If content is king, protecting your content makes common sense

CRA’s Joan Warner responds to James Cridland

James Cridland’s article on CRA’s submission to the Digital Platforms Inquiry misunderstands the issues surrounding content protection and third party aggregators.

Under the proposals, listeners will still be able to consume live and on-demand radio content on a variety of platforms and products, whether owned by broadcasters or third party entities.
 
The key point is that we object to the unauthorised use of broadcaster content where there is no commercial benefit (monetary or otherwise) for the content creators and owners.
 
The industry does value third parties linking to radio stations online, in a way that works for listeners, radio stations and their clients; although the industry needs to be able to have a say on what those arrangements are.
 
The use of aggregated hyperlinks by commercial entities, mostly based overseas, diverts listeners from Australian broadcaster platforms to aggregator sites over which stations have no control and no entitlement to request payment.
 

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In terms of mobile apps, third party aggregators derive revenue on multiple fronts, including by serving advertising to listeners in the form of display or audio advertising that is delivered ‘on top’ of a radio station’s audio stream.  Often this can result in a sub-optimal experience for listeners and advertisers. 
 
Unfortunately, under the existing legal framework it can be difficult to require the removal of such hyperlinks to legitimate websites.
 
Our submission does not propose restricted access to podcasts;  podcasting has grown and thrived because of access via a multitude of third party podcast apps.  The Australian radio industry is Australia’s leading investor in podcast creation and promotion, and has benefited from having its content being available everywhere.
 
The radio industry invests significant resources in the daily creation of live and local content.  Every day, thousands of Australians are employed by the radio industry to create live and local content that connects with local communities in locations all over Australia.  
 
Broadcasters have long been working to protect their investment in content and an extra level of intellectual property protection will assist.
 
Joan Warner
Chief Executive Officer
Commercial Radio Australia

Read James Cridland’s article here

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