[mythtv-users] Telly's Free Program Guide

Joseph A. Caputo jcaputo1 at comcast.net
Thu Jul 17 18:00:21 EDT 2003


> -----Original Message-----
> From: mythtv-users-bounces at snowman.net
> [mailto:mythtv-users-bounces at snowman.net]On Behalf Of Chris Petersen
> Sent: Thursday, July 17, 2003 12:51 PM
> To: Discussion about mythtv
> Subject: RE: [mythtv-users] Telly's Free Program Guide
>
>
> So how long before someone figures out how to set up something like
> freedb for tv listings?  It's too bad that the program listing data is
> so tightly controlled by people who DON'T want to share it.

The problem is that, unlike freedb data, tv listing data needs to be updated
frequently.  However, what would probably be OK would be to establish a free
clearing house of listing data, into which people could contribute their
local listings.  The problem, of course, remains as to how to get the
listings in a suitable format... you'd need an xmltv grabber for every
provider, or worse...

>
> -Chris
>
> BTW, if you read your tivo subscription info, I'm pretty sure that it
> says the info is licensed for that specific tivo box, and nothing else.
> I haven't read the fine print, but that's the gist I got when I was
> shopping for one (and decided to invest in myth instead).  It would
> still be "stealing."

Well, the license to retrieve the info is per Tivo unit, but once the data
is downloaded to your unit, they can't tell you what to do with it.  You
could definitely argue that it's 'fair use' to extract the listing data from
your Tivo box.  Whether you wanted to import it into Myth, print it out,
wallpaper your house with it or write it on a grain of rice, nobody can stop
you.  Heck, nobody would even know.  The snag is, while it might be OK for
you to use the data for your own personal uses (as long as you didn't
redistribute it), the actual development of a tool to extract it might run
afoul of the DMCA.

-JAC



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