Scottish ITV franchise owner STV is counter-suing ITV over the VOD rights to ITV shows it airs. STV was already being sued by ITV for £38 million (E42.7m) it claims it's losing by STV not screening its programmes in Scotland.

STV's claim is that, though STV acquires rights for linear ITV television shows, ITV Network and not the franchise, has been licensing the VOD rights for those shows. It is suing for £12m related to VOD and a further £23m it claims for unpaid share of network advertising revenues.

STV already operates its own breakaway STV Player, and Ofcom has already ruled ITV should give more information to franchisees about its VOD deals and proposed “rights acquired by ITV Network on behalf of the network as a whole are available for use by all licensees on an equivalent basis”.

ITV agreed franchise owners could exploit VOD rights for themselves if their VOD platform supported geoblocking to within their region – a virtually impossible task.

Categories: Articles, Regulation, VOD