedy film. It was directed by Marshall Brickman and stars Alan Arkin.- Plot summary :The Institute for Advanced Concepts, a group of scientists with an unlimited budget and a propensity for elaborate pranks, brainwash a psychology professor named Simon Mendelssohn who was...
(1980) - A psychology professor, brainwashed by scientists as a prank to believe he is of extraterrestrial origin, attempts to reform American society by broadcasting his pronouncements with a high-power transmitter that overrides TV network feeds, becoming a national celebrity in the process. - They LiveThey LiveThey Live is a 1988 science fiction/horror film directed by John Carpenter, who also wrote the screenplay under the pseudonym Frank Armitage ....
(1988) - A group, seeking to warn the populace of an alien invasion, use broadcast signal intrusion on local TV programming. - Used CarsUsed CarsUsed Cars is a 1980 comedy satire film. It stars Kurt Russell, Jack Warden , Deborah Harmon, and Gerrit Graham.Kurt Russell portrays a devious car salesman working for affable but monumentally unsuccessful used car dealer Luke Fuchs . Luke's principal rival, located directly across the street, is...
(1980) - Feuding used car lot owners use broadcast signal intrusion to discredit each other. - Via Macau (1966) - A pirate television station is used to spread dissent among representatives at an international conference.
- VideodromeVideodromeVideodrome is a 1983 Canadian science fiction body horror film written and directed by David Cronenberg, starring James Woods, Sonja Smits, and singer Deborah Harry. Set in Toronto during the early 1980s, it follows the CEO of a small cable station who stumbles upon a broadcast signal featuring...
(1983) - A TV technician discovers an encrypted pirate TV signal transmitting what appear to be snuff films.
Television
- Channel Umptee-3Channel Umptee-3Channel Umptee-3 was a Saturday morning animated television series created by Jim George and produced by Norman Lear that aired on The WB in 1997. Ogden Ostrich, Sheldon S...
(1997) - Animated children's educational television series. The main characters operate a pirate TV station "located in the white space between channels". - Dark AngelDark Angel (TV series)Dark Angel is an American biopunk/cyberpunk science fiction television series created by James Cameron and Charles H. Eglee. The show premiered in the United States on the Fox network on October 3, 2000, and was canceled after two seasons...
(2000–2002) - One of the series protagonists, Logan Cale, operated a pirate television broadcast known as "Eyes Only" primarily to broadcast news reports, expose political/corporate corruption, issue public alerts, etc. - Family GuyFamily GuyFamily Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
- On the episode "PTVPTV (Family Guy)"PTV" is the fourteenth episode of season four of the FOX animated series Family Guy. The episode sees the FCC censor the shows on television after a controversial wardrobe malfunction at the Emmy Awards. Peter starts to create his own TV network which he calls PTV, broadcasting classic shows...
", Peter GriffinPeter GriffinPeter Griffin is a fictional character and the protagonist of the animated comedy series Family Guy and the patriarch of the Griffin family. He is voiced by cartoonist Seth MacFarlane and first appeared on television, along with the rest of the family in the 15-minute short on December 20, 1998....
, angered that authorities are censoring TV broadcasts, starts his own well-liked pirate TV station, PTV, containing deleted risque' scenes from movies and TV shows, partial nudity from TV programs and dogs mating. - Max HeadroomMax Headroom (TV series)Max Headroom is a British-produced American science fiction television series by Chrysalis/Lakeside Productions that aired in the United States on ABC from March 1987 to May 1988. The series was based on the Channel 4 British TV pilot Max Headroom: 20 Minutes into the Future...
(1987) - One of the TV series' characters, "Blank Reg", runs Big Time Television, a pirate station, from a converted bus. - On the Rocks was a short-lived 1970s British ITVITVITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
children's show starring Arthur MullardArthur MullardArthur Ernest Mullard, original surname Mullord was an English comedy actor.- Early life :...
among others, featuring a pirate TV station that broadcast from a deserted lighthouseLighthouseA lighthouse is a tower, building, or other type of structure designed to emit light from a system of lamps and lenses or, in older times, from a fire, and used as an aid to navigation for maritime pilots at sea or on inland waterways....
