French broadcasters win Wizzgo ban

Three major French broadcasters – TF1, France Television Group and NT1 – have won an injunction against the online virtual PVR service Wizzgo. Under the ruling, the programmes of TF1, France 2, France 3, France 4, France 5 and NT1 must be removed from the service within eight days.

Wizzgo was launched on May 19 and offers internet software allowing users to record programmes broadcast on the digital terrestrial service. The recorded programmes are stored in Wizzgo’s online server and can be replayed at a later date on a number of devices, including a computer, a video iPod or a Media Centre.

Last summer, the commercial broadcaster M6 secured a similar ruling for its channels M6 and W9 (See Broadband TV News passim). However, Wizzgo appealed against this ruling and the case will continue on November 25.

In the new case, the court found that the activity of Wizzgo “avoided any payment for intellectual property rights” and was therefore “manifestly illegal”. But Wizzgo’s Jerome Cut-Rousseau remains determined to keep his brainchild alive. “This is not the death of Wizzgo. We are working on another way to make the same service,” he told news agency AFP.