Indiana University
People  |    

Jim Krause | Classes | P356 TV Studio Production

Week 11

Readings:

Agenda

  • Quiz #4
  • Legal issues in TV
  • Shares and Ratings (if time allows)

Announcements / Reality Check

  • Expert Workshop in Studio 5 this coming Wednesday in Studio 5. (Jo Throckmorton on working on a film set). If you are interested email both Kenny Smith (kds21@indiana.edu) and me.
  • Lab this week: Produce PSAs. BE SURE TO INPUT YOUR TELEPROMPTER SCRIPTS & GRAPHICS BEFORE YOUR LAB TIME!
  • Next 2 weeks we'll be producing dramatic scenes.
  • Final Project proposals and pitches due in lab next week. You need to turn in a Final Project proposal (5 pts – individually graded) and pitch your idea to your fellow students.
  • Moving clips from the Studio 5 server into the Production Lab. (needed to post & share PSAs)
  • Next week: Budget, Planning, EFP and ENG

Legal Concepts for TV Producers

Intellectual Property (IP)

Work of the mind is known as Intellectual Property, often abbreivated as IP. The essential notion behind IP law is that once someone creates something (a story, song, painting, invention, etc.) their idea is protected by law.

Generally speaking, don't use other people's IP in your work. If one does want to use existing music, photos, video, film or other elements in a commercial work, they need to obtain a license agreement from the IP owner.

Ten famous intellectual property disputes (Smithsonian Magazine)

FYI It's relatively easy to acquire a copyright for a song or other piece of creative work, which can be obtained from the Library of Congress. One does not need a appy for a copyright to gain basic protection.

Fair Use - The legal concept of Fair Use addresses exceptions- when it's OK to use other people's IP in your own work. For example one can paradoy a song. Fair Use allows existing intellectual property to be usedwithout securing a license agreement. This is not clearly defined.

AdWeek blog article on Fair Use

NPR article on Fair Use and Copyright Theft

IP law can be divided into several categories.

  • Inventions and devices can be patented.
  • Logos can be trademarked.
  • Music, poetry, film, dance and other creative works can be copyrighted.

Patents and trademarks and registered through the US Patent & Trademark Office, an agency of the Department of Commerce. Copyrights are registered through the US Copyright Office, a division of the Library of Congress.

While it's relatively easy to acquire a copyright for a song or other piece of creative work, one does not need a copyright to gain basic protection.

Generally speaking, one should not use existing IP in commercial work. If one does want to use existing music, photos, video, film or other elements in a commercial work, they need a license agreement.

Fair Use - Allows existing intellectual property to be used in teaching, news and other applications with public benefit. This video provides a good overview of Fair Use.

Privacy - everyone is entitled to this. However those in the public spotlight are given less protection.

Intrusion - When you intrude into a person's privacy.

Access - Generally shooting on public property is OK. Private property for news is another matter.

Commercial appropriation - It is NOT OK to use someone else's likeness to further your own cause.

Staging - Can't "stage" or reenact events unrealistically for news or documentary purposes. Be careful with using comparable footage as well.

Shield Laws - Protecting sources. States offer differing protection than the Feds.

Defamation (libel & slander) - Presenting content that lowers the public's estimation of a person. Negligence (not bothering to check facts).

Public Domain - Copyright has expired.

Legal contracts:

There are three types of legal contracts you should be familiar with:

  • Model Releases
  • Location Releases
  • License Agreements

Model/Talent Releases: These agreements outline the conditions of which the talent will appear in a program. In order to be legally binding, they must specify a time period (duration) and some form of compensation.

Location Releases: These agreements outline the conditions of which a certain location is used in a program.

License Agreements provide for the limited use of someone else's copyrighted material (intellectual property). Anything that has been created, written, composed etc is given some level of protected by Federal copyright law. Music is usually the easiest thing to procure a clearance for (most TV & radio stations have blanket licenses with BMI and ASCAP). Prints, photos, paintings & other visual items are much trickier.

Examples:

Be careful with what you have in the background on a commercial production. Avoid showing existing IP (E.g. identifiable artwork NOT in the public domain).

ASCAP, BMI & SESAC too

These three organizations do similar things: they represent the IP rights of musical artists, publishers & composers.

  • Blanket License - Allows the holder (E.g. TV or radio station) to play any of the recordings. Typically broadcasters would want them from both BMI & ASCAP.
  • Mechanical rights define the terms an existing copyrighted work may be used in an audio-only product, such as CDs.
  • Master Use Rights specify the terms of using a master recording
  • Synchronization (Sync) rights are used to define how a work can be used in a soundtrack to a video or film (E.g. music for a montage). The are obtained from the music publisher/copyright holder and are licensed to the producer of the film or program.
  • Performance rights are necessary to broadcast or perform the work publicly. Broadcasters also need to obtain Performance Rights, since they are publicly transmitting the material. They pay BMI & ASCAP in order to broadcast existing music.

Insurance -----------------------------

Liability - This is the basic insurance all videographers should have if they are doing professional work.

E & O Insurance - Errors and Omissions insurance is a sort of "catch-all" type of insurance that protects you against many unforeseeable issues. All producers should have this.

Insurance -----------------------------

Liability - This is the basic insurance all videographers should have if they are doing professional work.

E & O Insurance - Errors and Omissions insurance is a sort of "catch-all" type of insurance that protects you against many unforeseeable issues. All producers should have this.

Audience Ratings: KNOW HOW TO CALCULATE Ratings and Shares!

Companies like Nielsen and Arbitron calculate ratings for a fee. (Nielson = TV , Arbitron = radio).

For TV ratings, you need to know a few things:

  • the total number of TV Households
  • the number of Households using TV (HUT)
  • the number of TVs tuned in to your station. (This is what Nielsen tracks for a fee.)

Two important measures are ratings and shares.  Ratings are calculated out of the total number of TV households. Shares are calculated out of the number of households using TVs.

Since the number of households actually using TV will always be smaller than the total number of TV households, a program's share will always be higher than its rating.

Rating: The percentage of TV households tuned in to your station divided by the total number of TV households

Displayed in points with no decimal point.

So given:

75 households tuned in
__________________ = .15 or 15 rating points
500 total TV households

(In other words 75 / 500 = .15)

Share: The percentage of TV households tuned in to your station divided by the total number of households using TV (HUT)

Displayed in points with no decimal point.

So given:

75 households tuned in
____________________________ = .375 or 38 share
200 all households using TV (HUT)

(75 / 200 = .375)

Up to the 356 homepage