[mythtv] Obtaining TV Listing Data and also Gist.com Closing

[Bruce Markey]

Jay R. Ashworth wrote:
...
> Damn good thing you put that smiley there, pardner. 

<damage_control>
I mis-understood. I though you were referring a link at
Decisionmark that talked about working with an open source
version of UltimateTV (I'd already seen the messages at
TitanTV).

UltimateTV has never taken off and has been subject to
re-org so it's conceivable that it might be spun off. I
would have been very interested if that was the case.

I see this as a possibility for ReplayTV with SonicBlue
in bankruptcy. At some point, if no one wants to maintain
the ReplayTV listings service, wishful thinking is that
they may release the source code.

Flame me if you must.
</damage_control>

> That sounds to me like they ought to be on "our" side.

Agreed. I get the impression that TMS and/or Gemstar
International are clearinghouses that gather and license
the data. All the end user sources of TV listings are
either owned by or licensed from one of the sources. They
are all subject to terms to prevent reselling or repackaging
the data.

However, as long as TV listings are on the web, the thought
police can't restrict what my personal use is after I make
an HTTP hit (provided I'm not redistributing the data).

The clearinghouses can't decide to not allow web access to
TV listings because the networks wouldn't tolerate it (and
would probably go to someone else who would distribute their
listings) and they would lose all the web licensees.

Therefore, I expect we'll always have data. The question is
how convenient will it be to gather the data.

--  bjm