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The Los Angeles Times from Los Angeles, California • 19

Location:
Los Angeles, California
Issue Date:
Page:
19
Extracted Article Text (OCR)

1 10 Part II Monday, Nonber 17, 1980 Cj An ekfl Cirrus PAY-TV: Leader in the Field Takes On the Pirates prevent others from tuning in. Bradshaw called Lydick's adverse opinion "fuzzy-minded and completely missing the point" However. 10 days after Lydick's ruling, a federal judge in Detroit rejected Oak's requests for a preliminary injunction and for continuation of temporary restraining orders obtained against pirates there. Oak is appealing both rulings. The FCC which regulates the broadcasting industry, has yet to move to take sides or settle the issue of a pay-TV station's right to protect its product "It's not their style to act fast," Bradshaw said of FCC officials.

"They compile everything, take a long look at it and then turn it over to the Justice Department for action. "Something as big as the federal government should move slowly." While the battle continues in the courts and in Oak's research labs, the industry has begun a campaign to obtain state and federal legislation outlawing the pirates that are attacking them. A month ago. Gov. Edmund G.

Brown Jr. signed into law a bill prohibiting the sale for profit of any device, plan or kit not authorized by a subscnption-TV service. In other words, it outlawed pirate decoder sales in California. Golden, in a suit to prevent prosecution of the pirate decoder firms under the new law. argued that the state is preempted in the field of air wave controls because it is the province of the FCC Oak's Bradshaw said that while he is confident Golden's argument is specious, the industry is pressing ahead to gain federal legislation next year modeled after the California law.

That move, he feels, will end the pirate decoder industry. Catit4 trtm lint Fife will be employed when Oak complete! its J7-million plant for producing cable and pay-TV equipment in Carlsbad's Palomar Airport Industrial Park. Ln the Los Ar.geles area. National Subscription Television, which is partially owned by Oak, offers its nightly fare to more than 300,000 subscribers an audience that has been growing by about 10.000 a month since ON TV first went into operation in April. 1977.

on Channel 52. The Oak system is "addressable," explained Oak Communications Executive Vice President Werner Koester. a feature that allows a computer to do instantaneously what it would like dozens of clerks many hours to complete. Billings, connections, disconnections are no problem with an addressable system. The ON TV computer can turn off nonpaying subscribers and can turn on subscribers who have paid extra to see special programs.

The Oak system also prevents subscriber high-jinks by automatically turning off the service when the decoder box is disconnected for more than eight minutes. The automatic cutoff discourages decoder thefts since the boxes are useless until they are turned on again by the computer. The disconnection system has one drawback. When Los Angeles neighborhoods experience power failures, hundreds of ON TV decoders are automatically disconnected. ON TV operators have learned to handle the into it by man.

Jedynak explained, from a simple single code to a highly complex digitized code with a frequently changing key. He and his research team can build a box that could encode 32.000 digits a second, decipherable only with a key that itself would contain 40. 60. 80 or 100 digits, a code that would Lake 17 computers working 24 hours a day for many years to crack. And.

if that is not secure enough, Jedynak can produce boxes with simpler codes and shorter keys but with the ability to change the code and the key at intervals too frequent to allow time for decoding. But these sophisticated security measures are for the future when people all over the world will be dealing with each other via television screens, without the need for telephone wires or TV cables, but in complete privacy.Such high level security is not necessary to defeat pay-TV decoder pirates and to frustrate non-paying viewers. That's a good thing for the industry. Jedynak said, because each added degree of security escalates the cost of producing the equipment. Oak officials, perhaps because of the security costs, decided to launch their first attack on decoder pirates through the courts.

The outcome of that campaign is still undecided, but Oak's legal counsel, Carl Bradshaw, is confident the company will prevail. Federal judges in Phoenix and Detroit have agreed with Oak attorneys that there is enough evidence on industry's side that the pirates are engaged in illegal trade to bring the matter to trial. In both areas, courts have ordered pirate decoder sales halted until the issue is decided. Only in Los Angeles the site of Oak's biggest pay-TV investment did a judge balk at halting the sale of pirate equipment U.S. District Judge Lawrence Lydick found the industry's arguments for obtaining an injunction against the makers and sellers of pirate decoders "unpersua-sive" and dismissed the suit.

