Free Hotel Porn

by Hammerman

Here’s a tip for those of you that stay in Marriot hotels. Marriot has, to my knowledge, installed a pay-per-view (PPV) system nationwide called “On Command”. This system is probably similar to many such systems used in hotels today. As far as I can tell, there is a radio frequency module attached to the TV that signals some master hotel unit to order movies and add charges to your hotel bill.

I spent several months in a Marriot and found a way to tap into free porn movies without paying a penny. It all started in the exercise room. Early one morning, I noticed that my favorite cable news channel had not been programmed into the wall mounted TV. No one was around, so I just accessed the menu function and scrolled up the “raw” channels so that I could add my channel. As I hit channels 40, 41, and 42, I found porn. No scrambling and no requests for billing authorization. Nervously, I just skipped past and added my channel. When back in my room, I found that those three channels were unavailable and the menu function was not available on the room TV.

This got me thinking. The exercise room TV was just a regular TV with no PPV box on the back, unlike my room TV. So, did this mean that I could hook up a regular TV in my room and see these channels? I pulled the dresser away from the wall to get a good look at the back of the TV. All of the cable connections had plastic protectors that made it impossible to disconnect. It looked like a single cable came out of the wall and then connected into the On Command PPV module. Out of this box it went into the back of the TV. I dove into my computer bag, pulled out a screw driver, and removed the wall plate from the hotel wall. Behind this place was a common cable splitter—with no plastic protectors. Bingo!

I now had a way to splice into the cable system before it got to my TV. At that point, all I had to do was hook a regular TV up and see if I could get those channels. Now, the maid would certainly sound the alarm if she found a second TV hooked up. Not an option. Instead, I ran down to the local electronics superstore and bought a device that would let me watch TV on my computer (Pinnacle PCTV Deluxe). Radio Shack provided a short cable, a 1-to-2 splitter, and some connectors. I figured, if it didn’t work, I could just return it all.

Then, I waited until until late at night to try my hack. If I accidently brought the hotel’s cable system down, I wanted to do it in the middle of the night when few viewers were watching and I could plead ignorance. I just added my Radio Shack splitter between their splitter and my TV’s cable. That created one new empty cable jack for my computer’s use. I then connected my new cable and hooked it up to my new Pinnacle box. I opened the software and presto, ABC was playing on my computer. The picture was great. I checked the TV and it was also functioning fine. Both my TV and computer got great pictures and I could watch different channels. Both my TV and Pinnacle box had remotes, so I could lie on the bed and watch two channels at one time.

But, what would I find at channels 40 thru 42? Well, non-stop porn actually. This is what I think is going on. When navigating the PPV menus on the TV, there are two options for the adult channels. First, you can order specific movies for about $10 each. Second, you can pay them $40 or $50 and have 24 hours of porn on your TV. I think what happens is, when you select the all-day option, they just open up channels 40 – 42 and let you see these movies that run in a long loop. Since you are not selecting individual titles, there is no need for their radio controlled system to start/stop any one movie.

Now, I was really paranoid that I was somehow racking up PPV charges. So, the next morning (after hiding my cables behind the dresser), I paid up my bill to date. Had there been a $50 charge for PPV, I’d have paid it and never tried that again. But, there was no charge. So, for the rest of my stay, I had free access to three channels of non-stop porn. My Pinnacle box even allowed me to capture video and use my computer like a VCR.

Now, I don’t know if every hotel system works like this, but if you’re at a Marriot hotel (Courtyard, Rennaisance, Fairfield, etc.) and they have the On Command system, it can be defeated. Good luck.