Copyrights on fight footage

johnswan1 · Post by **johnswan1** » 16 Aug 2006, 07:40

Just wondering if anybody here knows a lot about this. Who owns fight footage? Is it the TV company who bought the rights? Is it the promoter who won the purse bid? Does the fighter have a stake in it? Or is it a mixture of all of these? And is there an expiry date on the rights?

Say with Mike Tyson for example and some of his fights. Would it be a case of one company buying the rights and selling them to companies in other countries who can do as they wish with it, or do they have to pay commission to the parent company on each showing of it?

All of the US TV companies seem to go to a lot of effort to prevent copyright infringement on fights that they have shown, but what value do they put on these fights? It's understandable that a TV company would not want viewing of their fights available on the Internet within the first few days, weeks or even months of the fight been screened. Obviously people knowing they can download for free or purchase fight copies cheaply will impact PPV sales and package subscriptions, but what value is there for the TV company in a fight that occured a year ago, or even longer?

Are fight rights something that are regularly bought and sold or do TV companies tend to keep hold of them? Would Sky be able to make DVD copies of fights they have screened from the US, or would these be owned by the parent company? In the case of the Hatton-Tszyu fight, this footage was being sold by the promotor (Warren) if I'm not mistaken.

The fact that fight highlights are being taken off youtube due to copyright infringement is an absolute joke. Wouldn't it boost the industry if people had an opportunity to see a fighter and be able to say "I really want to see this guy live next time". I don't understand it, can anybody shed some light on all of this?

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 16 Aug 2006, 07:59

I believe the message on Don King PPV's says its the promoter OWNS the rights and he distributes the rights to the TV company, but the TV company must have the permission of the promoter to distrubuting (i.e. sell) elsewhere.

I think thats why both ITV and Sky regularly show footage of Hatton vs Tszyu, but not the BBC. Warren ultimately OWNS the rights, he distributed to Sky (who screened it live) and since switching to ITV he also distributed to them (as he OWNS the rights). Not sure if the promoter can prevent the company showing the fights if they have been distributed once (cause I am sure Warren would like Sky not to Showcase Hatton vs Tszyu).

Not exactly sure, but something like that. Don't think the fighter has any involvement.

Not sure what has happend regarding Eurosport recent replaying of Fight Academy shows, have FA distributed to Eurosport also, or have FA given Sky permision to distribute them? The reason why I am unsure is because often Eurosport show different fights to televised originally (i.e. Femi Fehintola's fights have been shown in full) but its usually with the same Sky graphics.

Old bones Ian · Post by **Old bones Ian** » 16 Aug 2006, 08:11

Don't know about boxing , but in football they have to pay extra to show a clip with a goal in it, i think the player gets a fee from it.
thats why you don't always see goals in adverts for matches coming up

johnswan1 · Post by **johnswan1** » 16 Aug 2006, 08:20

topper123 wrote:Don't know about boxing , but in football they have to pay extra to show a clip with a goal in it, i think the player gets a fee from it.
thats why you don't always see goals in adverts for matches coming up

I don't know about that - there are always goals shown in adverts for upcoming matches. But maybe this is because only Sky really show league games so they don't have commissions to pay when they advertise them. BBC also have the goals already from Match of the Day - in fact, aren't the highlights rights negotiated seperately again? The only ones I would think might be different are ITV who only seem to show Champions League - maybe they can't show league goals.

Never heard anything about players getting a fee if a goal they scored is shown, I would be very surprised if they did. The TV rights deals are between the FA/clubs and the TV companieshe players would not negotiate their own deals.

It is strange that boxing highlights are not shown. Even though ITV have the F1 footage, highlights will still be shown on Sky News with the caption "Pictures from ITV Sport".

stujones · Post by **stujones** » 16 Aug 2006, 08:34

I know Johnny Wilkinson's winning drop goal costs a fortune and isn't often shown on any other network other than ITV. Other parts of the final is shown though.

boxerrob2005 · Post by **boxerrob2005** » 16 Aug 2006, 08:55

also i have never seen tyson earbite shown. literally once the broadcast had ended you never saw it. is it banned?

nickd · Post by **nickd** » 16 Aug 2006, 09:03

I have definitely seen it since, not sure where though.

johnswan1 · Post by **johnswan1** » 16 Aug 2006, 09:21

boxerrob2005 wrote:also i have never seen tyson earbite shown. literally once the broadcast had ended you never saw it. is it banned?

Well based on what Stu said above on the Wilkinson drop goal, I would think that the Tyson ear bite is probably the same thing. This was the biggest PPV in boxing history (and is yet to be beaten), and also one of the most infamous moments in the sport, so I can imagine it must cost a huge amount. Documentaries I've seen on Tyson have only showed the incident via. photo slides, which obviously would be much cheaper.