In April 2011 Telstra bought the exclusive right to broadcast
AFL games over the internet and the mobile telephone network for
$153M. Yesterday, a decision of Justice Rares in the Federal Court
may mean that Telstra paid far too much.
The decision concerned the Optus TV Now service which allowed
Optus customers who subscribe to the service to record the (amongst
any free to air TV) AFL games and watch them with as little as a 2
minute delay. Optus has not paid AFL or any rights holders to offer
the service.
Justice Rares decision is essentially that the TV Now service
provides the same service as that of a personal video recorder (or
PVR such as Tivo or Foxtel IQ). Currently the Copyright Act allows
individuals to record free to air television on their own video
recorder for personal use to watch at a more convenient time.
