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From: dwl@hou4b.UUCP (D Levenson)
Newsgroups: net.consumers
Subject: Re: Cable ready TV, etc.
Message-ID: <1281@hou4b.UUCP>
Date: Thu, 17-Jan-85 11:05:31 EST
Article-I.D.: hou4b.1281
Posted: Thu Jan 17 11:05:31 1985
Date-Received: Fri, 18-Jan-85 02:42:56 EST
References: <712@cbosgd.UUCP>
Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Holmdel, NJ
Lines: 13

In Somerset Co. New Jersey, the TKR Cable company does not scramble
the movie channels.  They install a notch filter on the pole where
your drop connects to their backbone, to notch out the channels
you're not buying.  (Or so I've been told -- anyone know for sure?)

What the CATV industry is drifting toward, however, is not
scrambling but encryption -- the decryption can then be done by
anybody's cable-ready video product if it has the key.  The key is
distributed in a way that allows the company to charge for it, and
updated once per billing-cycle.

-Dave Levenson
AT&T Holmdel