UK broadcasters win legal fight against streaming

UK broadcasters have won a legal fight against TVCatchup.com, a service that streams free-to-air shows from the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Sky to computers, phones or other digital devices.

The European Court of Justice said websites that retransmit live TV without permission from the broadcasters are in breach of copyright.T he ECJ today agreed that TVC’s retransmissions constitute a ‘communication to the public’ which is prohibited both by national law and by an EU Directive.

In a statement, the ECJ said today, “EU law seeks to establish a high level of protection for authors of works, allowing them to obtain an appropriate reward for the use of those works including on the occasion of communication to the public. To that end, authors have an exclusive right to authorize or prohibit any communication of their works to the public.”

TVCatchup.com is funded by pre-roll advertising and can only be accessed by customers with a valid British TV license who are within a zone where they would also be able to watch programs on TV if they so chose.

But TVC called the claims the “vexatious action of a handful of broadcasters” and says others have asked to join the service. Company director Bruce Pilley concluded, “TVC is here to stay, we are not thinly disguised purveyors of filth, we remain Europe’s first and only legal internet cable service and the ECJ opinion affects only a handful of channels we carry.”

Meanwhile a similar fight is brewing in the US over Aereo, a streaming service that charges subscribers $8 a month.

Source: Deadline, Hollywood Reporter