. - Rock 'n' America was a 1984 US series in which Rick DucommunRick DucommunRichard "Rick" Ducommun is a Canadian actor and comedian, often seen in supporting roles on both television and the silver screen.Ducommun was born in Prince Albert, Saskatchewan...
played a VJ named Rick, who would play rock videos by "jamming into" existing TV channels. The character was relentlessly, but always unsuccessfully, pursued by an FCC agent. When the agent asked if Rick was doing it for a lark, Rick replied (via his illegal transmission) that his father had invented the system and offered it to the US military for jamming into Nazi propaganda broadcasts during World War IIWorld War IIWorld War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, but had been rebuffed. - Télé Pirate (1991–1996) - A children TV show from QuebecQuebecQuebec or is a province in east-central Canada. It is the only Canadian province with a predominantly French-speaking population and the only one whose sole official language is French at the provincial level....
which was mimicking an illegal intrusion on the diffuser's channel as a main plot.
Games
- OrpheusOrpheus (role-playing game)Orpheus is a role playing game by White Wolf Game Studio, set in a microcosm of the World of Darkness. Unlike the other World of Darkness game lines, Orpheus has a specifically planned metaplot and a set number of books that were published. Although it uses the same system as White Wolf's other...
(2003) - The role-playing game features a plot element known as Radio Free Death, a midnight broadcast that overrides local channels. http://whitewolf.wikia.com/wiki/Radio_Free_Death
Books
- The Moon Is a Harsh MistressThe Moon Is a Harsh MistressThe Moon Is a Harsh Mistress is a 1966 science fiction novel by American writer Robert A. Heinlein, about a lunar colony's revolt against rule from Earth....
(1966) - In the science fictionScience fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
novel, self-aware computer helps revolutionaries by generating and broadcasting synthesized TV transmissions of their non-existent leader "Adam Selene" via an internal TV network.
Comic books
- American Flagg!American Flagg!American Flagg! is an American comic book series created by writer-artist Howard Chaykin, published by First Comics from 1983 to 1989. A science fiction series and political satire, it and was set in the U.S., particularly Chicago, Illinois, in the early 2030s. Writers besides Chaykin included...
(1983–1989) - A science fictionScience fictionScience fiction is a genre of fiction dealing with imaginary but more or less plausible content such as future settings, futuristic science and technology, space travel, aliens, and paranormal abilities...
comic bookComic bookA comic book or comicbook is a magazine made up of comics, narrative artwork in the form of separate panels that represent individual scenes, often accompanied by dialog as well as including...
series created by Howard ChaykinHoward ChaykinHoward Victor Chaykin is an American comic book writer and artist famous for his innovative storytelling and sometimes controversial material...
set in the early 2030s. A plot device in the story is Q-USA, a pirate TV station that broadcasts illegal sports, pornographyPornographyPornography or porn is the explicit portrayal of sexual subject matter for the purposes of sexual arousal and erotic satisfaction.Pornography may use any of a variety of media, ranging from books, magazines, postcards, photos, sculpture, drawing, painting, animation, sound recording, film, video,...
, and movies and television shows made before the collapse of the pre-existing orderRisks to civilization, humans and planet EarthVarious existential risks could threaten humankind as a whole, have adverse consequences for the course of human civilization, or even cause the end of planet Earth.-Types of risks:...
. - WRAB: Pirate Television (1985) - A graphic novel by Matt HowarthMatt HowarthMatt Howarth is an American comic book writer/artist known for such series as Those Annoying Post Bros, Savage Henry, Star Crossed, and Bugtown....
about a pirate television station broadcasting from international watersInternational watersThe terms international waters or trans-boundary waters apply where any of the following types of bodies of water transcend international boundaries: oceans, large marine ecosystems, enclosed or semi-enclosed regional seas and estuaries, rivers, lakes, groundwater systems , and wetlands.Oceans,...
that hacks into other networks' satellite transponders, with the intent of capturing a worldwide audienceAudienceAn audience is a group of people who participate in a show or encounter a work of art, literature , theatre, music or academics in any medium...
.
See also
- Broadcast signal intrusionBroadcast signal intrusionBroadcast signal intrusion is a term given to the act of hijacking broadcast signals of radio and television stations. Hijacking incidents have involved local TV and radio stations as well as cable and national networks.- Method of intrusion :...
-- the intentional "hacking" into a licensed facility for broadcasting pirate television