COPYRIGHT
Get set for the next trend in streaming video: doing it from Canada.
Toronto-area startup iCraveTV.com is plucking television signals from nearby TV stations and streaming the video onto its site. Viewers can log on to check out programs and sporting events from 17 broadcast outlets in the US and Canada, provided they punch in a Canadian area code to "prove" that the program is being viewed in that country.
The wily business model has broadcasters from both countries fighting mad. Within days of iCraveTV's launch last November, the company received cease-and-desist letters from NBC, ABC, and the BBC, as well as the National Football League, claiming copyright infringement.
"Essentially, they're stealing our property," says NFL spokesperson Brian McCarthy.
It's not quite that simple. Under the Canadian Copyright Act, it's legal to retransmit broadcast signals without asking permission or paying licensing fees to the original broadcaster, as long as the signal isn't altered.
But broadcasters counter that their programming is being changed. The streaming video on iCraveTV is often jerky, the image is about the size of a postcard, and the programming is surrounded by ad banners not seen on the original broadcast.
No one has yet ventured into court, because Canadian law appears to be on iCraveTV's side: Last spring's decision by the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission not to regulate the Internet cleared the way for iCraveTV to rebroadcast programming without intervention.
Despite the escalating tension, iCraveTV CEO Bill Craig is still hoping broadcasters will work with him. He says 800,000 unique visitors streamed an average of 40 minutes of programming in the site's first month of operation, and he views his company as a companion to the networks, not as a bitter rival. But if they want a fight, Craig says, he's ready - as a former senior policy analyst with Canada's television regulatory agency, he is well versed in the rules of the game. "I'm not saying we don't want broadcasters' cooperation," says Craig. "But the law says we don't need it."
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