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Seven protests Nine replaying Melbourne Cup

Seven West Media is seeking $150,000 compensation after Nine apparently overstepped the line with footage of the ­Melbourne Cup.

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2013-11-13_1042Seven West Media has lodged a protest after Nine apparently overstepped the line with footage of the ­Melbourne Cup, reports The AFR.

Seven holds the broadcast rights for the event, but Nine boldly aired race seven from Flemington in its entirety on its 4.30pm news bulletin in Perth, rather than the short excerpt it is permitted to show under the law.

It is understood Seven sent Nine a letter demanding $150,000 in compensation for the unsportsmanlike, and potentially illegal, behaviour.

Via: Mediaweek

10 Responses

  1. Once the race is over I don’t see what the problem is. No different to showing highlights of any other sporting event during the sports, like Tennis, football, cricket or golf. Channel 7 need to get over it.

  2. If channel 9 overstepped the mark then they should be held responsible for their actions, when a channel pays megabucks to televise something then they have the right to say what can be shown on another channel irrespective of what logo’s it was showing, this is typical of channel 9.

  3. @JM they would have to contest it in a court. ACMA can’t do anything.

    It’s difficult to say whether Nine breached copyright law as section 103B provides an exception for news broadcasts which nine can basically hide behind. You would have to look to previous decisions (case law). Don’t think seven will waste their money going after them because the chances of success are probably about 50/50 or less.

  5. I think Seven have every right to ask for this. Seven don’t pay for it to have it replayed on another network. Its like the Olympics and other sports. What if Seven decided to replay the NRL Grand Final in full on 7mate or something? Just because something is about 3 minutes long not 80 minutes long it makes it ok? Its why networks buy rights to sporting events.

  8. I know rules are rules, but it does seem a bit petty to me – the replay on Nine would have included Seven’s logo from the original broadcast – so free promotion there, but it is four and a half hours after the actual race which most people would have seen by then anyway.

    The Cup on GEM the night before Melb Cup Day showed Seven (logos and all) as doing the cup coverage (although it did show Nine as doing AFL coverage – wishful thinking there at the time?).

  9. There were of course already a dozen copies of the whole race posted on youtube including one by TVN who possibly own the online rights.

    But copyright means we can fight over replays. There is a fair dealing provision for reporting news (S42). It will depend on what caselaw says is reporting and what is just replaying.

    The networks have informal agreements about such things. Seven has pitched the amount below the cost of lawyers so they don’t want to take it to court and test that.

    The IOC has strict rules for sales of its rights to broadcasters, enforces them and will fight in court for however long it takes for people to give up.

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