More in the moronic behavior from Australian cricket authorities: after banning online video coverage of the much-anticipated battle Ashes series between Australia and England, Cricket Australia is now intent on banning “fair use” coverage for online, reports Guardian. Local newspaper publishers News Limited and Fairfax have not made any progress after negotiations with the authorities.
The newspaper sites want to run up to two minutes of licensed audio and video coverage to augment online sports reporting, without fear of breaching copyright laws or paying additional fees...in other words, fair use coverage.
But Cricket Australia contests that right, and threatened that the press accreditation for journalists would be at risk if they went ahead and used this content. Whatever the outcome of the negotiations, it is being watched closely by other sports bodies around the world, as they look to tighten rules for online coverage. For instance, International Cricket Council is looking potentially to stop newspapers offering online over-by-over coverage of next year’s World Cup.
Some more specifics of the dispute here on The Age: Cricket Australia wants to limit the online coverage to 40 seconds, shown not earlier than one hour before the start of play and those images must be removed from the site within 24 hours.
Related: Ashes Online Blackout In Australia; Only BBC Deal