A New Kinda Satellite State

September 30, 2012 6:41 PM

The satellite man is typically young, with an entrepreneur’s zeal and a sense of adventure, often from the mercantile district of South Tehran, trained by colleagues in the black-market niche of satellite TV installation...
posted by Chipmazing (11 comments total)

Love this article. The tenacity of the true telly watcher.
posted by Isadorady at 7:17 PM on September 30, 2012

Love the photo caption:

Bottom: Iranian special forces destroy a satellite television receiver.
posted by KokuRyu at 7:23 PM on September 30, 2012

Dear friends of ours just spent the last two or three years living in Tehran, and they really liked it, and can't wait to go back for another extended stay. It's definitely on my list of places to visit.
posted by KokuRyu at 7:24 PM on September 30, 2012

I'm only halfway through, but this jumped out at me:

London’s BBC Persian Television or temporary channels set up by opposition movements. A particular favorite is Parazit, a satirical news program in the style of The Daily Show, broadcast by Voice of America in Washington, D.C.

I love the fact that the US government is producing a television show critical of the Iranian government, in part for those who are up against police literally using grappling hooks to scale buildings and destroy satellite receivers.
posted by Marisa Stole the Precious Thing at 7:25 PM on September 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

Tehran’s recent mayors have added nearly 3,000 acres of parks, plazas and green belts, and the city now has 1,800 parks serving a population of 9 million, a ratio roughly comparable to New York City.

My friends mentioned that one of the things that impressed them about Tehran is the amount of green space, parks, and gardens.
posted by KokuRyu at 7:29 PM on September 30, 2012

Central Services doesn't take kindly to sabotage.
posted by 2N2222 at 10:17 PM on September 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

I found this interesting:

"Only 12 percent of city dwellers go to mosques by choice, and so these same groups work in parallel to fulfill attendance quotas by bussing in rural civil servants to join true believers for Friday prayers, passion plays and other state-sanctioned activities. "

Wikipedia (via these guys) puts US church attendance at 43% (and Canada is at 20%).
posted by el io at 11:11 PM on September 30, 2012 [1 favorite]

The south of Tehran is great to wander around, as mentioned there's a ton of parks, the old palaces which are worth an explore, the bazaar and attendant cafes and eateries, we stayed off Amir Kabir in the "mechanics" district where cars in various states of dis-assembly are double parked while lads argue over the sound of gunning engines amidst stacks of tires (MeMail for a hotel recommendation!). Especially good fun is finding the museum housed in a bank vault under the central bank containing the old Iranian state jewels then wandering up to the British Embassy on "BabiSandz St" then getting photos of the murals denouncing America - locals will show you the way! The metro makes it easy to get around if you want. Iranians are incredibly friendly and helpful, you could spend ages drifting around Iran.
posted by nfg at 3:14 AM on October 1, 2012

First thing that came to my mind was "I got these little things that pick up that signal from space, how the fuck is that stealing?"
posted by nTeleKy at 7:55 AM on October 1, 2012

I have satellite tv here in the USA, and I must subscribe to a service and pay money to get a signal. How does it work in Tehran? The article makes it seems as though they just point a dish toward a satellite and receive a signal. Could I be doing that at home?
posted by Hobgoblin at 10:04 AM on October 1, 2012

The article makes it seems as though they just point a dish toward a satellite and receive a signal. Could I be doing that at home?

Yes! You can receive FTA ("Free to Air") satellite broadcasts. You cannot receive most encrypted satellite broadcasts such as are provided by DirecTV. They have really, really cracked down on the cracking in the US.
posted by nTeleKy at 2:32 PM on October 1, 2012