Engineers win for piracy efforts. (This Just In).(Time Warner Cable)(Brief Article)

SYRACUSE, N.Y. -- Engineers at Time Warner Cable's divisions in South Carolina and here took top honors in a case study competition, sponsored by the Broadband & Internet Security Task Force.

Austin Coates of South Carolina won for a three-phase plan to educate consumers and law enforcement about cable theft. Through a "Theft of Service Hot Line," 1,000 illegal decoders were confiscated and $377,000 recovered from 312 criminal cases.

In Glenn Dennee's Syracuse unit, 2,312 of 8,306 unauthorized subscribers have been converted into paying customers over the past two years. At $40 each, that's $92,000 in monthly revenue.