On April 27, 1986, American electrical engineer and business owner John R. MacDougall (using the pseudonym "Captain Midnight") jammed the Home Box Office (HBO) satellite signal on Galaxy 1 during a showing of the film The Falcon and the Snowman.
After the FCC identified the transmitters and stations equipped with the specific character generator evidently used during the broadcast signal intrusion, MacDougall surrendered to the authorities, after which he was served with a subpoena due to a tourist having overheard him discussing the incident on a payphone off Interstate 75.
Beginning in the late 1920s, when the first experimental transmissions began, broadcast television was delivered for free over local frequencies in the United States.
[1] This was not illegal at the time, and restaurant and hotel chains made use of this technology to distribute programming to guests and patrons without charge.
Many satellite dish owners faced the prospect of having to purchase descrambling equipment at a cost of hundreds of dollars, as well as having to pay monthly or annual subscription fees to cable programming providers.
Shortly after his father's retirement in 1970, the family moved to Fort Lauderdale, Florida, where MacDougall was educated at American Heritage School.
"[11] MacDougall wrote protest letters to legislators, and spent a large amount of money to raise awareness about wanting to keep the market free from excessive charging of its services.
[12] At 12:49 a.m. Eastern Standard Time (EST) on April 20,[13] one week before the jamming, MacDougall transmitted a color bar test pattern that was superimposed on HBO's signal for a brief period.
MacDougall oversaw the uplink of the movie Pee-wee's Big Adventure as part of the evening's programming for the pay-per-view network People's Choice, which used Central Florida Teleport's facilities.
[15] Before logging off, MacDougall set up SMPTE color bars and used a Quanta Corporation Microgen MG-100 character generator that placed letters on the television screen.
[8] MacDougall swung the 30-foot (9.1 m) transmission dish back into its storage position, which aimed it at the location of Galaxy 1, the satellite that carried HBO.
[15][16] Locating the satellite coordinates was not of great difficulty for MacDougall as frequencies were widely published in manuals and enthusiast magazines.
[19] Although the intrusion caused minor annoyance to viewers,[11] HBO contacted the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and announced that the hijacker would face prosecution.
[4] The commission's chief, Richard Smith, assembled staff in his office for an emergency meeting at the FCC headquarters eight hours after the intrusion to discuss how the culprit should be caught.
[22] Oliver Long, the head engineer of the FCC's Texas field office, oversaw the investigation,[23] and the commission assigned agent George Dillon to the case.
[10] The case first led investigators from the FCC to focus on the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex,[21] after an anonymous tip accused an amateur radio operator residing in Lewisville, Texas, of being the culprit.
[8] Prior to the jamming, the FCC warned that anyone interfering with television signals would be harshly dealt with, and MacDougall was charged after surrendering to the authorities following media and industry pressure.
[8] MacDougall contacted attorney John Green Jr., who advised him the chances of him winning the case were 70 percent and that a trial would be risky and costly.
[9] MacDougall held a news conference in which he stated he did not contest the rights of cable companies to scramble their programs, but asked the government to allow the marketplace and not corporations to set prices.
He revealed he was aware of a year-old magazine that spoke about the type of signal interference he caused, but affirmed the article was not influential on his actions.
[4] MacDougall's action led to him being immediately regarded as coming close to being a folk hero amongst disgruntled satellite dish owners who felt unfairly treated.
[1][31][32] The Satellite Television Industry Association released a statement denouncing intentional interference, and a spokesperson for the organization called for the offender to be imprisoned.
[33] A correspondent for Television/Radio Age wrote the jamming was similar to the plot of the 1976 film Network, in which a disenchanted news anchor broadcasts his frustrations with the negative aspects of commercial television.
[36] The Automatic Transmitter Identification System (ATIS) was developed in response to MacDougall's actions, allowing satellite operators to quickly identify unauthorized uplink transmissions.
[38] Although HBO has not been targeted since the channel's signal power was increased to make it more difficult for hijackers to intrude,[2][25] there have been multiple instances of uplink video piracy across the United States.
[30] One such incident happened in November 1987, when Chicago stations WGN and WTTW had their transmissions briefly interrupted by a man in a Max Headroom mask.
[41] A group called the Captain Midnight Grassroots Cause was formed and sold merchandise to help raise money for MacDougall to pay his legal fees.