FC: Olympic games try to block unauthorized video coverage

[Declan McCullagh <declan () well com>]

"Olympics Video Ban Makes for a Big Job"
Wall Street Journal (09/06/00) P. B8; Borzo, Jeanette
Although the International Olympic Committee (IOC) has prohibited
unauthorized video coverage of the Olympic Games online,
enforcing that regulation is difficult. NBC's nbcolympics.com is
the only site permitted to show video, with some restrictions.
Many Web sites are basing much of their content on the upcoming
games, and the time differences between Australia, the United
States, and Europe has made the Internet seem an obvious source
for results. However, the IOC has already brought in $1.3
billion for television rights--a significant proportion of
revenue for the entire event. As such, the IOC must be
particularly careful to guarantee the rights it has sold despite
the reaction of other sites and the difficult nature of the job.
Datops and NetResult are the two companies handling the task.
Datops will apply its Pericles technology to monitor commercial
Web sites that cover the event and identify if any are using
video. NetResult will analyze these findings to determine which
sites have acted against regulations and notify them. The
process has already gone into effect but will intensify once the
Olympics begin. NetResult has said that it does not intend to
shut down everyone who breaks the ban; punishment will depend on
whether a site is commercial and how severely the ban is
violated.




-------------------------------------------------------------------------
POLITECH -- the moderated mailing list of politics and technology
You may redistribute this message freely if it remains intact.
To subscribe, visit http://www.politechbot.com/info/subscribe.html
This message is archived at http://www.politechbot.com/
-------------------------------------------------------------------------