GoKawiilJune 7, 2020
Discret 11, the French TV encryption of the 80's
I spent my childhood in France, playing a lot of soccer and watching way too much TV. In the 80s, there were three channels available. Two of them, Antenne 2 and FR3, were state funded and boring while TF1 was privatized and offered plenty of Japanese cartoons. My generation grew up with Captain Tsubasa, Saint Seiya, Captain Harlock, and Grendizer.
There was no cable and no Internet, the TV signal was broadcast over the air and every house had an antenna on its roof to capture waves full of Kame-hame-has.
Things changed in 1984 with the launch of a fourth channel. Canal Plus (Channel Plus) was to revolutionize the TV landscape with recent movies, international sports coverage, and no commercials. To fuel its ambitions, "Canal" was to be funded with monthly fees paid by subscribers.
The technical difficulty was dead simple. How do you make sure only those who paid can watch when the signal is broadcast to everybody? Easy, you encrypt it with something called "Discret 11".
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