Intelsat 907 - some useful information on the BBC SATBACK system

When areas of southern Spain and Portugal lost access to the free to air signals carrying BBC and ITV due to the changes in satellite footprints caused by Astra replacing their old satellite with new satellites, some expats turned to the Intelsat 907 and BBC SATBACK system to continue to receive their UK TV channels.

Essentially the BBC SATBACK system is run by Arqiva and is there as an emergency back up should the links for the Freeview TV system in the UK fail. If there is a failure in the Freeview distribution network, then the main UK TV channels can still be transmitted on Freeview by using these satellite feeds instead.

The BBC SATBACK system is not for public use, and is therefore encrypted. Therefore to use this system expats have to illegally hack into the system.

But this is not an entirely secure type of encryption, and the BISS keys to unlock and gain access to these feeds can be found on the internet within hours of a BISS CODE key change.
There have been constant rumours that this system would change its encryption system, to a more secure encryption system but so far nothing has happened.

( More details of this system can be found at http://www.satandpcguy.com/Site/intelsat_907_uk_tv_channels.php )

This blog continues at : http://www.satandpcguy.com/blog/2015/07/intelsat-907-some-useful-information/