How am I getting these cable channels free?

[vid83]

This doesn't seem to fit to any categories above so I am writing here.

My parents have basic cable service. Recenlty, one of my siblings and her boyfriend pitched in to purchase a HDTV plasma TV. Since we already have a CRT TV in one of the rooms, our only options is to put it in another room. This room only has one cable connection and it is for cable internet. So they decided to buy a cable splitter and connect both the cable modem and plasma TV to the same cable.

We now have cable TV but I noticed that we have additional channels. We all first thought that it was because of the analog to digital conversion thing but I started noticing that we were getting all the premium service channels. We are on basic cable but our cable company offers premium cable services such as HDTV services. But we are only signed up for basic cable service. We've been able to watch The Dark Night, Tropic Thunder, and other TV shows even before it was released on DVD. We have been getting Starz channel and maybe pay per view. Digital channels are supposed to be #-# (example 75-1, 75-2, etc.). I was looking at our local cable lineup on the cable company's site and they do not match up. All our new HDTV channels just seem to be in random order. We've also noticed sometimes while watching one of the movie channels, the movie would fast foward or rewinds as if someone is watching it. Maybe our line is crossed with someone elses? The CRT Tv in the other room do not have all these channels.

Anyone know how this is happening? We've been having all these channels for several months.

[bendixG15]

Check your cable bill.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

What kind of tuner does your new TV have?

[yoda313]

Yes I see where Xylob is headed. Do you have an internal QAM tuner in the tv? That can pick up unencrypted cable channels.

Also the other poster may be on to something - you may have an introductory period for premium channels and not know about it. A lot of packages come with a "free trial" of premium content. Then they try to get you to buy the premium add ons after you get hooked.......

[vid83]

Yes I see where Xylob is headed. Do you have an internal QAM tuner in the tv? That can pick up unencrypted cable channels.

you may have an introductory period for premium channels and not know about it. A lot of packages come with a "free trial" of premium content. Then they try to get you to buy the premium add ons after you get hooked.......

Not sure what tuner the TV has.
It's been since November. The cable wire was plugged into the TV and we suddenly have all these new channels while the old CRT TV has no additional channels. What is odd is that all the new channels are in not particular order. They are all random and do not follow the channel lineup of my cable company.

[Xylob the Destroyer]

If your TV has a QAM tuner you may be seeing neighbors channels and On Demand programs (the pausing & rewinding).

[zzyzzx]

If your TV has a QAM tuner you may be seeing neighbors channels and On Demand programs (the pausing & rewinding).

you are picking up the available digital channels, plus you are picking up your neighbors PPV porn.

[greymalkin]

we had free cable for 7 years at our house with all the movie channels too...we also had no idea how we had it...we bought the house and had no intention of paying for TV service, then one day I connected the coax cable to a wall jack and bam! it was there. we were too far away from the neighbors to be using theirs and we never got a bill...my only guess is the previous owners cancelled the service but it never actually got cut off.

sadly, last year a hurricane blew through and when we returned home the cable was gone...now I've got my antenna mounted in the attic .

[vid83]

Thanks for the reply. I went to read about QAM tuners and I think it is the QAM tuner that is giving me all these channels.

[vid83]

Yes, I am getting other people's PPV. Is it neccessarily my neighbor's PPV or could it be anyone's PPV who has the same cable company? In other words, can this PPV channel be coming from many miles down the road from me or is it definitely my neightbor's PPV? I won't even know which of my neighbor's is watchign the p**n. My next door neighbors are all over 60 or 70 years old. It's funny though because you can see them fastfowarding through all the boring parts of the p**n.

[olyteddy]

Most cable systems are divided into 'Nodes' with at most a couple hundred subs per node, so like it or not that PPV stuff you see is being ordered by your neighbors. Be afraid! Be Very Afraid!!!!

[Xylob the Destroyer]

old people + pRon =