Service Policies - Time Warner Cable

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Cable theft

Illegally receiving cable television is a crime that could cost up to $10,000 in fines and jail time. The use of unauthorized or modified converter boxes is a federal law violation.

Is there a cable thief on your block? Cable theft costs YOU! Report theft today. Call us at 816.358.4391.

If you think you may be receiving services you are not paying for or if you have an unauthorized cable box, call our Customer Service Department at 816.358.2292 and subscribe the legal way!

How Cable Theft Affects You

If you think stealing cable television only impacts Time Warner, think again. It's a crime everyone pays for including your family, friends, and neighbors. Theft of cable means poorer picture quality, increased service failure, and higher service fees for paying customers due to increased maintenance costs.

Cable Piracy Facts

Cable television theft is the illegal interception of cable programming services without the express authorization of, or payment to, a cable television system. There are two types of cable theft, passive and active. Passive theft occurs when a consumer receives services due to faulty cable operator procedures. Active theft occurs when someone knowingly and willfully makes an illegal physical connection to the cable system and/or attaches or tampers with equipment to allow the receipt of unauthorized services. Active theft can occur at both a consumer or commercial level. Commercial theft usually happens in an environment where the proprietor receives financial gains from the illegal services (i.e. a bar or restaurant).

Commercial theft also occurs when individuals or companies develop, tamper with or manufacture or otherwise provide equipment which provide unauthorized access to cable services and receives compensation for that equipment. The devices used to receive the unauthorized services are called descramblers, decoders or black boxes. The cable industry works in concert with law enforcement authorities around the country to stop the unauthorized sales of cable descramblers to consumers.

Based on NCTA's cable piracy survey conducted in 1999, the industry loses an estimated $6,584,603,760 ($6.6 billion) in unrealized basic and premium revenue annually.
The $6.6 billion loss does not incorporate unauthorized reception of pay-per-view programming. Engineering analysis of pirate product seized by law enforcement agencies in 1996 (more than 500,000 devices) substantiates that 80% of the units were capable of circumventing addressable technology and allow the illegal reception of pay-per-view services. If pay-per-view revenues were included in the loss estimates, the dollar value would easily exceed six billion dollars.
It is illegal to own or be in possession of an unauthorized cable descrambler in 32 states.
The Federal Communications Commission released a Public Notice in November, 1994 stating that the use of cable descramblers not authorized by cable systems is a violation of federal law.
Piracy affects the picture quality of the system by weakening the signal. In some systems poor picture quality is the reason for service calls and other system maintenance which increases system costs and puts pressure on cable rates.
Much of the equipment sold by cable pirates is not built to system specifications, thus radio signals used to transmit cable television can leak into frequencies reserved for aeronautical and emergency communications, producing potential safety problems. In many instances, the devices do not comply with FCC part 15 rules regarding RF signal radiation.
It is estimated that each illegal decoder sold to a consumer costs the cable industry approximately $3,849 in lost revenue over its useful life expectancy.
Over the last eight years, OCST has been involved in cases resulting in the seizure of over one million devices and cessation of sales totaling in excess of 2 million units. When incorporated into OCST’s Economic Impact Formula, these figures represent a savings of over $10 billion to the cable industry.
Sentences in federal and state theft of service cases have ranged from probation to 16 years in prison. Fines and restitution have ranged from several hundred dollars to $2.7 million. Civil judgments have run as high as $245 million.
NCTA's Office of Cable Signal Theft (OCST) works closely with the FCC, Department of Justice, the F.B.I., U.S. Customs, U.S. Attorneys, state and local prosecutors and law enforcement agencies to investigate and assist in prosecuting criminal violations.
OCST is currently supporting numerous criminal theft of service cases across the country, in addition to various state, local, and civil cases, potentially representing sales and distribution of hundreds of thousands of descramblers/decoders.

Unauthorized Reception of Cable Service Statute