Chinese Satellite TV

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

When we first moved to China, I managed to get by for several weeks watching CCTV, news and programming. Because I am not fluent in Chinese, I missed a lot of what was being said; and also began to miss Western news. My wife located a man that provides several ex-pats in the Nanjing area with a satellite connection. We paid him a rather hefty fee by Chinese standards, but he got it hooked up with a strong signal from the Dream Satellite network out of the Philippines. It's my understanding that Dream is one of the most popular satellite feeds for ex-pats in China. Some of the programming includes:

HBO
Cinemax
Star
National Geographic
History Channel
CNN (asia)
Discovery
Animal Network
Travel Channel

...and quite a few others...


As you might expect, there is a big market for piracy in China when it comes to satellite TV. The challenge of course, is finding a good connection, good price, and someone that's going to be available to fix problems, and not disappear along with your signal.

Most Chinese are unfamiliar with satellite TV for expats, so it's hard to find information by word of mouth. We've had a good connection for many months, with minor problems a couple of times. The technician was always available, and came right over to get it up and running again. We signed up for a one-year contract with him, for a price that included the equipment; a mini-dish, decoder box, remote and cables.

It's been about 8-months, and last night, the signal dropped out, with a message that our Smart Card was not authorized. My wife tried to reach our technician, but his phone was turned OFF. I did a little research on the internet, and discovered that there are quite a few services available for a good deal less than what we paid. Oh well; live and learn. I read that one of the more often perpetrated scams is for the pirate to get you connected legitimately to the service, but then the service drops out before the agreed time. In our case, it was one-year, so we've got about four-months left from our original agreement.

My wife finally reached the guy this morning, and told him the signal dropped out with the unauthorized card message. He told her he would renew the account from his office this morning.

Now, for me, I've always been a skeptic, and that often gets me into trouble with my wife. In her view, we had an agreement with the man, and he will honor it. In my mind however, I wonder why he didn't sign us up for one full year to begin with. At any rate, we will hopefully have our signal restored later today, but in the meantime, be able to locate some cheaper and more reliable services.

Is anyone out there familiar with these services?

[GZBILL]

Actually, the service you have is illegal.

 

Sat and / or cable TV that is not directly provided by a government licensed entity (i.e. state owned company specifically authorized to provide the service) is illegal. Often there will be campaigns conducted by the PSB to destroy any Sat TV dishes that are visible on the outside of apartment buildings.

 

This is one reason why all these Sat TV dealers are only reachable via a disposable cell phone number.

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

Actually, the service you have is illegal.

 

Sat and / or cable TV that is not directly provided by a government licensed entity (i.e. state owned company specifically authorized to provide the service) is illegal. Often there will be campaigns conducted by the PSB to destroy any Sat TV dishes that are visible on the outside of apartment buildings.

 

This is one reason why all these Sat TV dealers are only reachable via a disposable cell phone number.

 

I'm not sure whether the guy is legally licensed with Dream or not. Dream offices are based in Beijing, and there is also a big office in Shanghai, so they do provide service in China.

[whome?]

Actually, the service you have is illegal.

 

Sat and / or cable TV that is not directly provided by a government licensed entity (i.e. state owned company specifically authorized to provide the service) is illegal. Often there will be campaigns conducted by the PSB to destroy any Sat TV dishes that are visible on the outside of apartment buildings.

 

This is one reason why all these Sat TV dealers are only reachable via a disposable cell phone number.

 

I'm not sure whether the guy is legally licensed with Dream or not. Dream offices are based in Beijing, and there is also a big office in Shanghai, so they do provide service in China.

 

Yes Dream does have offices in China and provide sat. service but what GZ Bill said is also my experience in Shandong. I know other ex-pats who have the same service that you described except they paid a one-time fee of ~1500 RMB for the service. They have been lucky that when they get the message you have gotten the guy comes out and gives them a "new" card.

 

I have Sat. TV signed up through Qingdao Cable TV. It is the same Dream signal but I have a contract with monthly fee, paid annually. It is a more than $1500/yr.

 

I also know of an ex-pat who had the police "visit" them because they saw the sat. dish from the street. His Chinese wife was able to "settle" the case but they had to go to the police station. I wanted to avoid this situation.

