Will Australia's TV networks go back to the courts to stop others using their new Electronic Program Guide?

After years of fighting against such technologies, Australia's free-to-air broadcasters have finally produced a combined EPG under the Freeview banner. The EPG is built on a multimedia platform called MHEG-5, plus it will also monitor new Content Reference Indicator (CRID) data embedded in the broadcast signal. The CRID data allocates a unique identifier to each show, allowing PVRs to detect when a show is running late and adjust the EPG on the fly, so you don't miss recording the end.

Accessing the Freeview EPG requires an MHEG-5-compatible device but, to my understanding, the CRID data is just sitting in the Event Information Table embedded in the broadcast signal. Technically there's nothing stopping non-Freeview PVRs accessing this data. TiVo's Australian backer, Hybrid TV, told me it intends to extract the CRID data to use with TiVo's own EPG (it won't use the Freeview EPG). Hybrid TV intends to get the blessing of the networks, but it remains to be seen if that blessing is actually required.

Such a legal situation is obviously reminiscent of the case between IceTV and the Nine Network. The judge found that Nine does hold copyright over its EPG, but that IceTV is not infringing that copyright.

Reading through the IceTV judgement, there would seem to be encouraging signs for third-party EPG providers wanting to access the CRID data without the blessing of the networks;

"... generally speaking, no copyright could be claimed in a programme title alone and the time at which a programme will be broadcast is a single item of quotidian information... In terms of the distinction between information and creative material, the time and title information is information about Nine's intended future conduct... In this case, a chronological arrangement of times at which programmes will be broadcast is obvious and prosaic, and plainly lacks the requisite originality."

There's obviously a lot more to it, but the basic conclusion was;

"Any reproduction of the time and title information in the IceGuide was not a reproduction of a substantial part of any of the Weekly Schedules (or the Nine Database)."

This certainly sounds promising for those who want to access the CRID data - it's basically just a URL conforming to what appears to be an open standard. Providing you've already got legit access to an Electronic Program Guide, accessing the CRID data may not actually be a breach of copyright - but you'll need a good lawyer to find out for sure.