Man sold TV boxes giving illegal access to Sky, BT and Virgin, trial hears

A man allegedly sold unauthorised set top boxes enabling illegal access to TV subscriptions including Sky and Virgin, a trial has heard. Michael Hornung, 38, is accused of selling unauthorised decoders; selling articles for use in fraud and advertising unauthorised decoders for sale.

Mr Hornung, of Hyde, denies the allegations and is currently on trial at Minshull Street Crown Court. Jurors were told at the start of the hearing that Mr Hornung was not present and not represented and ‘that is his choice’.

The court heard that Mr Hornung is accused of ‘creating and supplying’ the TV boxes so that his customers can ‘avoid’ having to pay the subscription for broadcasting services such as Sky, BT and Virgin. It was said that he operated the business by supplying the equipment so that customers could get access to the Pay TV channels without paying for it, and instead he charged his customers a fee.

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Acting on behalf of the Federation Against Copyright Theft (F.A.C.T), prosecutor Ari Alibhai said that broadcasting services, such as Sky, provide a set top box for customers, which includes the box itself, cables and a smart card. He said the smart card is used to access certain channels depending on the type of subscription paid for.

“Control words can be used to unscramble certain channels, which can sometimes come up on the television reading ‘Channel not available’,” he said. “There are two methods of obtaining unlawful access, the first is by obtaining these control words which can be extracted and posted onto the internet.

“And the other is using equipment to find those control words and pretending to be a legitimate box. This equipment can use the