Newscasters Reenact Final Four Moments Rather Than Wait For Game Highlight Rights To Clear

Pervasive and extensive copyright law is damage. Route around it. This team of newcasters did (even though it really didn't need to), resulting in something much more entertaining than the content being withheld.

WCJB TV20 in Gainesville, Fla., couldn't legally show highlights of the University of Florida Gators' win over the University of Dayton on March 29. Instead of waiting for footage rights to recap the game, sports anchor Zach Aldridge recruited his coworkers to recreate the game's biggest moments in an office conference room.

Here are the highlights, as recreated using only classically-trained newscasters, a small hoop and a ball. Even the game-ending tears of a Florida Gators player are reenacted for posterity. In his introduction, Aldridge claims the station would be unable to play the highlights until the following day unless it "broke a whole bunch of laws." Clearly, the use of highlight clips would be covered under fair use (hello, criticism, commentary and NEWS REPORTING). But you know what? Screw the restrictive IP climate that surrounds every major sporting event. Why play by those rules? Route around it while highlighting the restrictive stupidity that prevents you from showing viewers what they came to watch. Have that clip go viral (388,000 views and counting), rather than the NCAA-approved clips handed out to local broadcasters like gifts from a begrudging God. I guess this is what maximalists mean when they say strict IP enforcement encourages creativity and innovation. (Oh, and don't even think about drinking your beverages in anything but an NCAA-approved sponsor's cups.) Permalink | Comments | Email This Story