Rights clearance a rocky road for CBC digital archives web site: project manager

The Canadian Broadcasting Corp.’s digital archives web site has grown significantly since its soft launch this spring (CNM, July 10/02), but the expansion hasn’t been without significant headaches, a group of delegates to the International New Media Festival in P.E.I. heard on October 17. Project managers Mark Mietkiewicz and François Boulet told participants in a workshop demonstrating the site that rights management, in particular, has been a problem – though not all rights holders have been reticent to have their content posted online. The site, which had a soft launch last June with just 21 clips, has now grown to 1,200 segments with 100 hours of video and radio footage. The educational component promised by CBC executives has also been implemented with the help of two outside consulting firms. Clearing rights, however, especially to arts and entertainment and sports content, has proven a significant hurdle. Boulet and Mietkiewicz said that older programming often has rights attached to it, the owners of which can be difficult to track down or reluctant to deal. The public broadcaster is already in discussions with the Alliance of Canadian Cinema, Television and Radio Artists (ACTRA), though specific terms haven’t yet been hammered out. While ACTRA negotiators aren’t opposed to the CBC using material with rights attached, the CBC has already begun putting money in trust to deal with the eventual payments it will have to make, said Boulet. ACTRA new media national organizer Thomas Tapley confirms that the two organizations are meeting, with a joint committee in place convening once a month to determine the appropriate rates for content made for other mediums then digitized and posted. Other groups, however, haven’t been so quick to embrace the CBC’s goal. While the American Federation of Musicians (Canada) has proven the most amenable, others such as the Union des Artistes (UDA) and the Writers Guild of Canada (WGC) have proven "skeptical and worried," says Mietkiewicz. In fact, he says, the WGC has told its members not to agree at all to the posting of their material to the archives site. Jim McKee, the WGC’s director of policy and communications, tells Canadian NEW MEDIA that the guild has actually filed a grievance with the CBC as the network seeks permission to use the works of its members in advance of starting talks with the organization. "The Writers Guild has no opposition in principle to the posting of its members’ works to the CBC digital archives site, but is concerned that no attempts have been made by the CBC to properly contract for those terms under the existing language of the agreement regarding further uses. "These terms include consulting with the WGC and negotiating with the writer. The CBC is instead asking writers to agree to a clause that promises them compensation as determined by negotiations with the WGC which are not, in fact, taking place." In some cases, copyright owners have prevented the posting of historically important footage such as that from various Olympic events. Mietkiewicz says that while footage of the Ben Johnson steroid scandal shot away from the venue could be put online, other footage such as news conferences held by the International Olympic Committee and actual race footage have been put off-limits. Aside from rights headaches, work continues at a quick pace to populate the site and project staff is looking ahead to the long-term viability of the initiative. Mietkiewicz says the CBC is still concluding the terms of the project’s first $2.5-million, three-year Memory Fund grant with Canadian Heritage. Staff is further discussing ideas for keeping the site alive past April 2004 and Mietkiewicz mentions adding a password-protected, for-pay section to view entire programs as one of several potential avenues for sustainability.

Rights clearance a rocky road for CBC digital archives web site: project manager

News | 10/30/2002 5:00 am EST

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