Via Satellite: Regulatory Review: Captain Midnight Strikes Again

Although the facts are murky, and may never be fully known, it appears that the [practitioners] of the Falun Gong spiritual movement overpowered the regular feed to the Sinosat 1 satellite and broadcast a banner for several minutes on channels of China Central Television.

There are varying reports on the Chinese incident. Most of China Central Television's 10 channels, and the same number of provincial channels on the same satellite, experienced interruption from 10 seconds up to 15 minutes, according to early Hong Kong and Australian news reports. Some even said Chinese television was disrupted for eight days, which is not credible, given the technology.

Press reports labeled this a case of "sophisticated hacking" and said this is a sign of a new level of attempts to circumvent government suppression.

Regardless of who blasted the Sinosat satellite, it is hardly new, sophisticated or even hacking.[..]

Interrupting a commercial satellite signal, however, is not an especially sophisticated issue. All it takes is a stronger signal on the right frequency and polarization. The technical chat room community noted, not long after
the Chinese incident, all the Falun Gong would need is a 5-meter earth station anywhere in Asia that could see the Sinosat satellite.[..]

In any event, the Chinese incident was not really "hacking." [..]