Since December 10, the first phase of the work of controlling the fees and complex operation of TV "nesting dolls" for more than three months has entered the stage of organizing self-examination and checking and filling gaps. The relevant platforms are implementing rectification as required, and on December 21 and 31, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television will conduct an inspection and evaluation, acceptance and summary.
Judging from the current market feedback, this round of rectification has basically solved and satisfied the key contradictions such as the difficulty of watching TV and the payment of nesting dolls, which are strongly reflected by the people.
Among them, for the TV playback business, the General Office of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television and the General Office of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology jointly issued the "Notice on Carrying out the First Phase of the Work on the Complex Governance of TV Operations", which clearly requires: cable TV and IPTV simplify the operation of the playback business by means of one-click playback through remote control or setting up a playback service entrance in a prominent position on the homepage. In the replay business, you can simplify the operation of ** and local news replay by setting up columns or special areas.
The revamped Gehua wired interface.
Shandong wired interface after rectification.
Shaanxi IPTV interface after rectification.
Yunnan IPTV interface after rectification.
As shown in the figure above, the platforms that strictly implement the regulations have set up a "replay" entrance, and users can directly enter the replay list page through the "recall" entrance to select ** content, which greatly improves the user experience.
However, this extremely popular feature in high-definition interactive TV is also the "old and difficult problem" of cable TV and IPTV - the most copyright disputes**, the longest lasting, and the most difficult to solve.
Neither the existing Copyright Law nor the Copyright Law (Draft Amendment for Solicitation of Comments) clearly defines the ownership of the rights and interests of the "TV replay" business, which leaves room for free interpretation of the law, resulting in completely different judgments in the judicial adjudication circles.
The basis for judging that the service purpose, operation mode, and technical means of television replay all have the characteristics of broadcasting, and that the characteristics of timing, fixed-point, and fixed-scope under the private network are fundamentally different from the right of information network transmission.
The party holding that TV replay should belong to the right of information network dissemination is judged on the basis that TV replay is an interactive dissemination, which can enable the public to obtain the work at a time (any time within a few days) and place (any place where cable TV and IPTV are installed) of their personal choice, which meets the constitutive elements of information network dissemination.
At present, the more mainstream view of legal scholars is to regard the act of TV playback as an act of information network transmission, which deviates from the relevant policies of the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television, and directly leads to two serious consequences.
First, "rights protection" has become a business. In recent years, there has been an explosive increase in infringement lawsuits caused by TV playbacks, with 1,686 TV playback infringement lawsuits publicly disclosed in the "Wolters Kluwer Advance Legal Information Database". In the name of copyright owners, some copyright intermediaries expand the scope of rights protection without authorization, and even use "fishing" and "porcelain" to protect rights in order to obtain more benefits from the disseminator of the workSome law firms have also made TV replay litigation a key project, and have set up special teams to collect evidence on TV replay content for a long time, and regularly carry out prosecutions. Making money by abusing intellectual property protection will affect the healthy development of the radio and television industry.
Second, the industry is developing backwards. In order to avoid copyright disputes, cable TV and IPTV operators had to "castrate" TV replay and were forced to shut down the replay business of some live programs, such as the Beijing Winter Olympics, Qatar World Cup and other large-scale public sports eventsand some film and television variety programs, this year's popular "Hurricane". The most direct impact of the offline of the review function is the damage to the user experience, and the possible consequence is the stagnation of business innovation, which is contrary to the triple play policy vigorously promoted by the state.
Gehua has a replay of "Hurricane" offline.
Complaints from users on Sina Weibo.
Over the years, the TV playback function has provided more users with the best opportunities and has become an indispensable service in the process of radio and television program transmission. It helps to optimize and play the public attributes and functions of radio and television, and also helps to enhance the publicity and influence of the mainstream of radio and television.
At present, more than 200 million cable TV users and nearly 400 million IPTV users in China are enjoying the convenience brought by the TV playback function. In this round of TV rectification, the State Administration of Radio, Film and Television specifically emphasized "simplifying the operation of the playback business", which is also to facilitate the people to better use the TV playback service.
On the one hand, the regulatory authorities have clearly requested the provision of replay services and set up special entrances, and on the other hand, some judicial circles believe that replay services infringe on the right of information network transmission, and at the same time, it is also necessary to respond to the strong demands of the masses.
Due to the different understandings of broadcasting rights and information network transmission rights, the different perceptions of the emerging business of radio and television, and the different considerations of commercial interests and industry development, TV playback has become a "big and difficult problem" in the radio and television industry for many years.
But as the saying goes, "it's hard for the boss to be big, and it's not difficult for the boss to pay attention."
Obviously, the problem of TV playback is not something that cable TV and IPTV platform operators can solve on their own, and the negative conduction effect brought about by it has snowballed and become bigger and bigger. What is fundamentally asking is how the industry regulators and the judiciary can coordinate the balance between different stakeholders, reach a unified consensus, and give a clear definition of ownership, so as to achieve the purpose of supporting industrial development, stimulating technological innovation, and maximizing the realization of public interests.
* Xiong Wencong, an associate professor at the School of Law at Minzu University, previously wrote that TV replay cannot directly draw a clear answer from the inherent legal concepts, and it is a difficult case. However, difficult cases are precisely where social science jurisprudence comes into play, that is, the boundary should be drawn to the best to be appropriate, and it does not depend on factual verification or conceptual deduction, but on industry practices, on the judge's value trade-off, on the cost-benefit analysis, and more importantly, on what kind of social consequences the judge's judgment conclusion will bring.
The radio and television industry has a special positioning and function in China, and is an important tool and channel for achieving many specific political tasks and governance goals such as news reporting, publicity, education and poverty alleviation, and social services, rather than a purely commercial profit-making organization. "Should we make way for innovative and beneficial businesses" may be a macro vision that has to be considered when solving the problem of TV replay.
At present, the "old and difficult problems" urgently need to be "paid attention to by the boss".
For the industry regulators, the regressive development of the industry caused by the copyright dispute over TV playback has affected the healthy development of the radio and television industry.
As far as the judicial sector is concerned, the results of judicial rulings involving television replay vary greatly, which has affected the authority of legal norms.
It is expected that the TV playback business can clarify the definition of ownership as soon as possible, and it is expected that a better solution to the copyright dispute for playback will appear.
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