EPG and copyright

wannabepvr · 2006-10-18, 09:53 PM

In case any Australian user's weren't aware........

We have an interesting little test case in Australia at the moment. One of the TV networks is suing the EPG (IceTV) provider for breach of copyright.

While I doubt this will have ramifications around the world it does have the possibility of ruining my day and PVR happiness should the network win.

I'll let you all know....

Some links if anyone is interested.

[INDENT]"It's going to be interesting to watch how Channel Nine fares in its battle with IceTV over the issue of who owns the TV program guides in an electronic form." http://blogs.smh.com.au/mashup/archives//004709.html

http://www.crikey.com.au/Media/20061016-...e-Ice.html
[/INDENT]

wannabepvr · 2006-10-18, 10:11 PM

mvandere Wrote:I mentioned it in "Progress in a modern world?" a couple of posts down. there were three posts lost during the server upgrade :o

Damm, didn't mean to double up.

I had originally assumed that IceTV had some sort of exclusing rights to the local EPG. But when they mailed out thier prospectus trying to raise some $$ I saw that not only did they not have 'exclusing rights' but further may not have any 'rights'. At that point I decieded not to offer any of my cold hard $. I believe the float has been delayed now pending the outcome of the case.

I think the best thing we can do now buy Channel nine. Big Grin

***sub*** · 2006-10-18, 11:24 PM

It'll be interesting to see how the case pans out. Here in New Zealand our broadcasters are also somewhat protective of their listings. Really annoying...

***sub*** · 2006-10-18, 11:44 PM

Quote:I wonder if the newspapers pay for their listings? I always thought it was in the TV stations interest to have the Program guide available (and accurate, for that matter).

Yes they do, which is part of the reason they give in New Zealand for not wanting people violating their copyright. They sell the listings to news papers, magazines, TV Guide mag etc.

ShiningDragon · 2006-10-19, 04:49 PM

sub Wrote:Yes they do, which is part of the reason they give in New Zealand for not wanting people violating their copyright. They sell the listings to news papers, magazines, TV Guide mag etc.

In germany it's not better; i even use the "TV-Movie" Payment abonnement to extract my .xml Data from the TV-Movie Local Database.

A few years ago it was no problem to extract the EPG with old, analogcards without MPEG-Encoder.

Yeah money..., that's the way it meant to be played... -.- (did i hurt a copyright now?) Big Grin

herbs · 2006-10-19, 05:51 PM

In the UK the radio times (Part of the BBC i believe) allow web scraping for personal use, good old auntie beeb. But the national have to pay for a tv license, if you watch tv in your home without a license you can be fined.

martint123 · 2006-10-19, 07:53 PM

herbs Wrote:In the UK the radio times (Part of the BBC i believe) allow web scraping for personal use, good old auntie beeb. But the national have to pay for a tv license, if you watch tv in your home without a license you can be fined.

You don't really need to screenscrape the Radio Times - they very kindly supply data for XMLTV free for the time being. e.g.

http://xmltv.radiotimes.com/xmltv/40.dat

Martin

wannabepvr · 2006-10-22, 10:22 PM

herbs Wrote:But the national have to pay for a tv license, if you watch tv in your home without a license you can be fined.

I was shocked when I moved to the UK (2000) about the whole TV license thing. It just seemed bizzare. But when I got back to Australia on told people they said "oh yes, we used to have that.... in the 1950s"

I wonder if anywhere else in the world stil has TV licenses? Or better still the truck driving around with all the signal detection gear to catch you out if you don't pay!!! Rolleyes

***sub*** · 2006-10-22, 11:36 PM

We had TV Licenses until a few years ago.

I remember living in a downstairs appartment when a guy with a clipboard knocked at the door and said he was from "New Zealand On-Air", and asked if I knew where the people upstairs were as he had been trying to contact them about paying for the TV License. I said I didnt know. He then asked me if I had a TV in my flat. I could hear the TV blaring over my shoulder down the hall - I said 'no, I dont watch tv'. There was an uncomfortable silence for a few seconds (with TV in the background) as we just looked at each other, then he left Big Grin

lol

martint123 · 2006-10-23, 07:47 AM

wannabepvr Wrote:I wonder if anywhere else in the world stil has TV licenses? Or better still the truck driving around with all the signal detection gear to catch you out if you don't pay!!!

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/10/16/tv_sweden/

"Two high profile Swedish ministers have resigned from office over allegations of tax evasion, and bizarrely, failure to pay their TV licences."