Academic

Faculty Blogs: SEC New Media Policy Gets Sacked

Today, we begin and end with college football.

Within days after releasing its new media policy, the Southeastern Conference announced it will consider some revisions to the policy.  Associate Commissioner Charles Bloom stated that the SEC already received complaints from 35-40 media members about the restrictions imposed by the policy.

The policy results from the SEC's and XOS Technologies' desire to protect the value of the new SEC Digital Network announced earlier this summer.

One provision that will be changed currently requires media members covering SEC events to be "full-time salaried employees" of their respective media entities.  Commissioner Bloom acknowledged that this provision is unpractical considering the number of freelancers and collegiate media members that cover sporting events.

The fate of other provisions offensive to the media, however, is not yet resolved.  For example, under the policy released last week, television stations may only broadcast highlights from games for a mere 72 hours after the conclusion of a game.  (The entire policy is attached to this post.)

This incident is just one example of how an aggressive assertion of intellectual property rights (or contractual rights) can result in a public relations backlash.  With the uncertainty of how far courts or legislatures will go to protect broad assertions of intellectual property rights in the digital age, however, this is surely not the last or only incident.  For a somewhat snarky example, read this "rewritten" AP article that is intended to show how the AP makes a similarly overbroad assertion of intellectual property rights in its news articles.

Finally, on a purely college football note, I am thankful that former University of Louisville Cardinals Running Backs Coach, Tony Alford, has joined the University of Notre Dame Fighting Irish coaching staff.  The Fighting Irish and Charlie Weis need all the help they can get with the running game.  Coach Alford's record suggests that he is the right man for the job.

Full post as published by University of Louisville Law Faculty on August 11, 2009 (boomark / email).