15 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT STUNT

15 YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT STUNT



SAN DIEGO (Wireless Flash) – Today (Apr. 27) marks the 15 year anniversary of the day a man who called himself “Captain Midnight” blocked HBO’s satellite signal. Captain Midnight was actually a satellite dealer named John MacDougall of Ocala, Florida, who transmitted a message on the screen that read: Good evening HBO, from Captain Midnight: $12.95/month? No Way! (Showtime/Movie Channel Beware). It wasn’t that MacDougall was too cheap to pay for HBO but the company’s price hike was putting a damper on his struggling business. Although MacDougall was eventually arrested, he was only fined $5000 by the FCC and placed on one year’s probation. In the end, his effort to lower pay cable prices was for nothing. According to Sherman George, director of media services at the University of California, San Diego, MacDougall’s message had no effect on cable prices whatsoever.

Fri 04-27-01