By Yoree Koh And Joe Flint
Technology is once again challenging the business models of old
media, this time in the space of a tweet.
Just two months after its debut, Twitter Inc.'s recently
acquired Periscope app, along with rival Meerkat, are rankling
television networks, Hollywood studios and television distributors
by giving users the ability to shoot live video with their
smartphones and instantly broadcast it to thousands of viewers.
That power was on display during the so-called Fight of the
Century between Floyd Mayweather Jr. and Manny Pacquiao on Saturday
night, when Twitter lit up with tweets from Periscope and Meerkat
users linking to live-video feeds of the boxing match. Unlike an
estimated three million people who paid HBO or Showtime $100 for a
high-definition TV feed, thousands of others preferred to open the
apps and watch the free shaky, grainy footage shot by amateurs
pointing their smartphones at their TV sets.
The rush of attention to the app prompted Twitter Chief
Executive Dick Costolo to declare in a tweet that Periscope was the
clear winner. But, as in the case with many fights, even the victor
takes some hits.
Periscope's weak spot was piracy. A spokeswoman said it received
66 take-down requests from copyrights holders and shut down 30 of
them within minutes. It didn't act on 36 streams because they had
already ended. That highlights the unique challenges of dealing
with the brief life of real-time video streams.
In a statement, Periscope said it respects intellectual-property
rights and is "working to ensure there are robust tools in place to
respond expeditiously." The company declined to elaborate.
Meerkat CEO Ben Rubin said his app received less than 100
take-down requests from rights holders, which Meerkat employees
then reviewed and removed accordingly.
The championship bout marked the latest salvo in the piracy wars
between tech companies, which are cultivating ways for people to
share content, and media giants, who are trying to protect their
programming.
The situation is reminiscent of YouTube's seven-year legal
battle with Viacom Inc., during which the media company alleged
that the Google-owned video-sharing site infringed on its
copyrights by allowing users to post nearly 160,000 unauthorized
clips of Viacom programming.
YouTube claimed it qualified for protection from liability
because it removed clips from its site when the copyright holder
asked, per a clause in the Digital Millennium Copyright Act of 1998
that sought to shield intermediaries like Web-hosting services and
access providers. Twitter's Periscope also invokes this clause as
protection.
Google and Viacom settled the suit last year. Along the way,
Google developed its Content ID system, which detects copyrighted
works on YouTube and allows media companies to decide if they want
them removed.
Google seriously considered building out its own desktop
live-streaming service, which requires users to get Google's
approval prior to live-streaming an event, into a less restrictive
mobile app, said a former YouTube employee with knowledge of the
matter. But for a variety of reasons the company didn't pursue it.
Among them was that building the Content ID system while also
fighting Viacom was such an undertaking that going into mobile live
streaming didn't seem worth the extra investment, this person
said.
Live video has been streamed on the Web for well over a decade,
but the new apps are letting people use their smartphone to record
anything around them while instantly building an audience through
social media. That immediacy requires the live-streaming apps to be
able to do damage control in real-time. Building such a tool takes
time and resources.
Ustream, one of the more established live-streaming platforms,
says it has created tools to combat piracy. These include a log-in
function that allows media partners to go into the system and
remove streams of copyright-infringing material and a
fingerprinting technology that can compare the "DNA" of different
streams. Such tools allow Ustream to delete pirated material within
roughly 10 seconds, according to Ustream CEO Brad Hunstable.
The marketing power of live-streaming services isn't lost on
Hollywood, which has seized on the moment not only to promote its
stars and exclusive broadcasts, as HBO did by live streaming on
Periscope from Mr. Pacquiao's dressing room before the fight, but
also to battle pirated content.
Last month, HBO, a Time Warner Inc. unit, sent take-down notices
to Periscope after users of the app broadcast episodes of its hit
"Game of Thrones." At the time, HBO said app developers should have
tools in place to prevent mass copyright infringement.
Neither HBO or CBS Corp.'s Showtime would comment on illegal
streaming of the fight. Prior to the bout, the networks and
promoters were granted temporary restraining orders against
websites advertising streams to watch the fight. HBO and Showtime
also contacted live-streaming platforms prior to Saturday's fight
to alert them to the potential copyright-infringement issues.
Because Periscope and other newer live-streaming services don't
have as sophisticated a system to determine when pirated material
is being posted as YouTube does, HBO and Showtime were constantly
filing requests to have streams of the fight removed, a person at
one of the networks said.
One promoter, Top Rank Inc., which handles promotions for Mr.
Pacquiao, said it is considering its legal options against people
who streamed the fight and possibly the owners of the
platforms.
"We are always concerned by piracy and will do what we can to
assist the authorities and our programming partners to stop
unlawful behavior," said Michael Berman, executive vice president
and general counsel of iN Demand, which handles pay-per-view events
for cable operators including Time Warner and Comcast Corp.
Write to Yoree Koh at yoree.koh@wsj.com and Joe Flint at
joe.flint@wsj.com
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