PSB/CC
The BBC, like most PSBs, broadcasts lots of content which is distributed under strict conditions, and made up of lots of content which it distributed under strict conditions.
Thou shalt not copy, modify, redistribute, etc., etc., because the people who licensed us the music, or produced the programme for us, or whatever, say so.
Fine.
But… there’s a fair amount of the BBC’s output which isn’t obviously governed by what you might call “upstream” restrictions. Is Newsnight, for example? Panorama? The output of BBC Parliament? (actually, that one’s a bit of a special case, thinking about it).
Perhaps the background or incidental music is restricted, but the rest of it isn’t?
“A-ha!”, you might say. “A-ha! What about BBC Worldwide?”. Well, there’s a good point here: BBC Worldwide basically has first dibs on the BBC’s output, and sells it all over the world.
So what happens to the content which isn’t optioned by BBC Worldwide, and is only restricted—essentially—because the BBC wants it to be?
I’m not suggesting it’s a vast amount of content, but I suspect it’s many hours of programming over the course of year even so.
Why isn’t it released under a Creative Commons license? No BBC trademark grants, of course, but a sharealike/attribution license nonetheless?
Why be precious about it? Is there a case to be made to the Trust here? Am I missing some key point?
If you have an answer, give me a call on 01 811 8181 and let me know.
