KEY POINTS:
Free-to-air broadcasters and telcos are headed for a clash as the Government moves to overturn a loophole in copyright legislation.
Broadcasters are concerned Section 88 of the Copyright Act could allow the exploitation of their intellectual property rights by new internet TV (IPTV) channels.
At present, Section 88
obliges free-to-air broadcasters to offer their broadcasts to cable TV for free.
Under the Copyright Bill - a review of the Copyright Act 1994 - they will no longer have to.
TVNZ has told the commerce select committee in its submissions that if Parliament does not approve this change, it could potentially mean the death of free-to-air television.
But telcos, led by TelstraClear, are fighting to retain the right to rebroadcast free-to-air content for free.
TelstraClear has hired high-profile lawyer Mai Chen to fight the change at the select committee hearings.
On the face of it, the proposed change to copyright law looks like legislative housekeeping.
But broadcasting industry sources say that as it stands, the free-to-airs are prevented from accessing a potentially lucrative market for the rights to re-broadcast their channels.
The free-to-air broadcasters are concerned the use of the term "cable" could open the door for intellectual raids by new-media operators delivering IPTV through telephone lines, who might claim their services come under the banner of "cable".
A TVNZ source said submissions to the Government discussed the scenario if Section 88 was allowed to cover not only cable re-transmission but also satellite or web-casting.
Such a measure would lead to the end of free-to-air broadcasting here.
"No production house or news provider such as CNN or the BBC would license any New Zealand broadcaster to broadcast programmes because they could then be disseminated widely by satellite and throughout the world on the internet," TVNZ said in its submissions.
In the draft bill, Government officials have agreed with the free-to-airs and repealed Section 88.
Telcos are lobbying for Section 88 to be retained - although their argument for its retention has not yet been spelled out.
New Zealand has only one cable television operator - Saturn in Wellington - and its owner, TelstraClear, provides a voluntary licence fee to rebroadcast the channels.
Telecom, Orcon and Sky are all looking at IPTV services.
There has been talk for the past 20 years about convergence between telcos and television. Now it is finally happening and the broadcasters are trying to retain control of the most sought-after commodity in the new-media environment - content.