August 2014
www.tvbeurope.com
TVBEurope 13 Opinion & Analysis Aereo ban: a legal win for the content industry
The Supreme Court decision is pivotal on both sides of the pond, writes Alan Wolk, global lead analyst at Piksel
ON 25 JUNE, 2014, the US Supreme Court rule d that Aereo was in violation of copyright law, backing the pay-TV industry in its fi ght against the free distribution of copyrighted content. Created in 2012, Aereo’s premise was to let users watch broadcast television on internet-connected devices via dime-sized digital antennas, creating a closed circuit relying solely on the consumer’s broadband access — cutting traditional broadcasters out. This meant that Aereo was directly and knowingly violating the Copyright Act of 1976 by charging for a “public performance” of the broadcasters content. The Court ruled that the system Aereo had set up was analogous to a cable network and thus Aereo was circumventing the retransmission fees that cable and satellite companies pay the TV networks to distribute their content. The landmark court decision secures TV network revenues for content that is rightly theirs, while also enabling the cable and satellite companies to benefi t from the reach of the TV networks to attract more consumers.
In this new era of connectivity, pay-TV companies are facing the growing prospect of cord cutting along with rapidly increasing competition from OTT providers, as today’s digital natives turn to IP-only content to pay low subscription fees or, in some cases, to completely avoid paying at all. Although the trend is not as prominent in Europe as in the US, the pay-TV industry needs to prepare for a surge in low cost or free content as the advent of fi bre optic networks makes even more content accessible online.
The easy access to content online also leads to legal disputes, as the distinction between authorised and unauthorised video is becoming increasingly blurred. This puts consumers at a bigger risk of infringing copyright law, without actually being aware of the offence. The European Union (EU) tackled the issue by putting in place a set of laws enabling consumers to store and stream content they own on their personal devices, such as the French ‘copie privée’ and the upcoming Copyrights and Rights in Performance
Alan Wolk
(Personal Copy for Private Use) regulations in the UK. Although Aereo hadn’t yet set foot in Europe, it would have faced similar opposition from the broadcast industry there as it did in the US. However, the lack of European-wide governmental bodies, similar to the Federal Communication Commission (FCC) in the US, would have
made discussions harder as the industry is still very much fragmented. Telco providers and ISPs are increasingly involved in the European decisions as they leverage their broadband networks to offer online-based TV packages such as BT Sports, Orange Cinema Series or Sky Go. With the increased
prominence of IPTV and the
launch of Netfl ix in France and Germany before the end of 2014, the European broadcast landscape will continue to undergo another transformation, and it is crucial that broadcasters fi ght hard to keep online-only competition at bay. The Supreme Court decision is pivotal on both sides of the pond: most content is produced in the US, meaning that the biggest threat in North America relates to content rights issues, while in Europe, similar services to Aereo would immediately and directly impact the industry’s revenues. The US Supreme Court’s decision to rule Aereo’s service illegal has had the resounding effect of securing the rights of content companies on any screen, whether on or off the air. This ruling in the US courts is good news for content owners wherever they are, as it sets an example for similar cases in other territories.
As Global Lead Analyst at Piksel, Alan Wolk (@awolk) has become one of the most infl uential thought leaders and futurists in the television industry and was recently named one of the top 20 thinkers in social TV and second screen.Wolk writes and speaks extensively and his common sense approach has been hailed a ‘breath of fresh air’.
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