[Archived] An Interesting development in Broadcasting

[dave birch]

This was taken from the ABC (Australia) newspage. It's open source stuff.

"A landmark Federal Court case has found Optus did not breach copyright by showing sports online with its new TV Now service.

TV Now lets Optus customers record free-to-air television from their smartphone or computer and watch it on the same devices with a delay as little as two minutes.

Justice Steven Rares found Optus did not breach any copyright related to Telstra's deal with the NRL and AFL to broadcast live matches on the internet.

The judge cited "time-shifting provisions" in the Copyright Act that let people record shows and watch them later.

Any appeal against the judgment is not likely until after the NRL and AFL seasons start next month.

The AFL, NRL and Telstra have been ordered to pay Optus's court costs.

The judge noted that some other issues in the case might still need to be resolved.

"These include whether Optus infringes copyright because the technology used to make a recording in the format suitable for certain Apple devices creates and stores six temporary files of 10 seconds duration every minute and then deletes the first 10-second file as the latest one is added one minute later," he said.

Justice Rares also said the case was not fully over until the parties resolved the matter of near-live streaming.

The parties agreed to treat the issue separately.

In a statement, the AFL expressed its disappointment at the decision.

"We maintain that the Optus action is a breach of copyright," AFL chief operating officer Gillon McLachlan said.

"However, we are only in the preseason of this issue - it is highly likely we will appeal."

NRL boss David Gallop says the decision is "very likely" to be appealed.

"It is a major concern as it clearly has the capacity to devalue the ability of the sports to sell exclusive rights," he said.

Optus spokeswoman Clare Gill says the company is extremely pleased with decision.

"For us it's always been about free-to-air television, recording it and playing it back at a time more convenient, that's how we developed the product," she said.

"It was not category-specific in anything to do with the categories of television, whether it be light entertainment, documentaries, news or sport.

"Optus is committed to delivering choice and convenience to Australians and the result of the TV Now court proceedings is a major win for consumers, innovation and the law.""

From where I'm sitting, this is saying that anything can be broadcast through the net or phone network, as long as it's delayed (by as little as two minutes).

Apply this in the UK, and to football, and , well. Interesting times.

[Biddy]

That all looks to be around "free to air" catchup services and not subscription based which is a whole different kettle of fish.

We've already had all the broadcasters up in arms in the UK around a site called CatchupTV which streams all free to air UK channels in one place. I could have sworn that went to court but the site still appears to be running so I guess the broadcasters lost.

Can't see anyway round the subscription based channels as none of the service providers would want to lose money and any court would deem that if you haven't paid to view then you have no right to watch.

[dave birch]

Biddy, it goes a bit beyond that.

I just can't get my head around it yet, but it's to do with giving a service that is not direct from the original supplier, but available for "recording" and playing later.

All it does is provide what the original supplier does, i'e. make it available for recording, but then provides a facility which allows you to play back the "recording" a couple of minutes later.

At least that's what my tiny mind has decided.

It's certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons here in the AFL and NRL.

[dave birch]

Biddy, it goes a bit beyond that.

I just can't get my head around it yet, but it's to do with giving a service that is not direct from the original supplier, but available for "recording" and playing later.

All it does is provide what the original supplier does, i'e. make it available for recording, but then provides a facility which allows you to play back the "recording" a couple of minutes later.

At least that's what my tiny mind has decided.

It's certainly put the cat amongst the pigeons here in the AFL and NRL.

[Captain Dunsel]

I don't see how it applies to broadcasts that aren't free to air. This report may help clear up the picture:

http://www.businessspectator.com.au/bs.nsf/Article/Optus-TV-Now-AFL-NRL-Foxtel-Seven-Telstra-pd20120201-R39GL?OpenDocument

[Daniel Louis Grabko (Dan)]

I don't see how it applies to broadcasts that aren't free to air. This report may help clear up the picture:

http://www.businesss...GL?OpenDocument

Agreed. It seems that the BBC might have something to worry about with their Player application for computers and smartphones/iPads. But any pay/subscription channels would appear to not be covered at this point.

However, it does raise an interesting issue that will only get more and more serious as technology gets better and better. Right now you can stream, albeit most likely illegally and in questionable quality, every single Premier League match, effectively live, with an extra few seconds delay, depending on the quality of the streaming feed and your internet connection. But there are thousands out there globally for whom this is already a much better alternative than paying however much a month for the privilege.

Imagine if these streams could provide full resolution consistently and with no lag, as well as being only a few seconds delayed. In addition to this there are more and more club specific channels and other media outlets that clubs are using that provide excellent service and live match coverage. If all you want to see is Rovers games, and it costs less through the Club to see that, where does that leave Sky?

These premium channel services will evolve, and the way we pay for it will as well. If giants like Sky don't have a better plan than court action to evolve with the technology, then they may just be left behind, and the massive amounts of TV money the Premier League enjoys will also be affected, which in turn will affect member clubs...

It is very interesting...