Remember the first days of cable TV and the scams of people selling 'decoder' boxes? Now we are revisiting those days with individuals offering satellite cards that supposedly make satellite service 'free' to users. The satellite card allows a satellite receiver to decode the satellite signal. But are these offers really good or merely too good to be true?

First, lets clarify things a bit. There are many satellite TV companies that offer legitimate 'free satellite TV' offers. These companies offer the satellite dish, receiver, and installation for free. The customer enrolls in a subscription service for a specified period of time, say 12 months. At the end of that time period the consumer can choose to continue with the service or not, either way the equipment belongs to the consumer.

But the offer of a satellite card to use without subscribed service are both far from legitimate and certainly not free. First, to have a working system, you have to have a satellite dish, a receiver and the system installed correctly. Those items certainly are not free. Next you have to get the satellite card - obviously from all the offers available on the internet, this offer isn't free either - in fact, the cost of the card is the equivalent of several months of satellite subscription services.

In addition to these obvious costs associated with 'free' service using pirated satellite cards, there are some more subtle costs. Satellite TV services are savvy to pirated satellite signals. They frequently search out the pirated cards and disable them by making the decoder stop working. Of course, the pirated card can be reprogrammed - but guess what, there's a fee associated with the reprogramming.

Also, there is the risk involved. Let's face it, many people felt comfortable pirating songs over the Internet. Then the music companies started pressuring for some very active prosecution of the violators. As a result, heavy fines have been imposed on many people. Satellite companies are likely to follow the example of music companies. Some, such as DirecTV have already started a vigorous prosecution of the pirated satellite cards. The cost of the risk far outweighs any perceived savings.

Satellite TV is affordable and offers quality service. There is simply no reason to pursue a less than legitimate satellite service.