[Pessin86] Esther Pessin. Pirate, New York (UPI). April 29, 1986. [HBO on January 15 became the first major cable channel to scramble its signals to prevent satellite dish owners from picking up HBO programming for free and the interruption which appeared during a movie early Sunday apparently was a protest of the policy. The hacker dubbed himself "Captain Midnight" and broke into the film "The Falcon and the Snowman" with a message that flickered on television screens across the nation for anywhere from 10 seconds to more than a minute. The cable raider broke into HBO with a multicolor test pattern and a five-line message printed in white letters: ``Good evening HBO From Captain Midnight $12.95/month? No way! Showtime/Movie Channel beware.'' ]