NineMSN has chosen to toe the PBL and Channel Nine party line and remove a media centre story that tells consumer how to use an electronic program guide that can also be used to remove TV commercials.
PBL which is a part owner of NineMSN with Microsoft is currently suing local EPG content Company IceTV. In the Federal Court lawyers for PBL and Channel Nine have claimed that content programmed to the IceTV EPG service is a breach of copyright and that by including the times of Channel Nine TV programs and information about the programs that IceTV are breaking the law.
Ironically the main beneficiary of the EPG service is Microsoft who manufactures the Media Centre operating system. Around the world Microsoft openly advocates the use of an EPG service to record TV programs and then skip through content, including TV commercials.
Amanda Millar Corporate Communications Manager at ninemsn said “Ninemsn often draws upon the resources of the international MSN network for content. In this case, due to human error, the story was not localised to reflect that Australia does not have an EPG service. Ninemsn respects the copyright of the television networks and has removed the story”
But the problem is that Australia does have several EPG services with at least two organisations now setting up offshore operations in an effort to overcome the Copyright problems in Australia.
