If the open joint in the cable leaked a small signal, and you mounted a parabolic dish antenna on your property aimed at it and highly amplified it, it is still illegal. The courts will call it, "Theft of Service".
Many years ago my cable had pay-TV movies with analog scrambling. It was fun to figure out which one of the many analog scrambling methods they used. Then they added more scrambling besides suppressed sync, they inverted parts at times making the scrambled picture negative. I figured it out and my descrambler worked well for many years until they changed to digital.
Some people today in Canada are stealing satellite programs from America because Canadians can't even pay to subscribe. Bootleg program cards are sold that receive all channels if you pay the bootlegger enough for them. The cards fail periodically and must be re-programmed by the bootlegger (it gets to be expensive), or by yourself from scripts on the internet (some work, some don't). Of course those bootleg cards are sold and used in America too, and many people there are sued by the satellite companies for Theft of Service. When a bootlegger gets caught, all his customers also get caught.