On 8 April 2014, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland submitted a paper to the 27th session of WIPO’s Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights (SCCR) on the Proposed WIPO treaty on the protection of broadcasting organizations (SCCR/27/3). In its proposal, the UK endeavors to “shed light on a number of different technologies already being used by broadcasters from around the world” including the deployment of the BBC iPlayer and the BBC Red Button services.
The UK paper proposes that,
BBC attend the 27th SCCR to give a presentation to the plenary session on these services [Red Button and iPlayer] . This will enable delegates to learn more about the types of advanced technology being used by broadcasters around the globe. Although linear broadcasts are still popular, these are now widely being combined with IPTV and other services.
It would appear that the membership of SCCR27 would need to consent in order for the BBC to give a presentation in the plenary of SCCR27.
Furthermore, the UK requests that a
30 minute time slot followed by a question-and-answer period as the first sub-item under agenda item 5: Protection of Broadcasting Organizations. The presentation will include a real time demonstration of how the technology works in practice and will cover the following key areas:
a. A brief overview of how broadcasting took place in 1960
b. The introduction of ‘broadcast’ Red Button services
c. The launch of BBC iPlayer services
d. Extension to other on-demand services – this includes online-only
e. The launch of BBC Connected Red Button services
The presentation will also include audience figures for key events such as the Olympics, and will set out expectations for connected TV penetration in general.
The United Kingdom believes that having this kind of interactive session will help to highlight the use of similar services in other Member States, and will provide further clarity on the technology and how this relates to the scope of the Treaty. In light of the progress made at the 26th SCCR in December 2013, this could help to further the negotiations on the working document and lead to convergence.
The UK paper provides the following background on the BBC and its role in broadcasting; one wonders, if the BBC will voice an opinion on the negotiating text of the broadcast treaty at SCCR27?
The BBC is a public service broadcaster (which is independent of the Government of the United Kingdom). Its work is mainly funded by an annual television licence fee which must be purchased by all households, companies and organizations that use any type of equipment to receive television broadcasts.
The original Red Button service was first introduced in the United Kingdom in 1999 and provided a text based broadcast service. Content is chosen by the broadcaster and only available on a loop so viewers do not have the freedom to access the content from the beginning. Content is normally only available for about three to four hours and is restricted by the size of the data stream.
Connected Red Button was launched in 2012. This provides more advanced services and brings together linear broadcasting and Internet Protocol television (IPTV). Due to the use of online streams it is more capable of showing larger amounts of video content and enables the consumer to customize their viewing pattern. It also provides access to broadcasts and content that are or have not been broadcasted via traditional or linear means. It also provides access to BBC iPlayer.
Content on BBC iPlayer is currently usually taken from regular over the air BBC schedule (either live or time-shifted), however it is not restricted to this. It also includes a network-based personal video recorder (PVR – a personal interactive TV recording device) and the broadcast is essentially accessed via an Internet Protocol (IP) stream.