I just found this press release, which might interest some of you:
The first release of video clips under creative copyright clearance for use in UK, from the BBC as part of the Creative Archive is now available on their V-Jay area at http://www.bbc.co.uk/calc/radio1/content.shtml
The British Film Institute’s first release of historic clips under the same UK licence is at http://creative.bfi.org.uk/
More clips are available on Creative Archive at http://creativearchive.bbc.co.uk/index.html
It’s a nice initiative. There’s only one problem as far as I can see.
Why is the Creative Archive Licence restricted to the UK?
The archive content made available by members of the Creative Archive Licence Group under the terms of the Creative Archive Licence is restricted to the UK because the member organisations who supply the content are funded with public money to serve the UK population. They are therefore unable to bear the cost of distribution to overseas audiences. In addition, there may be broadcast rights restrictions which means that content intended for a UK audience should not be made available overseas.
Of course this isn’t a very big problem, but it makes it for example impossible for non-UK residents to use them in nice FX tests and share them on the internet.
I agree, but I’m pleased they’ve done as much as they have - a step in the right direction, even if they haven’t gone the whole way.
Absolutely. It’s a good move they made and who knows? Perhaps they will follow with global content later on.