When we hear the phrase “10 times hackers,” the mind usually jumps to compromised passwords, stolen data, or ransomware‑laden servers. Yet the world of intrusion stretches far beyond the digital realm – it even reaches into the glowing tubes of live television. Since the days before computers ruled the world, mischievous operators have managed to slip their own audio, video, or messages into real‑time broadcasts, turning ordinary evenings into unforgettable moments of bewilderment.
10 Times Hackers: A Glimpse Into TV Hijacks
10 Southern Television
On November 26, 1977, a mysterious intruder pierced the airwaves of the now‑defunct Southern Television just minutes after the 5:00 p.m. news began. While viewers could still see the familiar face of anchor Andrew Gardner, his voice vanished, replaced by a strange, otherworldly tone.
The new audio belonged to a self‑styled alien called Vrillon, who claimed to represent the Ashtar Galactic Command. Vrillon used the platform to issue a heartfelt plea to humanity, warning against the perils of war and urging the dismantling of all weapons.
During the six‑minute transmission, Vrillon spoke of a higher spiritual evolution awaiting those who embraced peace, insisting that only the tranquil would ascend to those lofty realms.
Meanwhile, Gardner dutifully continued reading the news as engineers scrambled to restore the original audio. Most viewers assumed it was a prank or a technical glitch, and the identity of the hijacker remains a mystery to this day.
9 HBO
April 27, 1986, saw a bold pirate seize control of HBO’s satellite feed during the airing of The Falcon and the Snowman. The rogue, calling himself Captain Midnight, commandeered the signal for four and a half minutes, flashing a bold still‑image message across viewers’ screens.
The onscreen note read:
GOODEVENING HBO
FROM CAPTAIN MIDNIGHT
$12.95/MONTH ?
NO WAY !
[SHOWTIME/MOVIE CHANNEL BEWARE!]
Investigators later traced the culprit to John MacDougall, a satellite‑dish salesman and engineer who harbored a personal grudge against the premium network.
During the early ’80s, satellite‑dish owners could freely capture any broadcast, but HBO began scrambling its signals, forcing viewers to purchase costly descramblers. HBO also charged $12.95 per month for access, a move that threatened MacDougall’s dish‑selling business.
Incensed, MacDougall exploited his position at a satellite uplink facility, redirecting the transmission equipment he’d just used to upload a movie, and redirected it toward HBO’s feed to broadcast his protest.
The Federal Communications Commission launched an investigation, apprehending MacDougall a few months later. He escaped harsh punishment, receiving a year of probation and a $5,000 fine.
8 WGN And WTTW
At approximately 9:15 p.m. on November 22, 1987, a daring intruder breached Chicago’s WGN‑TV. Engineers swiftly reclaimed the signal, but the hacker was not done.
Later that evening, the same individual turned his attention to WTTW, also in Chicago, hijacking its live broadcast and swapping it with a bizarre video of a masked figure. The masked performer mocked WGN, subjected himself to a woman beating his bare buttocks with a fly‑swatter, and even slipped in a free Pepsi advertisement.
This audacious episode is now immortalized as the Max Headroom Signal Intrusion. The perpetrator’s identity remains unknown, though he would have faced a one‑year prison term and a $100,000 fine if caught.
7 Playboy And American Exxxtasy
September 1987 witnessed a triple intrusion into the adult‑oriented cable channels Playboy and American Exxxtasy. The hacker managed three separate breaches on the same day—two on American Exxxtasy and one on Playboy—replacing each program’s content with a fervent religious proclamation.
The perpetrator was later identified as 38‑year‑old Thomas M. Haynie, an employee of the Christian Broadcast Network (CBN), a channel devoted solely to Christian programming.
Authorities claimed Haynie leveraged CBN’s equipment to execute the hacks, though CBN officials disputed this, arguing their gear was incompatible with the adult channels’ systems.
Investigators, however, presented evidence that the Playboy intrusion used CBN hardware. Haynie received one felony and one misdemeanor charge for the Playboy breach; the two charges linked to the American Exxxtasy hacks were dropped due to insufficient proof.
6 Al‑Manar
In August 2006, operatives associated with the Israeli Defense Force (IDF) penetrated Al‑Manar, the official television outlet of Hezbollah. The hijackers replaced the regular broadcast with stark images of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, accompanied by ominous captions such as “Your day is coming, coming, coming.”
