Regulators Let Cable Companies Encrypt All TV Signals To Foil Moochers

[Purveyor]

By PETER SVENSSON | Associated Press | 19 minutes ago in
The Federal Communications Commission voted Friday to lift a ban on encryption of basic cable signals, saying it will reduce the number of visits by cable technicians to disconnect service and reduce cable theft.

The change will also affect households that pay for TV but have some sets hooked up directly to cable, without set-top boxes. They will need to get boxes for those sets.

Neither the FCC nor the National Cable & Telecommunications Association knows how many households are taking advantage of the unencrypted signals or will need set-top boxes. NCTA spokesman Brian Dietz says most of the theft is by cable modem customers who also connect their line to a TV set.

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http://www.newser.com/article/da1uqm1g0/regulators-let-cable-companies-encrypt-all-tv-signals-to-foil-moochers.html

[jmowreader]

1. There's a simpler way to solve that theft problem

Quit selling cable Internet without basic cable service! How hard is this?