filter, and the $20 he spent on wrestling pay-per-views.
AOL Time Warner's tap audit supervisor, John Fetters, says cable providers can tell when a house is using a filter because the box will show up as nonresponsive, and they can then shut off the cable.
Steffens isn't the only cable thief around. Shawn (an alias used for fear of prosecution by AOL Time Warner) enjoyed similar benefits while living with his parents in Mission Hills in 1999. "I had something called a black box, a descrambler. You had to enter in all these codes," Shawn says. The then KU freshman would go his parents' house to use his black box because it didn't work in the residence halls. By piggy-backing off of his parents' basic cable, Shawn was able to get free pay-per-views, HBO, Showtime and the Playboy Channel. "Basically I would watch pay-per-view movies constantly," Shawn says.
Shawn purchased the box for $125. He estimates that he got about $1,000 of free entertainment from the box.
Unfortunately for Shawn, the black box stopped working one day. AOL Time Warner became aware of black boxes and descramblers and took measures to prevent their use. Fetters says AOL Time Warner created software that detected the descramblers. The company would then shut down that house's cable so they only had channels one, two and three.
In Lawrence, Sunflower Broadband general manager Patrick Knorr says he can tell when cable is being illegally accessed because the quality of services will drop for the neighbors of the cable thieves. If he gets a call about failing Internet or phone calls that won't go through, it's usually because of an illegal cable tap.
The world of free pay-per-views may seem glamorous, but comes with dangers. The couple of months of free channels may be worth it, but comes at a possible price.
In the Kansas City area, Fetters says AOL Time Warner has a three-step program. On the first offense the company will disconnect the cable. The second offense results in removing all cable lines from the premise. And with a third offense the cable company will take the offender to municipal court. Fetters says the company has about 10 court cases a year.
Sunflower Broadband is constantly catching and punishing people for stealing cable in one form or another, Knorr says. In the mid 1990s, Sunflower faced a cable box distribution ring. In the end, the ring leader faced criminal charges and jail time. But Knorr also says most of the action Sunflower takes is against people who break directly into a cable line to hook up their television. And he says most of the time the descramblers that Shawn and Steffens used don't work. "It's an even bigger scam than scamming us," Knorr says.
— Cal Creek can be reached at ccreek@kansan.com.
Audio/Video Market Research
Audio Market Research: Classes from The University of Kansas School of Business. Class assignment for 403 students: Shop and evaluate the marketing of Audio/Video .
KU Research Findings: Four Profiles of Audio/Video Distribution. KU Marketing Research 1989 Each student is to evaluate six Audio/Video outlets: (2-Servicing Dealers, 2-Mass Merchants, and 2-Mail Order). Information collected on sales, service, and pricing: (2,419-Dealers; 286-Servicing Dealers; Dealers in 50 States).
Research Findings
Shopping is difficult today because we are inundated by inaccurate, confusing and misleading information.
Shopping Choices
Full Service Stores, Discount Stores, Mail Order and Internet/Refurbished.
Low Price Marketing
Our studies revealed that models or brands which are not competitive are easily sold by inflating the retail price and then offering the illusion of a major discount. Less than competitive price/value products tend to be sold Discount, Mail Order, or Internet.
Deceptive Marketing
Models with the same numbers may be "A" stock; "B" stock; Grey Market or Counterfeit
Discount Marketing
Full Service Marketing
Eliminating services, technical information, or purchasing quantities of budget mass produced low value (inflated retail price) products.
Quality "award winning" brands and models, information, setup guidance, and in-store support.
Mail Order Marketing
You pay, you order, you wait, you pay the freight and if you're not satisfied, you're in the return shipping business.
Internet Shopping
View with suspicion! Today, many sellers with 1-800 telephone numbers are using the internet as dumping grounds for inferior, unwanted, or refurbished goods. Want Cheapest prices? Refurbished or Grey Market goods cost less.
-Kansas University marketing class 1989 "Students were right 15 years ago... nothing has changed" -Klefs 2004
Pick your deal...
from award-winning units at KIEF'S
1 Full Service Price "A" stock
2 Discount Price "A" stock
3 Mail Order
4 Refurbished
"A" stock
785-842-811 ~ kiefs.com
"B" stock