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

Actually, the service you have is illegal.

 

Sat and / or cable TV that is not directly provided by a government licensed entity (i.e. state owned company specifically authorized to provide the service) is illegal. Often there will be campaigns conducted by the PSB to destroy any Sat TV dishes that are visible on the outside of apartment buildings.

 

This is one reason why all these Sat TV dealers are only reachable via a disposable cell phone number.

 

I'm not sure whether the guy is legally licensed with Dream or not. Dream offices are based in Beijing, and there is also a big office in Shanghai, so they do provide service in China.

 

Yes Dream does have offices in China and provide sat. service but what GZ Bill said is also my experience in Shandong. I know other ex-pats who have the same service that you described except they paid a one-time fee of ~1500 RMB for the service. They have been lucky that when they get the message you have gotten the guy comes out and gives them a "new" card.

 

I have Sat. TV signed up through Qingdao Cable TV. It is the same Dream signal but I have a contract with monthly fee, paid annually. It is a more than $1500/yr.

 

I also know of an ex-pat who had the police "visit" them because they saw the sat. dish from the street. His Chinese wife was able to "settle" the case but they had to go to the police station. I wanted to avoid this situation.

 

 

We haven't had any problem with the dish and police visits. We've heard they pretty much leave the expats alone in our community, as there are several of us there. You can see dozens of dishes on all the apartments there, some small, some large.

 

I have to approach this situation very carefully, as my wife did all the legwork on it, and got the service for me several months back as a surprise. From what I'm seeing now, it looks like she spent a good deal more than what was necessary; like 5K RMB for the first year, and 3K per year thereafter. Now, I'm seeing several prices in the 1,500 RMB range you've mentioned.

 

Not sure really what's going on today though. My wife called him this morning, and he said that he could fix the problem from his office? Not sure how he can do it from there. Seems like he'd have to re-hack the card with a new code. He told my wife the signal would be restored sometime around 3:00PM today. For sure, in a few months, we're going to find a cheaper rate.

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

Even though we get R-rated movies through Dream, every single movie has been carefully edited for content. In the 8-months I've been watching movies on HBO, Cinemax, and Star here, every single sex scene has been edited out, and I've yet to see a single nip.

 

[Randy W]

I don't know if you were aware of this -

All DAW MINI BOX owners must stay tuned to the Over-the-Air Software Broadcast from November 22 up to December 31, 2008. It will only take 2 minutes for the automatic upgrading process to finish.

 

. . .

 

After upgrading, contact Dream Care Hotlines

or Business Offices on how to claim your new SMARTCARD

 

 

UPGRADE NOW TO AVOID CHANNEL LOSS!

 

For more information and assistance, please call DreamCare Hotlines at (02) 918-8000 or (02) 705-3000 or log on to www.dream.com.ph

 

Dish Network has been known to void existing smart cards and issue all new ones to cut off the hacks.

[GZBILL]

Actually, the service you have is illegal.

 

Sat and / or cable TV that is not directly provided by a government licensed entity (i.e. state owned company specifically authorized to provide the service) is illegal. Often there will be campaigns conducted by the PSB to destroy any Sat TV dishes that are visible on the outside of apartment buildings.

 

This is one reason why all these Sat TV dealers are only reachable via a disposable cell phone number.

 

I'm not sure whether the guy is legally licensed with Dream or not. Dream offices are based in Beijing, and there is also a big office in Shanghai, so they do provide service in China.

 

Impossible for him to be licensed. No Sat TV is legal unless provided directly by the government. Try asking him for a valid fa piao that specifically states the concept as Sat TV.

 

In Guangzhou, Shanghai and now Beijing I've seen the Sat dish raids following months of warning notices on compound bulletin boards. They simply use window-washing equipment to scale even the highest buildings and pluck Sat dishes off your balcony.

 

Some hotels obtain special licenses, though. And in Beijing the diplomatic compounds get legal Sat TV and special cable services.

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

Actually, the service you have is illegal.

