Panorama - Murdoch's TV Pirates

BBC Synopsis

As Rupert Murdoch faces accusations of law-breaking and corruption at his British tabloid newspapers, Panorama reveals fresh hacking allegations at the heart of News Corporation's pay-TV empire. The investigation examines the role of former senior police officers in recruiting people to break the law - in order to bring down Murdoch's commercial rival.

Episode Link - Panorama - Murdoch's TV Pirates

More Murdoch practices were called into question last night here in the UK by the Panorama Team on BBC. Their 30min show uncovers new information on how they "turned" a hacker that their own security team had discovered. The hacker had successfully broke into the Sky Tv set top card, and was showing others how to do this on the web.

The hacker was operating from a base known as HOIC or House of Ill Compute, they flew him to Israel to give him access to the very best equipment, were he was tasked with breaking the code of the French Chanel+ system which was installed in Murdoch's main rival system in the UK, ONDigital. Commenting later that the UK was flooded with ready to go, full access to all chanels, de-crypted On-Digital set top cards. On Digital finally went into administration.

For this, another one of Mudochs dirty tricks, he gained a huge advantage in having an unopposed field to play in when ON-Digital disappeared. It seems though, that some people here have the Murdoch Empire in their sights and are at least trying to run him out of town so to speak.

Murdochs face losing control of BSkyB after Ofcom launches 'fit and proper' probe following hacking scandal

Rupert Murdoch's grip on BSkyB could be under threat after an investigation was launched into whether his company is 'fit' to run the TV giant in light of the phone-hacking and bribery scandals engulfing his newspapers.

Media regulator Ofcom has confirmed to MailOnline they will probe whether the media tycoon's News Corp should hold a 39 per cent stake in Britain's biggest broadcaster.

They could decide Mr Murdoch's son James, chairman of BSkyB, should resign and News Corp must sell the majority of its Sky shares if they fail 'fit and proper' tests.

This Panorama report will do nothing to help them.

Update:

On the BBC News website the story of events in the Panorama programme, including a formal response from the News Corp subsiduary involved in the scandal.

News Corporation firm NDS accused of ITV Digital hack

NDS response to BBC Panorama:

NDS is a global leader in the fight against pay-TV piracy, having repeatedly and successfully assisted law enforcement in that important effort. Like most companies in the conditional access industry - and many law enforcement agencies - NDS uses industry contacts to track and catch both hackers and pirates. This is neither illegal nor unethical. And, to ensure that all activity remains completely within legal bounds, NDS staff and their contacts operate under a clear code of conduct for operating undercover. These allegations were the subject of a long-running court case in the United States. This concluded with NDS being totally vindicated and its accuser having to pay almost $19m in costs.

reply to post by ukWolf


Murdochs media empire is just one side of a very dirty coin.

reply to post by TheMindWar


If they fail the "fit and proper persons" test, it will be huge blow to them personally.

A picture of Rupert recieving the news will not be making it to the front page of the Sun unfortunately.

This programme has huge relevance for everyone on this website.

It is evidence of the underhand goings on in the world.

What else or other organisations are a front........ ?

For me it's a shame this story has not gained much responses on ATS. I just recently learned about it the the pub last night!

There is also a probe going on in Australia on the same issue although apparently at the time News Ltd was carrying out the same nefarious acts Down Under it was not "illegal" to pirate smartcards!

I've never been comfortable with the domination of Rupert Murdoch in media and would sure like to see those responsible brought to account.

His son (not James Murdoch) who led NDS, the subsidiary alleged to have masterminded the operation has now resigned over "a family dispute"