If you're speakiing about a satellite receiver that picks up the majority of Channels around the world similiar to what we use in the west, yes, completely. But I know of people who did it anyway and you can even buy the receiver at your local market. As a legal advisor for a top international law firm, I've never seen or heard of anyone being deported of a satellite dish.

In Guangzhou, NO. If it's the Chinese one yes (no western channels) but if it's the "pirated" one that has all the fun stuff like: HBO, Discovery, FOX, CNN, BBC, Cartoon, etc, it's a no I found out the hard way. I had one, bought and installed, 5 months of bliss then it happened, 6, yes that's 6 policemen in uniform, 2 plain clothes and 3 apartment security came over for a visit, threatened me with a 5000RMB fine (that's the penalty) for having the dish and receiver without a permit!

Turns out you need to apply for a special permit to have the "western" dish, hotels have permits (I asked a few local friends who work at a hotel and they inquired turned out to be true)... I went to apply for the permit, they flat out refused, no why, just a straight forward "no". Having said that a French friend of mine successfully got a permit for his set up, turns out because i lived in a "Chinese building" I was the only foreigner in the whole complex and he lived in a foreigner estate type complex, so it was ok to do it there (not influencing the locals maybe?)

When the police left they took my dish and receiver. I won't give legal advice to techezee as I'm unsure if this is a city to city issue but I would give a friendly suggestion about giving flat out legal advice to people in China where the laws are unequally enforced and change from place to place as you could inadvertently give them incorrect information and get them into trouble and for you dear reader, don't ask for such advice on the internet, phone or have a local phone for you you can get the answer in about 10 minutes from the police or TV company.