 

Sat and / or cable TV that is not directly provided by a government licensed entity (i.e. state owned company specifically authorized to provide the service) is illegal. Often there will be campaigns conducted by the PSB to destroy any Sat TV dishes that are visible on the outside of apartment buildings.

 

This is one reason why all these Sat TV dealers are only reachable via a disposable cell phone number.

 

I'm not sure whether the guy is legally licensed with Dream or not. Dream offices are based in Beijing, and there is also a big office in Shanghai, so they do provide service in China.

 

Impossible for him to be licensed. No Sat TV is legal unless provided directly by the government. Try asking him for a valid fa piao that specifically states the concept as Sat TV.

 

In Guangzhou, Shanghai and now Beijing I've seen the Sat dish raids following months of warning notices on compound bulletin boards. They simply use window-washing equipment to scale even the highest buildings and pluck Sat dishes off your balcony.

 

Some hotels obtain special licenses, though. And in Beijing the diplomatic compounds get legal Sat TV and special cable services.

I agree. Most likely a pirate. No legit fa piao here.

 

Thankfully, so far no warnings. I've heard that this is done in some places, but have heard that most foreigners are excluded from the practice. Time will tell for sure. I guess if they pluck it off, we'll just get another one....

 

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

I don't know if you were aware of this -

All DAW MINI BOX owners must stay tuned to the Over-the-Air Software Broadcast from November 22 up to December 31, 2008. It will only take 2 minutes for the automatic upgrading process to finish.

 

. . .

 

After upgrading, contact Dream Care Hotlines

or Business Offices on how to claim your new SMARTCARD

 

 

UPGRADE NOW TO AVOID CHANNEL LOSS!

 

For more information and assistance, please call DreamCare Hotlines at (02) 918-8000 or (02) 705-3000 or log on to www.dream.com.ph

 

Dish Network has been known to void existing smart cards and issue all new ones to cut off the hacks.

 

For several weeks that warning appeared on screen. It looks like they did the cut-off last night. There is no way to update the software from our system. There is a place in the setup menu that you can manually update, but when I try to execute it, it won't function. We'll just wait for the guy to get it working again, doing whatever it is he does...

 

[whome?]

Actually, the service you have is illegal.

 

Sat and / or cable TV that is not directly provided by a government licensed entity (i.e. state owned company specifically authorized to provide the service) is illegal. Often there will be campaigns conducted by the PSB to destroy any Sat TV dishes that are visible on the outside of apartment buildings.

 

This is one reason why all these Sat TV dealers are only reachable via a disposable cell phone number.

 

I'm not sure whether the guy is legally licensed with Dream or not. Dream offices are based in Beijing, and there is also a big office in Shanghai, so they do provide service in China.

 

Impossible for him to be licensed. No Sat TV is legal unless provided directly by the government. Try asking him for a valid fa piao that specifically states the concept as Sat TV.

 

In Guangzhou, Shanghai and now Beijing I've seen the Sat dish raids following months of warning notices on compound bulletin boards. They simply use window-washing equipment to scale even the highest buildings and pluck Sat dishes off your balcony.

 

Some hotels obtain special licenses, though. And in Beijing the diplomatic compounds get legal Sat TV and special cable services.

I agree. Most likely a pirate. No legit fa piao here.

 

Thankfully, so far no warnings. I've heard that this is done in some places, but have heard that most foreigners are excluded from the practice. Time will tell for sure. I guess if they pluck it off, we'll just get another one....

 

 

I am not trying to bust your ass or anything because I thought about getting one of these illegal ones also ... but sure they maybe sometimes let expats have a little more freedom but also they can decide to prosecute and make this an issue. Not sure if they could decide to throw you out of China for it but why risk it.

 

My legal Sat through the Cable TV office (licensed by Govt) only cost 2,800 RMB/year.

[Sebastian]

Jesse - I'm sorry - it's all comical now - you saw the warning message

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

Jesse - I'm sorry - it's all comical now - you saw the warning message

 

Life is full of funny things. Some are important, and some are not. It's just good to be able to laugh don't you think? Right now, life is good. Job is good, marriage is even better. Satellite TV is just nice to have, but can live without it. I don't spend much time thinking about messages that show up on TV screens. I'd rather go for a walk in the neighborhood, or on a trip with my wife somewhere.

