Question: Downloading BBC programs

[Maggy]

According to the BBC Mandate, they have a responibilty to deliver thier content to us. having already paid my TV license, (as we all have).

can we be prosicuted for downloading BBC programs? (off bit torrent alike).
i would love to get some of the classic older Top of the pops. however, becouse they are older, they are not on iplayer. (im yet to find a torrent site anyway).


just a legal question thats all, to suit my curiosity.

[Namredips]

Well you quite often see entire programs up on youtube so I'd assume not.

[Platinum]

Tough one that, its a bit like redording them to DVD / VHS

[Phillo]

I'd guess not...since there must be some clause to it.

Then again BBC actually had eps of Mighty Boosh to watch on their site...hmm

[Colio]

Hmm,

The thing also to bear in mind is that often the BBC are not the ones making the programs, those are done by other production studios and license their content to the beeb.

Now in that license maybe the medium upon which the program is delivered. its a real grey area.

[Platinum]

Bit of a pisser like though, you pay your licence fees, your SKY / Virgin media fees and its still illegal to have the eps in downloadable format for watching later.
TV companys need to get with the times.

[ExcessNeo]

Bit of a pisser like though, you pay your licence fees, your SKY / Virgin media fees and its still illegal to have the eps in downloadable format for watching later.
TV companys need to get with the times.

Yea they need to realise that people actually want to watch good tele and most of it is archived and never seen again with not even a sniff of a DVD release.

[Platinum]

Also what gets me is that I can get HD content, TV shows / Films on torrent sites yet I cant even buy them over here, very little on Blu Ray and the Sky HD channels dont have much.

[Colio]

Also what gets me is that I can get HD content, TV shows / Films on torrent sites yet I cant even buy them over here, very little on Blu Ray and the Sky HD channels dont have much.

diddums..

think of the african starvin marvins who cannot get a fully 3d rice grain.

[olobley]

I don't think the downloading/keeping it on your HDD part is the legally questionable problem, as you have (by virtue of your TV license) paid to license the content for viewing. And I'm fairly sure that storage of the media on your PC is no different (legally) than storing it on a Sky+/VCR would be.

The problem arises (as I see it), from the method by which you obtained it - specifically torrents - in this instance, you're also making it available to others, which is *definitely* illegal.

EDIT:
having already paid my TV license, (as we all have).
Not quite - the missus' parents don't have a TV license, and they spent 2 years bothering the daylights out of them about it. It all ended when Carol said she would start charging them £10 a go to reply to their letters. It should also be noted that they don't have a TV, although does having a computer with internet access now mandate you to have a TV license as you could technically get at content that only a license payer should have access to...

[Maggy]

olobley, im was asking can we as tv license payee's be prosucuted.
as reguards for your missus, perants not having a license, puts them in a diffrent bracket?

as you know, torrents them selves are not "illegal". its what the torrenting system is used for that is. and as recently been challenged in court the argument "making avalible" isnt enough of a legal stand point to sue.
"In Atlantic v Brennan, in a 9-page opinion (pdf), district judge Janet Bond Arterton ruled the RIAA has to to prove “actual distribution of copies” and can’t rely on the mere fact there are song files on the defendant’s computer, and that they were “available”."
-- http://www.p2pnet.net/story/15049


all i cba to post atm im ment to be working

[Metal Ed]

fully 3d rice grain.
lolz

olly, do they have a radio? should they have a license for that because I know that radios are covered in the full tv license...?

anyway, on topic I really have no idea, you'd have to look into the terms of the license because it might say something along the lines of "you can only watch them when we broadcast" or "only acquire through the bbc" (i.e. watching when they broadcast, buying their tapes/dvd's, or recording from their broadcast. But I think olly could be right when he says the issue would be you distributing that program to others rather than you having it. I mean if you have a downloaded version of one of their programs, how can they prove you didn't record it yourself on a dvd-r or whatever.

Also, it's been talked about before, there is the whole legal ambiguity as regards copying, certainly music onto tapes and cd's, and being able to keep the backup for personal use for 24hrs after which it must be destroyed. I wouldn't be surprised if there is a clause like that in the license. Now obviously no one's ever been done for keeping vhs's with bbc stuff on, but now the stuff is 1) more easily available to buy, and 2) more easily shared things are different. The BBC puts nearly all of it's flagship shows out on dvd, and even more is available on the iplayer, so people distributing there stuff is actually hurting their profits. Lets face it, copyright holders have ALWAYS been after pirates, audio tape and vhs bootlegs sold on the market, now because of the internet it's the number of people who have access to the bootlegs is much greater.

simple economics i guess :(