from heise.de
If you enter "Bundesliga" or "Werder Bremen" in YouTube, you find a number of hits for video clips with scenes from games apparently shot by football fans using their own cell phone cameras in the stadiums, generally in miserable quality. According to Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH (DFL), the reason you do not find more material from Germany's premiere league is that the association is currently conducting a campaign to combat violations of copyright on the Internet. "The DFL cannot and will not simply stand by and watch its content being misused," the DFL's communications director Tom Bender told German daily Berliner Zeitung.
In the past few weeks, the DFL has been keeping a close eye on copyright violations on the Internet. Bender told the paper, "We have discovered that the dimensions are shocking." Apparently, even live broadcasts of Bundesliga games are being offered, some even for a fee. "And downloads of game recaps are all over the place." Bender says his organization has therefore launched a "major counteroffensive." "We have contracted NetResult to look for violations of copyright on the Internet and demand that those responsible refrain from such activities."
Based in London, NetResult specializes in the protection of proprietary rights in the sports sector and has already sifted through the Internet looking for violations of such rights on behalf of the British Premiere League. NetResult also works for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), UEFA, and organizers of such major events as the British Open golf tournament and the International French Tennis Championship in Paris. DFL says that hundreds of excerpts of Bundesliga games have disappeared from YouTube since NetResult began its work.
While the association says that YouTube is the main problem, a spokesperson also said that other smaller providers such as Clipfish also offer similar material from the premiere league on its web sites. The DFL says it will take all of these illegally shared videos seriously. One reason that the football league is especially keen on preventing the sharing of even very short unlicensed excerpts of Bundesliga games is that the DFL has itself started operating as a producer of what is called the "base signal" and providing images from stadiums to the holders of rights.
In addition, the special call for tenders for broadcasting rights to Bundesliga games for the Internet was skating on thin ice. After a lot of expensive negotiations, the DFL reached an agreement with Deutsche Telekom that stipulates that the German telecommunications giant only has the right to broadcast the games via the high-speed network infrastructure of T-Com. In turn, Arena, which purchased the pay-TV rights, agreed not to pass on the IP signals to third parties. No wonder the DFL is now doing everything within its power to prevent the spread of unlicensed images from Germany's premiere league on the Internet from causing another crisis.
As IPTV merges television and online videos, the broadcasting rights for the Bundesliga will no longer be issued separately for television and the Internet. As Christian Seifert, executive director of the DFL, recently put it, that one time was already "one time to many." "We only did it because the EU demanded that we do it," Seifert commented on the double call for tenders. (Craig Morris) / (jk/c't)
If you enter "Bundesliga" or "Werder Bremen" in YouTube, you find a number of hits for video clips with scenes from games apparently shot by football fans using their own cell phone cameras in the stadiums, generally in miserable quality. According to Deutsche Fußball Liga GmbH (DFL), the reason you do not find more material from Germany's premiere league is that the association is currently conducting a campaign to combat violations of copyright on the Internet. "The DFL cannot and will not simply stand by and watch its content being misused," the DFL's communications director Tom Bender told German daily Berliner Zeitung.
In the past few weeks, the DFL has been keeping a close eye on copyright violations on the Internet. Bender told the paper, "We have discovered that the dimensions are shocking." Apparently, even live broadcasts of Bundesliga games are being offered, some even for a fee. "And downloads of game recaps are all over the place." Bender says his organization has therefore launched a "major counteroffensive." "We have contracted NetResult to look for violations of copyright on the Internet and demand that those responsible refrain from such activities."
Based in London, NetResult specializes in the protection of proprietary rights in the sports sector and has already sifted through the Internet looking for violations of such rights on behalf of the British Premiere League. NetResult also works for the International Olympic Committee (IOC), UEFA, and organizers of such major events as the British Open golf tournament and the International French Tennis Championship in Paris. DFL says that hundreds of excerpts of Bundesliga games have disappeared from YouTube since NetResult began its work.
While the association says that YouTube is the main problem, a spokesperson also said that other smaller providers such as Clipfish also offer similar material from the premiere league on its web sites. The DFL says it will take all of these illegally shared videos seriously. One reason that the football league is especially keen on preventing the sharing of even very short unlicensed excerpts of Bundesliga games is that the DFL has itself started operating as a producer of what is called the "base signal" and providing images from stadiums to the holders of rights.
In addition, the special call for tenders for broadcasting rights to Bundesliga games for the Internet was skating on thin ice. After a lot of expensive negotiations, the DFL reached an agreement with Deutsche Telekom that stipulates that the German telecommunications giant only has the right to broadcast the games via the high-speed network infrastructure of T-Com. In turn, Arena, which purchased the pay-TV rights, agreed not to pass on the IP signals to third parties. No wonder the DFL is now doing everything within its power to prevent the spread of unlicensed images from Germany's premiere league on the Internet from causing another crisis.
As IPTV merges television and online videos, the broadcasting rights for the Bundesliga will no longer be issued separately for television and the Internet. As Christian Seifert, executive director of the DFL, recently put it, that one time was already "one time to many." "We only did it because the EU demanded that we do it," Seifert commented on the double call for tenders. (Craig Morris) / (jk/c't)