WIN challenged by judge to prove it can live-stream 9Now on a smart TV in court
Regional broadcaster WIN has been challenged to prove it can access Nine’s live-streaming service on a smart TV in court, as it looks to block the 9Now service from operating in its broadcasting areas.
The first day of a three-day court case where the regional TV network WIN is suing its affiliate, alleging that damage is being done to its regional advertiser base through live-streaming, heard mainly technical arguments around how accurately Nine can geolocate users of its service.
Nine’s chief digital officer, Alex Parsons, conceded while it required users to provide their postcode when signing up to the 9Now service he claimed: “We use it to understand where users are coming from. For example, if the The Voice hasn’t screened in Perth then we’re not going to provide it in Perth.”
WIN, which is owned by Bermuda-based billionaire Bruce Gordon, is demanding that Nine geoblocks its live-streaming service to those areas where it broadcasts so as to not compete with its affiliate stations claiming it breaches its affiliate broadcast agreement.
Oh dear, this is shaping up as a huge embarrassment to WIN. Viewers must be wondering who authorised this huge waste of money and court time.
IP geolocation data is obtained from dodgy websites selling your IP and postcode combination when you fill in their forms to the geo databases.
I used to have a fixed IP and the location in the GEO databases would change based on the address I used which I changed occasionally while still living in the same place. With dynamic IP’s it would depend how the ISP’s juggle their subnets between POPs
And of course geoblocking can be circumvented with a good old fashioned VPN.
Maybe the internet works differently in Bermuda….
Trunking – I don’t think this is embarrassing to WIN at all. It’s out to test / prove a point that streaming into a territory cannibalizes viewers from the broadcast. And advertisers follow eyeballs. That WIN has an agreement with 9 for exclusive rights in the content in that territory. WIN just want a commensurate fee structure if 9 continue to stream the same content. Seems reasonable? What viewers are going to think this is a waste of time? I think you mean shareholders? Correct me if I’m wrong, but isn’t Mr Gordon the biggest shareholder in WIN?
WIN TV has lost the plot, not everyone in the coverage area will have internet or mobile access Plus Channel 9 requires a account to access 9’s live stream and catch up service and not all viewers will want to sign up for the service, and some programs like the NRL are not streamed online due to rights issues so they will still watch the local stations for those programs no one has complained when they streamed the 6pm News online before the recent around the clock streaming. This is a streaming and catchup service provided by a affilated network not Filmon and Aereo (which US TV Broadcasters took them to court a couple of years ago over the same thing) If this court case is successful then consider WIN’s Affilation with Channel 9 revoked as well (they have 2 months left in their current affilation deal) forcing them to go Independent or take Channel 10’s Programs with Southern Cross taking the 9 affilation (with the promise they launch HD/9Life alongside 9Gem and 9Go! Via Southern Cross).
Is anyone considering the interests of audiences in regional areas? It’d be a real shame if they couldn’t access 9’s online streaming content because of these commercial agreements, surely they have as much of a right to it as their metro cousins? But then, there’s no shortage of other online video to keep them entertained…