[mythtv-users] Supporting schedulesdirect.org

[Brad DerManouelian]

On Aug 7, 2007, at 12:58 PM, Robert Current wrote:

> On 8/7/07, Brad DerManouelian <myth at dermanouelian.com> wrote:
>>
>> TMS provides additional information (like show descriptions) which
>> are copyrighted by TMS. They also have a right to charge for the data
>> collection from broadcast stations all over the country and
>> redistributing according to their agreements with broadcasters, but
>> the real value is in the copyrighted content they create.
>
> The show descriptions aren't taken from the original sources?  They
> re-write their own?  In that case, I'd actually prefer a source that
> used the actual NBC/CBS/FOX/whatever original description for the show
> and episode...

I had a meeting with TMS a while back when I was working for a  
metadata management company. They explained to me that they take the  
descriptions and have editors write new ones based on those for  
different purposes. They will take a paragraph and shorten it to a  
couple of lines for some purposes, a few words for others, etc.  
Sometimes re-write to fit their needs. This was about 5 years ago. I  
assume it's done the same way today. They were VERY concerned about  
maintaining copyright information when distributing this content.  
It's too bad the company I worked for made such crap software. In  
theory it would have been a perfect fit. :)

> And, for the most part, scheduling works with show title and subtitle,
> so might there be an option to not use the description?

You end up not knowing if you've recorded The Simpsons and other  
shows that are either long-running, have many repeated broadcasts in  
a day or both.

Don't forget, TMS also has to maintain servers and (as) accurate (as  
possible) data for many, many listings. There is a lot of overhead in  
this and I'm surprised they were doing it for free for so long. It is  
definitely a chargeable service. Someone else on this thread  
mentioned paying for TotalFark. Isn't that just News that's been  
filtered and redistributed? Same thing. Chargeable service. :)