Pay TV data missing

[Oberg1]

Hi guys there are a lot of pay tv channels missing data at the moment, most of the sport channels (Fox Sport 1,2,3 etc) the movie channels and quite a few others, what's the reason for this, is anything being done to fix it or can we do something to fix it?

Cheers,

Oberg1.

[NetMedic]

Yes I too have noticed a lot of guide data missing. A couple of the channels should correct in the next few days but as you say, a lot of the sport channels, how-to channel, and lifestyle channels have dropped off the radar.

Hopefully someone will come up with an explanation!

Netmedic

[petestrash]

We are a community, and the guide relies on people uploading data to fill the channels.

There are quite a few channels running short of Pay TV data as some of the regular people have not been uploading any.

Feel free to fill the missing data yourselves.

Peter.

[NetMedic]

Thanks for the advice, pete.

However, looking through the advice on the twiki, it seems a pretty complicated task.

Could you please point me in the right direction regarding how to learn how to do this? There's times, title, content description, genre all to input. It really makes me appreciate the crowd of people who usually do this!

Isn't there some scraper software that can do this automatically from internet resources?? If not, why not?

Netmedic.

[petestrash]

However, looking through the advice on the twiki, it seems a pretty complicated task.

Could you please point me in the right direction regarding how to learn how to do this? There's times, title, content description, genre all to input. It really makes me appreciate the crowd of people who usually do this!

Did you read the Create Guide Data Using Station Day Editor Wiki?

That is probably the simplest way to enter data.

Isn't there some scraper software that can do this automatically from internet resources?? If not, why not?

Copyright

We have been asked not copy data directly from Foxtel.

Peter.

[NetMedic]

Thanks for that, Pete. I'll try to get to grips with uploading some data.

Hmm.. I thought that once the tv schedules were released, they were in the public domain? I'm not sure Foxtel could claim copyright for their TV guide data which amounts to a list of descriptions they have obtained from other sources, then republished. Plus, turning this into tivo guide data means that more people will be watching their programs because they'll be able to record them when they're being shown at inconvenient times.

Foxtel can't have it both ways!

Netmedic.

Or there are other possibilites for scraping. Austar for example?

[petestrash]

Sorry just because something is published does not mean it becomes public domain.

Even something very simple like AFL fixtures are copyright, same with a collection of facts like the phone book.

There have been many lengthy expensive court cases over things like this, and none of us want to be dragged into a federal court case.

Anything that is not covered by copyright is automatically loaded, the rest is manually assembled volunteers.

Peter.

[lenman74]

I suspect that ICETV v Nine High Court Decision would be somewhat reassuring given that the Court held that nines copyright in the guide data was not infringed. Good decision that and about time.

[petestrash]

It actually has no relevance to us.

It hinges on the method used by IceTV, not the actual use of the data.

All previous cases eg White Pages and AFL have gone the other way.

Peter.