News access row affects cricket too
A boycott of press coverage of the series was threatened on the grounds that Cricket Australia had made the use of match photography subject to unnecessarily severe restrictions. Whilst terms were eventually agreed with the News Corporation subsidiary, the leading press agencies did not cover the opening test. Associated Press took issue with Cricket Australia requesting a licence fee for the syndication of match photography, Cricket Australia insisting that it holds the intellectual property rights in all photography at venues which it controls and therefore no commercial exploitation of such photography can be made without its consent (or the payment of an appropriate licence fee).
It was reported that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) had backed the stance of Cricket Australia and may itself demand licence fee payments for the syndication of match photography, but drawing a distinction between newspapers sending their own photographers and the press agencies. The press agencies maintained that as "news events" they should not be asked to and would not pay for access to the test matches.
After the first test was not covered by the press agencies the ensuing round of negotiations resulted in a temporary ceasefire as Cricket Australia relented on its licence fee demand and the News Media Coalition resumed activities at the second test.
Also worthy of note is that the Audio-Visual Media Services Directive (which was formally adopted by the European Parliament on 29 November) is expected to be published in the Official Journal (and so enter into force) before the end of 2007 and Member States will be required to implement the AVMS Directive within two years of that date. Some sports governing bodies have, perhaps justifiably, voiced misgivings that the revisions to the Television Without Frontiers Directive brought about by the AVMS Directive may in fact give media organisations the right to show clips of sporting events without any requirement for licence fees on the basis that such activity would constitute "news access". Those anxieties may be assuaged by national implementing legislation but for the time being we shall have to sit and wait.
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