[Guest ShaQuaNew]

Actually, the service you have is illegal.

 

Sat and / or cable TV that is not directly provided by a government licensed entity (i.e. state owned company specifically authorized to provide the service) is illegal. Often there will be campaigns conducted by the PSB to destroy any Sat TV dishes that are visible on the outside of apartment buildings.

 

This is one reason why all these Sat TV dealers are only reachable via a disposable cell phone number.

 

I'm not sure whether the guy is legally licensed with Dream or not. Dream offices are based in Beijing, and there is also a big office in Shanghai, so they do provide service in China.

 

Impossible for him to be licensed. No Sat TV is legal unless provided directly by the government. Try asking him for a valid fa piao that specifically states the concept as Sat TV.

 

In Guangzhou, Shanghai and now Beijing I've seen the Sat dish raids following months of warning notices on compound bulletin boards. They simply use window-washing equipment to scale even the highest buildings and pluck Sat dishes off your balcony.

 

Some hotels obtain special licenses, though. And in Beijing the diplomatic compounds get legal Sat TV and special cable services.

I agree. Most likely a pirate. No legit fa piao here.

 

Thankfully, so far no warnings. I've heard that this is done in some places, but have heard that most foreigners are excluded from the practice. Time will tell for sure. I guess if they pluck it off, we'll just get another one....

 

 

I am not trying to bust your ass or anything because I thought about getting one of these illegal ones also ... but sure they maybe sometimes let expats have a little more freedom but also they can decide to prosecute and make this an issue. Not sure if they could decide to throw you out of China for it but why risk it.

 

My legal Sat through the Cable TV office (licensed by Govt) only cost 2,800 RMB/year.

 

 

I'll wait until the right moment to mention that to my wife. I don't know if that moment will ever come, because she doesn't much like me following behind her pointing out what she coulda and shoulda done, or even should consider doing next time. So, I take the easy way out, and say; honey, thank you for your hard work. Maybe when it comes time to renew, I'll just mention: "Hey honey, why don't we check with the cable company about getting a legal satellite?

 

[whome?]

Actually, the service you have is illegal.

 

Sat and / or cable TV that is not directly provided by a government licensed entity (i.e. state owned company specifically authorized to provide the service) is illegal. Often there will be campaigns conducted by the PSB to destroy any Sat TV dishes that are visible on the outside of apartment buildings.

 

This is one reason why all these Sat TV dealers are only reachable via a disposable cell phone number.

 

I'm not sure whether the guy is legally licensed with Dream or not. Dream offices are based in Beijing, and there is also a big office in Shanghai, so they do provide service in China.

 

Impossible for him to be licensed. No Sat TV is legal unless provided directly by the government. Try asking him for a valid fa piao that specifically states the concept as Sat TV.

 

In Guangzhou, Shanghai and now Beijing I've seen the Sat dish raids following months of warning notices on compound bulletin boards. They simply use window-washing equipment to scale even the highest buildings and pluck Sat dishes off your balcony.

 

Some hotels obtain special licenses, though. And in Beijing the diplomatic compounds get legal Sat TV and special cable services.

I agree. Most likely a pirate. No legit fa piao here.

 

Thankfully, so far no warnings. I've heard that this is done in some places, but have heard that most foreigners are excluded from the practice. Time will tell for sure. I guess if they pluck it off, we'll just get another one....

 

 

I am not trying to bust your ass or anything because I thought about getting one of these illegal ones also ... but sure they maybe sometimes let expats have a little more freedom but also they can decide to prosecute and make this an issue. Not sure if they could decide to throw you out of China for it but why risk it.

 

My legal Sat through the Cable TV office (licensed by Govt) only cost 2,800 RMB/year.

 

 

I'll wait until the right moment to mention that to my wife. I don't know if that moment will ever come, because she doesn't much like me following behind her pointing out what she coulda and shoulda done, or even should consider doing next time. So, I take the easy way out, and say; honey, thank you for your hard work. Maybe when it comes time to renew, I'll just mention: "Hey honey, why don't we check with the cable company about getting a legal satellite?

 

Good plan