It shall be a misdemeanor for any person to knowingly:

(1) Obtain or attempt to obtain cable television service from a company by trick, artifice, deception or other fraudulent means with the intent to deprive such company of any or all lawful compensation for rendering each type of service obtained;

Attorney's Note

Under the Alabama Code, punishments for crimes depend on the classification. In the case of this section:
ClassPrisonFine
Class B misdemeanorup to 6 monthsup to $3,000
For details, see Ala. Code § 13A-5-7
criminal case

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Terms Used In Alabama Code 13A-8-121

  • circuit: means judicial circuit. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • company: means any franchised or other duly licensed company which is operated or intended to be operated to perform the service of receiving and amplifying the signals broadcast by one or more television stations and redistributing such signals by wire, cable or other device or means for accomplishing such redistribution, to members of the public who subscribe to such service, or distributing through such company's antennae, poles, wires, cables, conduits or other property used in providing service to its subscribers and customers any television signals whether broadcast or not. See Alabama Code 13A-8-120
  • Conviction: A judgement of guilt against a criminal defendant.
  • Lease: A contract transferring the use of property or occupancy of land, space, structures, or equipment in consideration of a payment (e.g., rent). Source: OCC
  • person: includes a corporation as well as a natural person. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
  • state: when applied to the different parts of the United States, includes the District of Columbia and the several territories of the United States. See Alabama Code 1-1-1
(2) Assist or instruct any other person in obtaining or attempting to obtain any cable television service without payment of all lawful compensation to the company providing such service;
(3) Make or maintain a connection or connections, whether physical, electrical, mechanical, acoustical or by other means, with any cables, wires, components or other devices used for the distribution of cable television without authority from the cable television company;
(4) Make or maintain any modification or alteration to any device installed with the authorization of a cable television company for the purpose of intercepting or receiving any program or other service carried by such company which such person is not authorized by such company to receive;
(5) Manufacture, import into this state, distribute, sell, lease or offer, possess, or advertise for sale or lease any device, or any plan or kit for a device or for a printed circuit designed in whole or in part to decode, descramble or otherwise make intelligible any encoded, scramble or other nonstandard signal carried by a cable television company with the intent that such device, plan or kit be used for the theft of such company’s services;
(6) Provided, however, that nothing in this section shall be construed to prohibit the manufacture, importation, sale, lease or possession of any television device possessing the internal hardware necessary to receive cable television signals without the use of a converter device or box, or of any television advertised as “cable ready”;
(7) Manufacture, import into this state, distribute, sell, offer for sale, rent or use any device, plan or kit for a device, designed in whole or in part to unlawfully perform or facilitate the unlawful performance of any of the acts set out in subdivisions (1)-(5) of this section;
(8) Provided, that nothing in this section shall be construed to limit a subscriber’s equipment selection to that of the cable company, so long as all equipment is properly installed and meets all local and FCC requirements.

Any person violating the provisions of this section shall, upon conviction, be guilty of a Class B misdemeanor.

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