Top 10 Times TV Was Hijacked

For the most part, the Chinese government keeps a white-knuckled grip on the reins of the media. But during Friday prime time on August 1st 2014, hackers temporarily wrested away control, hijacking local cable in the city of Wenzhou. Viewers were taken aback to see anti-government, pro-democracy messages overlaying programs on each of the channels for a period of roughly ten minutes. The pirate content included references to the persecuted spiritual movement Falun Gong, and the iconic image of Tank Man, the lone protestor who faced down tanks in Tiananmen Square.

During the 2006 Lebanon War, the Israeli Air Force diversified their attack strategy by taking aim at Hezbollah’s satellite television station Al Manar. The bombing was condemned by some, but defended by Israel, who claimed the channel was being used by Hezbollah to incite violence and was therefore a legitimate target. When the attacks failed to stop Al Manar from transmitting their content, Israel hijacked the channel to broadcast anti-Hezbollah propaganda, showing dead Hezbollah fighters and claiming Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was lying about their losses.

Time to get spiritual. During Playboy’s broadcast of “Three Daughters” on September 6th, 1987, viewers were taken aback to find biblical scripture part of the show. Just as things heated up, the program was replaced with a quote from Exodus 20:8 and Matthew 4:17, which urged viewers to “Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at hand”. Viewers probably had something else at hand, and suffice it to say, Playboy wasn’t too impressed either. In 1990, Thomas Haynie, an uplink engineer at the Christian Broadcasting Network, was convicted of satellite piracy.

In the 1980s, the communist regime in Poland was holding on by its fingernails. Economic crisis was inspiring dissent, inflamed by the underground trade union “Solidarność” - Polish for “Solidarity”. During the 1985 parliamentary elections, the regime banned opposition candidates from running, prompting calls for a boycott. To get the message out, four astronomers at the University of Toruń superimposed text supporting Solidarity and the proposed boycott. They were caught, but received a light slap on the wrist in the form of probation and a small fine.

What do the Arizona Cardinals, the Pittsburgh Steelers, and adult actor Evan Stone’s penis have in common? Unlikely as it might seem, they all had screen time during the 2009 Super Bowl. In parts of Arizona, thousands watching Comcast’s broadcast on NBC-affiliated channel KVOA had their sports viewing interrupted by a 30 second clip from “Wild Cherries 5”, in which adult actress Tristan Kingsley performs oral sex on the aforementioned Mr. Stone. In 2011, former cable employee Frank Tanori Gonzalez was arrested and pled guilty to computer tampering.

On April 27, 1986, John MacDougall decided he’d had enough. His satellite dish business was struggling thanks to HBO’s high subscription fees. So he did what anyone would do in that situation. He named himself “Captain Midnight” and jammed HBO’s signal to broadcast a mildly worded complaint. Working part time as an operations engineer at an uplink station, he had everything he needed for the crime. His message lasted almost five minutes, but it was enough to grab the attention of the media and the authorities, who gave him one year probation and a $5,000 fine.

As home viewers took in this idyllic mountain scene on Czech Television’s program Panorama, a devastating nuclear explosion suddenly shattered the serenity. The year was 2007... and thankfully viewers weren’t actually seeing the opening shot of WWIII. The prank-pulling guerilla art collective Ztohoven hacked into one of Panorama’s live cameras and replaced live broadcast with a version that featured a CGI explosion and mushroom cloud. Titled “Media Reality”, the prank was aimed at showing how easily the media can manipulate us. To the casual, unsuspecting observer, it actually looked pretty pants-wettingly real, and caused shock and outrage among viewers.

We’ve all imagined it. The dead are rising. The zombie apocalypse is finally here. Finally, that shotgun, machete or crowbar you keep under the bed is about to be put to use. On February 11 2013, our worst horror film-fuelled fears looked as if they’d become a reality when audio warnings about the dead returning from the grave were broadcast over the Emergency Alert Systems of different channels in a few select regions in the United States. The Emergency Alert System exists to inform people of local or national emergencies, and this does seem to qualify, except of course that it was a hoax. The unnamed hacker was apprehended after his fourth such stunt.

Footage of a masked man having his bare butt spanked with a flyswatter isn’t exactly what Chicago audiences expected when they tuned in to watch Doctor Who on November 22, 1987. But thanks to the efforts of an unknown and extremely odd signal hijacker, that’s what they got. Dressed as Max Headroom, the fictional artificial intelligence that became a pop culture icon in the 80s, an unknown man swaggered, hummed, and blustered at the camera, before treating viewers to his pasty pale buttocks. What a sight to behold.

When aliens finally make contact, will they send an ambassador? Descend from the skies in a rain of fire and death? Or . . . just sort of phone it in? In November 26, 1977, the evening news on the UK’s Southern Television station was disrupted by a strange audio message. A representative of the “Ashtar Galactic Command” warned humans to disarm and live in peace, or leave the galaxy. Some people thought it was really from outer space, although, in hindsight it did seem pretty odd that they would contact just one TV channel. But hey, the hijackers remain unknown today - so who knows?