Sharing Cable
I've heard that a lot of people feel it is OK to be Sharing Cable (using one Cable Account for two separate families) so long as your house or apartment is close by, is that true?
Sharing Cable (Hover)
Very simply put no it is not ok. What is the difference between two families in one house sharing a cable signal or an apartment building with 500 families sharing one cable signal?(please ignore pitcher quality issues ok.)
There are many websites dedicated to this with this one placing Cable Theft as being in four different categories:
QUOTE (www.cabletheft.com) |
Definition of Cable Theft Cable theft is the illegal interception of cable programming services without the express authorization of, or payment to, a cable company. Active Theft occurs when someone knowingly and intentionally makes an illegal physical connection to the cable system in their area for the purpose of receiving cable service in their home or business. Premium Theft or "Pay Theft" occurs when someone knowingly and intentionally attaches equipment (I.e., black boxes, cheater box, cube, descramblers, decoders, etc.) for the unauthorized receipt of premium or pay cable services such as HBO, Showtime, Cinemax, Starz, or Pay Per View movies and special events (wrestling/boxing). Passive Theft means having active cable service in your residence without notifying the cable operator. (Example: You move into a new apartment that has active service but you do not notify the cable operator.) |
People will share cable or get a satellite and a descrambler (although this is getting more difficult) and rationalize that it is fine. Usually, they will say that it is ok because it is possible. Apparently, if it wasn't possible, then it wouldn't be alright (or possible) to do. Cable companies are getting better at detecting who is splitting their signals and are paying attention. There are a few out there that are now getting free cable through their broadband internet:
https://news.com.com/2100-1023-930356.html
For those of you that like the idea that these criminals get their due, read this article:
https://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/3078483/
I would hate to be the person that watched about 40 pay per views in 21 days and got caught. That would probably be around $1000 to $1600 in cable fees for that $10 free cable device!
I believe that it is easier for people to rationalize this theft because there is no "face" to the person or company that they are stealing from. There is no personal connection to the entity that is being ripped off. It makes it easier for people to justify stealing from a big large faceless company rather than stealing from someone you know. We all know the cable companies are rolling in money, so they wont miss my $40 per month. It is very easy to justify.
Yes, lots of rationalization going on there.
Recently, one of my tenants had satellite TV hooked up, and I asked the technician to see if I could get a dish installed (my apartment has nowhere to hook the dish up). He said he could run a cable from that resident's dish unit up to my apartment, so we could share the dish, and I would pay the same rate as she does on a separate account. Interesting. I didn't do it, because I didn't feel comfortable "piggy backing" on the service that way, but he seemed to feel it was okay so long as I paid for it.