The Premier League has initiated legal proceedings against Youtube for copyright infringement, referring to the numerous video clips of football highlights that are now readily available on the site.The announcement spells bad news for football fans across the world. This season has been the first in which football highlights have been available to everyone. If you miss MOTD, you can watch it on the net.If you don't have Sky Sports, you can watch the game or highlights on the net (Preferabley here at TTIAO). Fans globally have been free to publish videos and watch videos of anything they desire, meaning football has become a whole lot more accessible.
Take the 'Messi goal' (you can still watch it as it's from La Liga). This Maradona-esque special would have been missed by so many if it hadn't been for sites like YouTube. The videos act as a promoton tool for football all over, not just the Premiership, allowing fans that otherwise were oblivious, the chance to see the best players, the best teams and the best goals.
This total freedom is what the internet is about right? And it seems the FA Premier League have gone right for the heart by taking on YouTube on this one. YouTube has begun taking down and blocking almost all Premiership video highlights, in preperation for what will be a landmark legal battle. The league will almost certianly wish to seek damages for all the 'revenue' lost from this season.
But haven't we seen this all before with music downloads? Napster anyone? And for every net giant that gets pulled in and restricted, there is another newcomer or equivelent that is ready to step straight in it's place - i.e. Limewire. Could 'Daily Motion' fill this void. We use their videos alot here at TTIAO, and as of yet, there have been no banned or restricted videos of Premiership football on there. Sssshhhh! Just incase anyone is listening!
At the moment, it seems that as quick as the vidoes are being taken down, there is someone, somewhere waiting in the wings to post it straight back up. But what for the future? TTIAO will continue to post videos and links to videos until told otherwise, as is the stance with almost every other football blog.
As EPL Talk point out, why doesn't the Premier League embrace Youtube, and create channels, as the NHL, NBA and Chelsea all have done. Mainstream media even take value from these online videos, with the Guardian's Sports Blog even having a Thursday round-up of YouTube clips. So it's not just a few bloggers making use of the videos here. Have the FA Premier League may have bitten off more than they can chew with this one?
Officials from the NHL even admitted that YouTube was 'a great way to showcase the talents of our athletes.' Popular football blog '101 goals' offer their solution:
'The solution is simple, and has been promulgated numerous times on this website. The Premier League should showcase every goal on their own website for free. If they need any more money (perhaps selling the overseas rights for £625 million did not bring in enough money…) they can include advertising on the site in a similar way to their Fantasy Premier League game which advertises Budweiser.'
The Premier League has arguably become the greatest league in the world, and with that tag more and more people will want to watch the football being played here, no matter where, no matter how. The league should think of a way, like the one above, of offering their own official highlights service online, or face battles such as this for many years to come. As Patrick Kidd wrote when talking of banned cricket World Cup videos on Youtube; "The revolution will not be televised, but it may be won in cyberspace." TTIAO will be one site that tries to ensure that rings true!
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