Gibsat And u-mee To Implement 48-Hour TV Channel Blackout
Gibsat and u-mee are set to implement a 48-hour blackout of TV channels to publicly highlight what they say are the consequences of legal threats from Gibtelecom.
A joint statement from Gibsat and u-mee continued:
“Simultaneously with their launch of SoFi TV in 2018, Gibtelecom started a campaign to persuade broadcasters, regulators and content owners to prevent TV channels where the broadcaster had not given express permission from being distributed in Gibraltar. As a consequence, local television distributors Gibsat and u-mee have since received a number of demands to end distribution of certain popular TV channels. Letters threatening cease and desist orders continue to arrive, due to ongoing pressure from Gibtelecom.
“In response to these continuing actions from Gibtelecom and in order to inform the public of the possible consequences of these actions, both companies have decided to temporarily black out all channels which presently cannot be licensed in Gibraltar for 48 hours. During this period, only content for which the consent of the broadcaster can be obtained will be available to watch on their platforms and messages will be displayed explaining these actions to each company's respective customers.
“The two companies have also agreed that all complaints and social media comments will be referred to a joint online statement and recommend that their customers now take seriously the real possibility that Gibtelecom's efforts will succeed, in which case the blackout would be permanent.
“Background on channel/content licensing
"Since the 1990s, Gibraltar has enjoyed unrestricted access to a variety of UK and international TV programming. This has helped to forge part of Gibraltar's cultural identity and popularised the use of the English language within the community in recent times, yet none of these channels have been licensed for re-broadcast in the past. No notices or complaints were received regarding TV content distribution in Gibraltar until Gibtelecom became involved in 2018 following their own Sofi TV launch. The resulting action and consequences could now lead to the permanent loss of all UK and international channels, including UK terrestrial services, which provide a vital cultural link to the UK, as well as similarly popular Spanish and other channels.
“The distribution of unlicensed content has been discussed with the local regulator (GRA) and with members of HMGoG, and are continuously reviewed with advice from local and international lawyers and other professional advisors operating within the TV industry. However, the unique size of Gibraltar combined with legal complexity of international media rights makes content distribution deals extremely difficult, and in many cases impossible, to complete. Both companies have been and are constantly working on securing agreements. Additionally, pubs, bars and other businesses may not be able to access any TV at all from u-mee or Gibsat since the landscape of licensing content rights for commercial premises remains unclear.
“The relatively few channels that do make available content for the local market generally work on a combination of fee per user with an annual minimum fee, making the costs not commercially viable because of the small number of customers in Gibraltar. In most cases, such as UK/Spanish terrestrial, specialist sports and movie channels, licensing is not available at all due to geographic restrictions in place by the content rights owners, so these channels would be lost permanently.”