The IDF also aired photographs of deceased Hezbollah fighters, each captioned to challenge Hezbollah’s narrative of victory in the 2006 Lebanon War. Examples included statements like “This is the photograph of a body of a member of Hezbollah’s special forces,” and “Nasrallah lies: it is not us that is hiding our losses.”
These graphic visuals aimed to counter Hezbollah’s claims of triumph, highlighting the heavy casualties the group suffered despite Israel’s extensive bombing campaign targeting Al‑Manar during the conflict.
Beyond the television intrusion, Israel also compromised several Hezbollah‑affiliated websites and radio stations, and dispatched voice and text alerts to Lebanese citizens clarifying that its operations targeted Hezbollah, not civilian populations.
5 The Weather Channel
On the morning of April 18, 2019, a ransomware assault crippled The Weather Channel. Between 6:00 a.m. and 7:39 a.m., the network was forced to broadcast a pre‑recorded program, effectively halting its regular weather updates.
The channel later issued a statement describing the incident as a “malicious software attack on the network,” confirming that the intrusion was intentional and financially motivated.
Subsequent investigations revealed the attackers demanded payment to restore normal service, classifying the event as a classic ransomware episode aimed at extorting the broadcaster.
4 Channels 2 And 10
In November 2016, a lone hacker seized the evening news feeds of Israeli stations Channels 2 and 10 on the same night. The intruder swapped the live broadcasts for messages that mocked Israel and suggested the recent wildfires sweeping the country were divine retribution.
The attacks coincided with massive wildfires that forced tens of thousands to evacuate, including around 80,000 residents from Haifa alone. The fires were widely suspected to be the work of Palestinian or pro‑Arab arsonists.
During the hijack, the perpetrator also broadcast images of Islamic religious sites and played an audio clip of the Islamic call to prayer, aligning the timing with a Knesset debate over a bill banning loudspeakers in places of worship—a measure perceived by many as targeting Muslim practices.
3 KRTV
February 2013 saw a peculiar intrusion on Montana’s KRTV while the Steve Wilkos Show aired. The attacker exploited the station’s Emergency Alert System, issuing a frantic warning about a zombie invasion across the state, urging viewers to stay clear of the undead.
The alert was largely dismissed as a hoax, with some media outlets suggesting it was a promotional stunt for the popular series The Walking Dead. Nonetheless, investigations confirmed the hack was genuine, noting the intruder had unsuccessfully attempted similar breaches at other stations.
The hacker’s identity remains unknown, and the incident stands as a bizarre footnote in broadcast history.
2 KVOA
In February 2009, KVOA in Tucson, Arizona, fell victim to a shocking hijack during the live broadcast of Super Bowl XLIII between the Arizona Cardinals and the Pittsburgh Steelers. The intrusion affected only Comcast viewers in Tucson, replacing the football action with a 30‑second clip of explicit adult content sourced from Club Jenna.
Many viewers initially mistook the graphic footage for a daring commercial, until the explicit nature of the scene became unmistakable. The unexpected intrusion caused a stir among the audience and the broader media.
Comcast, embarrassed by the breach, issued a $10 credit to roughly 80,000 affected customers. Two years later, the FBI identified the hacker as Frank Tanori Gonzalez, a Cox Cable employee at the time of the incident.
1 An ABC Affiliate In Wyoming
In 2006, an alleged hack struck an unnamed ABC affiliate serving Niobrara County, Wyoming. The event, dubbed “The Wyoming Incident,” remains shrouded in uncertainty, with scant details and lingering doubts about its authenticity.
The station’s identity has never been disclosed, and only a brief, eerie video is known to have aired during the intrusion. The clip featured an animated head accompanied by static text messages, beginning with the phrase “SPECIAL PRESENTATION.” Subsequent lines read, “YOU ARE ILL . . . WE JUST WANT TO FIX YOU” and “YOU WILL SEE SUCH PRETTY THINGS.”
Viewers who experienced the broadcast reported unsettling physical reactions: headaches, nausea, temporary amnesia, vivid hallucinations, and even vomiting when the unsettling tone played. The bizarre audio component seemed to trigger these symptoms.
Scientists have offered a more rational explanation, suggesting that the reported effects were likely caused by an unintended interference signal that produced a frequency capable of inducing disorientation and hallucinations, rather than a supernatural hack.