Washington ? Prosecutors charged a college student Thursday with distributing on the Internet hundreds of secret documents that could help television owners steal signals from a leading satellite TV provider.

Igor Serebryany, 19, of Los Angeles, faces stiff prison penalties if convicted under economic espionage laws. The FBI said in court records that Serebryany acknowledged distributing the documents on the Internet. Investigators do not believe Serebryany sought any money in exchange for the disclosures.

Serebryany “specifically stated that he wanted to help the … hacking community,” FBI agent Tracy Marquis Kierce said in court records.

The documents leaked onto the Internet described details about the latest access-card technology from DirecTV Inc. The devices, resembling credit cards, are plugged into a viewer’s satellite box and control which movie and sports channels each of the company’s 11 million subscribers can watch.

DirecTV, owned by Hughes Electronics Corp., said it spent more than $25 million to develop its latest “Period 4” anti-piracy cards, which hackers have so far been unable to break.

Older, pirated cards are widely traded and sold illegally among satellite customers. Companies occasionally destroy rogue cards by sending damaging electronic signals across their systems, forcing subscribers to buy new cards in what has become an escalating technology battle.

The stakes are high: Satellite programming can cost $2,400 annually for a household. Only about 18 million U.S. viewers subscribe to satellite services, compared with nearly 69 million cable TV subscribers, according to the Federal Communications Commission. But DirecTV added 2 million subscribers last year.