BBC Royalties

[frassle]

I think you will all like this one.

The BBC have an office in Nicosia with the sole purpose of chasing the hotels and bars for royalties.

I have a friend with a hotel who receives BBC1 and they are demanding 3 thousand pounds per year in royalties. He did point out that the BBC say this channel cannot be recived over here but they are insistent that they want their money.

I hope the Hollywood studios read this website and adjust their royalty demands accordingly.

 

[chris_lim]

I think you will all like this one.

The BBC have an office in Nicosia with the sole purpose of chasing the hotels and bars for royalties.

I have a friend with a hotel who receives BBC1 and they are demanding 3 thousand pounds per year in royalties. He did point out that the BBC say this channel cannot be recived over here but they are insistent that they want their money.

I hope the Hollywood studios read this website and adjust their royalty demands accordingly.

If this is true this is outrageous! Do you know how they operate? I think that BBC cannot get a single penny from your friend since BBC1 is a free to air channel which means that whoever has a dish large enough can receive it using standard satellite reception equipment without the use any kind of decoding equipment and broadcast it everywhere he want's. There isn't a single court in the world that would make anybody pay money for royalties under these circumstances. If the BBC doesn't wan't people to watch it ouside Britain the they should encrypt their signal.

 

[sta123]

It's not supprising they are asking your friend for money if he his re-transmitting BBC to all his rooms within his hotel. He should be lucky that he is not been sued for copyright redistribution.
He should be grateful that he can receive BBC at all, unlike the rest of us poor sods abroad who lost the signal a few months back.

 

[rolfw]

Yep, I'm with sta123 on this one, you cannot redistribute other people's copyright material and expect to pay nothing for the privilege, even if you are outside what is normally accepted as the reception area. I would imagine that they are probably doing the same with Sky channels as well and will get a bill for that.

If you were talking about a hobbyist being charged for receiving, it would be outrageous, but this is a commercial concern and I'm sure they use it as a selling point.

 

[geoffreys]

Yep, I'm with sta123 on this one, you cannot redistribute other people's copyright material and expect to pay nothing for the privilege, even if you are outside what is normally accepted as the reception area. I would imagine that they are probably doing the same with Sky channels as well and will get a bill for that.

If you were talking about a hobbyist being charged for receiving, it would be outrageous, but this is a commercial concern and I'm sure they use it as a selling point.

Yes, but I wonder why the BBC has picked on a small country like
Cyprus, why not go for France, Germany, etc?? And what about
Northern Cyprus (TRNC), I doubt they would get much joy there!
Even in Free Cyprus I think they would lose in a Cyprus court because
no Cyprus law has been broken as far as I can see. Maybe they (BBC)
would stand a better chance if they had waited until next May when
Cyprus joins the EU.

Meantime I am keeping the Rotweiller hungry,
Geoff.

 

[rolfw]

You'll probably find that very few hotels in France and Germany offer BBC programming in the rooms, they may not be picking solely on Cyprus, who knows where else they are looking.

PS. Surely they must have copyright laws in Cyprus, even in the TRNC bit.

 

[Old Fred]

I wonder why the BBC has picked on a small country like
Cyprus

I can answer that. There are around 40,000 British expats living in Cyprus, all on a very small island where you can reach any corner by driving no more than 100 miles. It makes for easy pickings.

Fred

 

[iceman]

And what about
Northern Cyprus (TRNC), I doubt they would get much joy there!.

HAHAHAHAA they can try...

PS. Surely they must have copyright laws in Cyprus, even in the TRNC bit.

No copyright laws in TRNC M8...none what so ever...anything goes here.

iceman

 

[Zorba]

What you all talking about?we got copyright laws down south,but I can still buy latest p*rate cd/dvd/playstation/xbox etc from the local bread shop.
BBC just have to get to the back of the queue of lawsuitors.If the mighty U S of A cant close the black market,who else can

 

[andgarden]

I'm not sure what the EU rules on this matter are, but in the U.S., the FCC has ruled that anything transmitted FTA over the air or on satellite is fair game for localized redistribution.

Here (in the U.S.) if your friend were selling the BBC for an extra fee (over what is typically charged for a room) he would be in trouble but, as it stands, the BBC could not ask him for a cent in royalties.

So much for U.S. mega-corporation greed.

 

[T_G]

They can take away my encryption but they can never take away my BBCeeeeeeeeeeeee!

Way to go Cyprus!

 

[robbins1940]

Heres the foorprint for Astra 2D

http://www.ses-astra.com/satellites/footprints/2_d.jpg

You need a bigger dish than 1.2m if you are beyond ne Spain, south of France or nw tip of Italy.

David

 

[westy]

Would it be a good idea to cool this topic as if the BBC read it and decided to stop all in Cyprus being able to view just by resteering the beam.
Who would be the clever ones then BBC or those posting!

I for one would miss watching on my 2.7 which I paid a lot for.

Westy

 

[rolfw]

Wouldn't worry too much about that Westy, the BBC may have control over which satellite they use, but only SES Astra have control of the beams and orientation.

I certainly think that the BBC and Sky monitor this and other forums, whether they ever act on the information herein is another natter.

 

[Zorba]

As if the bbc dont know already.
I was watching the england game on bbc1,and on the interactive section where you could text messages to the bbc,there were a couple from cyprus.Hows that for taking the p*ss !

 

[PaulR]

And on the "Test the Nation" on Saturday night Ann Robinson even mentioned all the ex-pats taking part.

PaulR

 

[methos_de]

And on the "Test the Nation" on Saturday night Ann Robinson even mentioned all the ex-pats taking part.

PaulR

Soccer AM on SKY SPORTS has been mentioning foreign viewers for years. Last season you could even write in and they put a flag on a map marking where you were watching. Different coloured flags depending on whether army, navy, marine or civvy.

Methos.