The decision of the CJEU in ITV v TVCatchup finally brought to an end a long-running complex dispute relating to the TVCatchup service, which has seen its fair share of twists and turns and cliff hangers. The decision went beyond a finding that TVCatchup cannot stream public service broadcasting channels like ITV1 via the internet without paying copyright fees: the CJEU concluded that the UK's 'cable re-transmission' defence more generally was incompatible with EU copyright law.
However, the section 73 defence was already on borrowed time, as it has now been repealed by the Digital Economy Act. Of broader interest is the potential impact of the repeal of the cable retransmission defence on the complex commercial arrangements in the broadcasting industry.
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