RTE Makes Programmes Available Online with the Help of Quova Internet Geolocation
LONDON, UK. – 8th October, 2007
Quova, Inc., the leading worldwide provider of Internet geolocation data and services, today announced that Radio Telefís Éireann (RTÉ), Ireland’s national broadcaster, has chosen Quova to facilitate copyright requirements for distribution of its programmes online. Quova’s Internet geolocation capabilities will be used to determine the access rights of online viewers to specific programmes.
RTÉ’s online programme offering includes a broad range of news, sport, and entertainment television programmes. For copyright reasons, some content may only be distributed to specific territories such as the island of Ireland or the Republic of Ireland. Most broadcasters are now making content available online, although this may be subject to stringent license conditions. For instance the original rights holder for a sports match is usually the sports body themselves. They in turn licence the distribution rights to the different broadcasters who must adhere to their licensing terms. Unless broadcasters can guarantee that content is not available outside the relevant regions, then rights holders like the sports bodies will not licence them the content. The broadcasters risk missing out on the opportunity to makes these programmes available online to their audience if this happens.
“As a broadcaster we must ensure we are adhering to the terms as laid out by the rights distributors. To do so we need to know where our online viewers are logging in from and to ensure access is enabled for the allowed territories,” says Marcus O’Doherty, Technology Development Manager, RTÉ Publishing. “For RTÉ, Quova has been an enabler to make more of our programming available online. This in turn has had a positive effect on audience usage and numbers continue to increase. A popular sports match may attract thousands of users online for example. Quova has been checking access to the geo-restricted content by looking up the IP address and ensuring only viewers in the sanctioned territories can access the content.”
RTÉ researched a range of database providers and found Quova to be the best fit for this requirement, as Quova has sufficient accuracy when it comes to Internet geolocation to satisfy all the rights holders. Quova also has a substantial presence in the market and is used by a large number of other broadcasters around Europe.
“Given the growing move towards the online model for broadcasters, the licensing rights for the distribution of programming will be an increasingly important issue,” said Marie Alexander, CEO, Quova. “With the likelihood that the rights holder will not provide content to a broadcaster that cannot guarantee they are blocking viewers outside the authorised territories, broadcasters need to know where viewers are logging in from. Internet geolocation provides the basis for this and peace of mind for both the broadcaster and the distributor.”
About Quova
Quova gives online businesses the ability to determine the geographic location of their Web site visitors. The company offers the most comprehensive, deeply researched and reliable location data available today — without compromising individual privacy. More than 300 companies of all sizes use Quova’s data and services to detect and prevent fraud, ensure regulatory compliance, manage digital content rights distribution, and localize ads and web content. The company’s customer base includes Microsoft, Major League Baseball, American Express, the BBC, Ladbrokes and Cisco Systems, and investors include Mobius Venture Partners and IDG. Quova was founded in 2000 and is based in Mountain View, California with European Headquarters in Amsterdam.
