Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Entertainment/2021 September 6

= September 6 =

What happens if I tune into ppv channel before/after of PPV show?
In USA, PPV shows are quite common. I want to know what happens if I tune into ppv channel before/after of PPV show? Will it show me Noise (video)? Rizosome (talk) 02:47, 6 September 2021 (UTC)
 * Assuming you're referring to Pay-per-view, it's going to depend on how your service provider handles these things. ←Baseball Bugs What's up, Doc? carrots→ 03:44, 6 September 2021 (UTC)


 * Video snow is a thing of the past. It's an analog artifact and most analog cable TV systems were shut down decades ago.
 * I'll assume this is a historical question. If I remember correctly from the olden days, most PPV stations would broadcast scrambled programming 24/7. When there wasn't a big event like a wrestling match, they would fill their schedule with movies.  If you tuned in before your cable box had the decoding key, you'd just see a scrambled mess.  Later cable boxes would be smarter. If you tried to tune into a scrambled channel, they would automatically re-direct you to the channel that played advertisements for upcoming PPV programming.
 * Nowadays, PPV is done with digital streaming. There's nothing to "tune into" before the broadcast starts. You can't join a PPV stream until it's available, just like you can't watch a YouTube video until it's available. ApLundell (talk) 15:12, 7 September 2021 (UTC)