TV3 chiefs could be waiting up to three days before learning if they have succeeded in a High Court bid to stop pay-TV counterpart Sky from using Rugby World Cup footage exclusive to TV3.
TV3 lawyers returned to the High Court at Auckland yesterday, seeking to make permanentthe temporary injunctions issued against the Sky TV sports shows Sport 365: Highlights, The Cup and Rugby Highlights.
They were also seeking to extend the injunctions - imposed by Justice Helen Winkelmann on Wednesday - to include Re-union and The Crowd Goes Wild.
A "news access agreement" struck before the cup had allowed Sky TV and Television New Zealand to use TV3 footage for the purpose of reporting current events.
But Julian Miles, QC, said Sky had copied a substantial part of TV3's broadcast, by using 3-owned World Cup footage in magazine-style analysis and talk programmes. "The frequency of the repeats being shown throughout the day, on as many as five different channels ... is, we say, a blatant infringement of our client's rights."
TV3's exclusivity deal was crucial to its retaining advertising dollars, and the World Cup coverage was to be the springboard for its upcoming Sunrise breakfast show, the court heard.
A check of programme listings for coming weeks showed Sky planned saturation coverage of the World Cup.
"A huge day" was clearly planned for Thursday, when 900 minutes of programmes would screen, "all of which would have live coverage", said Mr Miles.
"It won't take much imagination to realise that, as the weeks go by and the games get more important, the coverage will get heavier and heavier."
Graeme Hall, for Sky, accused TV3 of previous unfair use of Sky footage.
A video montage used on a TV3 World Cup preview show used exclusive Sky footage that had no attribution, he said, and had been cropped to hide Sky's logo.
