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Satellite TV Card Needed To Receive Programming
By Tony Cunningham

No matter how good your system may be, you will never see a picture without the installation of a valid satellite TV card. Only about the size of a credit card, they slip into a spot, usually in the front of the satellite receiver and contain a small chip that can be programmed over the satellite with the information about your programming choices. Without the satellite TV card in place and registered with the satellite TV company, your system will not function.

Many people however try to beat the system on a consistent basis by buying a satellite TV card and programming equipment that allow them effectively to steal satellite service, receiving all channels being broadcast by the satellite company. To help deter this theft, satellite providers have developed what they call electronic counter measures to render the cards useless. Satellite service providers keep in communication with the programming cards through the satellite system and can send out the system essentially to erase the programming authorizations on the card.

Typically, the satellite provider will perform this counter measure about once or twice a week and often just before a major event, such as the Super Bowl turning many television sets into black screens just as the big show is about to start.

Legal Satellite TV Card Allows Paid Services Through

The primary purpose of the satellite TV card is to unscramble all the channels a subscriber is paying for through to the television set. If a particular channel is not paid for, the signal remains scrambled and is not able to be viewed. As subscribers opt for more channels, the company can reprogram the satellite TV card to unscramble those channels.

All of the unscrambled channels are visible to the card but only the one selected by the subscriber gets through to the TV. When the user changes the channel it is the satellite TV card that selects which signal is passed through the system. If the card is not properly authorized and programmed, no signal will get through to the television set.

Many hackers sites exist that sell the programming hardware and cards, which can cost $350 or more but many wonder the value of that investment to obtain illegal service when the satellite provider can, with the flip of a switch, can cause the need to reprogram the satellite TV card frequently.

Author Details:
Tony Cunningham is a gadgets fanatic writing about electrical items such as cellular mobile phones, HDTV, Satellite TV and gaming consoles such as the Xbox360.

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