ivi, the over-the-top Internet video player that offers broadcast TV content online for a $4.99 monthly subscription, has drawn its first lawsuit from the broadcast industry, with ABC, CBS and NBC, among others, suing ivi for copyright infringement. The legal action seemed certain after ivi made a big PR splash earlier this month.
Bloomberg News has more:
The broadcasters “accused Seattle-based Ivi and founder Todd Weaver of copyright infringement in the complaint filed today in U.S. District Court in Manhattan. Ivi began streaming TV stations in Seattle and New York 24 hours a day to Web subscribers worldwide on Sept. 13, according to the lawsuit.”
Ivy can be beautiful (a certain Chicago ballpark with ivy-covered walls comes to mind), but it also grows like crazy and can be very hard to control. Maybe the powers-that-be at ivi (pronounce it like the plant) had all of that in mind when they named the new OTT video venture. ivi is looking for a Hulu-like impact, and had to know it was courting both notoriety and controversy when it eschewed content licensing.
Reportedly, ivi’s aim is to exploit a possible loophole in copyright code that allows for re-broadcast of certain TV channels. Now, their plan will be put to the test.
With ivi having defied them, broadcasters were left with little choice other than to sue, but let’s hope they also learn the lesson that they need to start think more innovatively about their own OTT strategies if they want to beat these upstarts to the punch.