NTV has suffered a major blow after after video content service provider YouTube blocked its online channel over alleged copyright infringement.
The television, which is Kenya’s third largest in terms of viewership, has 280,894 subscribers on YouTube and had so far uploaded 50,775 videos.
“NTV Kenya has been terminated because we received multiple third-party claims of copyright infringement regarding material the user posted,” YouTube said in a statement posted on the blocked channel.
It doesn’t specify the particular infringements, but it’s likely related to videos posted on social media by third-parties which were then picked by NTV without acknowledging the original copyright owners. The switch-off could take weeks depending on how Nation’s legal team responds to the issue and absolves NTV from blame.
However, the station can still recover the channel if it can prove that the claims are improper or invalid by filing a DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) counter-notification to Google Support.
Meanwhile, the station will also lose out ad revenues generated from Google ads displayed on the YouTube videos. Also, if found guilty, the station will be forced to compensate the aggrieved parties of the videos.
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The DMCA provides a process for a copyright owner to give notification to an online service provider concerning alleged copyright infringement.
When a valid DMCA notification is received, the service provider responds under this process by taking down the offending content, according to secondlife.com website.
On taking down content under the DMCA, the service provider, in this case YouTube, will take reasonable steps to contact the owner of the removed content so that a counter-notification may be filed.
On receiving a valid counter-notification, YoTube will restore the content in question, unless again it receives notice from the notification provider that a legal action has been filed seeking a court order to restrain the alleged infringer from engaging in the infringing activity.
Online television has become a popular source of information for many Kenyans who, due to busy engagements have no time to sit down and watch news and other programmes. Since it can be accessed via smartphones, many people can access news videos on YouTube on the move.
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