Oak and other plaintiffs appealed. What plaintiffs apparently would have us determine is that their receipt of a license from the Federal Communications Commission to broadcast a subscription-TV signal is a grant to them of a monopoly Judge Lydick said. "The granting of such monopolies is the province of Congress not this court." The judge's words echoed a contention of Kenneth Golden, an attorney for the electronics firms and businesses selling the pirate sets, that "the air waves are free" and that one firm or one industry has no right to 0 The problem is the computer doesn 't know where the decoders are. more than 638,000 decision makers every weekday. BULLOCKS WILSHIRE HERALDS THE HOLIDAY SEASON Festive Champagne Brunch opens the holiday season on Sunday, November 23rd with caroling by the students of Hobart Elementary School.

Buffet Brunch from Noon to 2:30 pm, $8.00 per person. For reservations, call 382-6161, ext. 324. Tour Bullocks WiLshire, California 56th Historical Monument. Monday, December 1 through Monday, December 22.

13 00 fee benefits The Exceptional Children's Foundation. For reservations, call 382-6161, ext. 346. Breakfast With Santa features the "Peter Rabbit's Christmas" puppet show by Lillian and Ken Cederquist. Sunday, December 14 and Sunday, December 21, 9:30 am, $5.00.

Tea Room. For reservations, call 382-6161, ext. 324. Sparkling Wine Tasting hosted by noted wine writer and critic Gene Benton featuring an array of European and California vintages and hors d'oeuvres. Friday, December 5, 6.00 pm to 8:00 pm, $15.00.

Tea Room. For reservations, call 382-6161, ext. 324. Holiday Cooking Demonstrations in La Belle Cuisine throughout November and December. For information, call 382-6161, ext.

310 or 406. The Monogram Shop at Newport Beach will take orders through Thursday, December 4th for personalized Christmas gifts. GosAtujctcs (Tunes Make the most ol it! matter efficiently by simply flipping a switch that automatically turns on all disconnected decoders in the blacked-out area. With all this control over subscribers' decoders, why can't the computer black out the non-paying poachers with the pirate sets? That's because the computer does not know about the pirate decoders, Koester explained. The computer, like any computer, only knows what it is told by humans.

And the humans don't know where the pirate sets are, either. The pirate industry poses a dilemma for Oak because every improvement in the pay channel's programming better movies, extended hours, additional special attractions means a better product for the pirates to steal and sell at increased prices. Every pirate set sold also increases the threat that present subscribers may revolt at paying fees for what others are viewing free. And worse yet is the threat that the film companies which supply ON TV with most of its pay-TV fare first-run movies will balk at releasing their better films as the audience of non-paying viewers grows. Pirate viewers mean shorter lines at the box office without added revenue to the film studios.

In one research lab at the firm's luxurious new corporate offices, Oak Industries' Senior Vice President Leo Jedynak can demonstrate one device that offers uncrackable security, one that would render pirate sets useless. It is a model of an audio scrambler not much larger that the pay -TV decoder box atop a subscriber's home television set. But it costs a lot more to manufacture. This device can deliver any degree of security built "Our clients always need qualified office personnel. Having Times Classified on our team has been a major factor in our success." Gail Angel president The London Agency London Temporary Services NIIKXB F.

irst at BW, the Cartier Three-Gold Vermeil collection. Four elegant new designs combining three shades of 18K gold vermeil-yellow, rose and white for a dramatic geometric effect. Select rectangular, sunburst or thin and broad stripes, in mens' and ladies' styles, $720. Fine Jewelry, all five BW stores CLASSICS WITH FRESH NEW SPARKLE: QIANA THE LIVABLE LUXURY The subtle shimmer, the fluid ease of Qiana nylon makes shirtdressing more appealing than ever. Here, two day 'round, world 'round versions by Ellinor Pommier for Schrader Sport.

Flip tie in pastel pink or blue, 10 to 20, $62. Lilac paisley print, 8 to 16, $70. Casual dresses, all five BW stores See our Qianas informally modeled today, 2 to 3 p.m. at Wilsbire Blvd. font registered trademark wm 3050 Wilshire Blvd.

382-6161 Mon-Sat PALM SPRINGS 325-1571 Mon-Sat 10-6, Sun 12-5 WOODLAND HILLS 887-5151 Mon-Fri 10-9, Sat to 6, Sun 12-5 NEWPORT BEACH 759-1211 Mon-Fri 10-9, Sat to 6. Sun 12-5 LA JOLLA 455-7111 Mon-Fn 10-9. Sat In fi Sun I.

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