A federal judge in the US has ordered the internet video provider ivi TV to cease distributing broadcast TV stations over the internet. Seattle-based ivi was launched in September 2010 and charges users $4.99 (€3.73) per month for access to live internet simulcasts of signals from 55 TV stations.
Last September, Hollywood studios and US networks warned the new ivi tv online service to stop streaming US broadcast channels to a worldwide audience on the internet.
Ivi argued its service is akin to a cable system under the law, operating legally so long as it makes payments to the US Copyright Office for compulsory licenses offered to cable providers. However, the court concluded that the streaming company did not fall under the protection of the Copyright Act, because ivi is not “a cable system for purposes of the Communications Act, and thus it need not comply with the requirements of that Act and the rules of the FCC promulgated thereunder.”
According to Wired.om, ivi plans to appeal the decision. “The judge has it wrong,” ivi founder and CEO Todd Weaver told Wired.
