'The reason PBS stations can't replay this is contracts. Those creatives, cast and presumably crew who were involved were paid something for their participation. Live From Lincoln Center or PBS presumably made a deal for one airing and one airing only. Because the production of South Pacific was broadcast, that means it falls under the SAG/AFTRA, DGA and WGA contracts, which means that if it were to be reaired, then all those individuals who fall under one of those contracts would be owed some amount of residuals. That's where this comes down to stealing. It's copyright law. If you violate it, you are taking money out of someone's pocket.
Take She Loves Me for instance. If someone downloaded the official broadcast of that, then Benanti, Levi et al would receive (a little) bit of money for that. However, if somebody made their own bootleg of the show and watched that instead of the official capture, then they're keeping money from going to the people who could and should be getting paid for their participation.
It's no different than people who download the pirated episodes of the upcoming season of Orange is the New Black and watch them. By not waiting and watching them through Netflix, you are depriving Netflix of recognizing you as a viewer of said content. Thus, depending on how the residual contracts are written, you not being recognized means less money into the pockets of those involved who get residuals based on the number of hits or downloads.
The assertion that copyright law hasn't changed since the 1920s is just inaccurate. It's constantly being updated and rewritten to better protect creatives as new technology becomes available. That's what the whole Napster copyright battle was about 15 years ago. The bigger problem is that attitudes toward copyright have changed. Now that things are infinitely more accessible in terms of becoming aware of them and the technology to share them, somehow a plethora of attitudes have come to believe that because people from all over the world can be interested in "experiences" -- ie -- shows, movies, performances -- then they have the right to consume them. And unfortunately the law (nor ethics) support that philosophy.
That's why the author called out bootlegs as stealing. Because the law (and FBI) consider it intellectual property theft. "
Thank you for your earnest answer. I'm sure you know that copyright infringement cases are almost never decided in criminal court. The Internet pirates attempting to steal mass recordings and sell them for large profits might qualify for criminal treatment. Individual bootlegs, never. But I'm not looking to justify bootlegging as a business, just bootlegging by a private person who loves the show.
And really I don't want to see bootlegging at all. Just release the recording after a sufficient time has passed since the end of the show and tour if any. Get paid for it and distribute the proceeds to those who created the show.
You say that Live From Lincoln Center live productions are prevented from more than one replay because of contracts restricting the various parties. Contracts are not engraved in stone. Contracts can be amended or re-negotiated. Let the parties meet and decide how to divide up the consumer revenue. If the parties can not decide, then usually contracts provide for mediation by an arbitrator, instead of lengthy and expensive civil court proceedings. Settle. It happens all the time in every type of market.
You bring up the example of She Loves Me. Not sure why you bring it up here. That show was streamed all over the world to anyone who wanted to see a live performance and it can be viewed at any time by subscribers to Broadway HD. If all of their creatives could create a done deal, then why not those who labor for Lincoln Center Theater?
I don't believe that there is a coherent reason for not publishing this South Pacific performance. The way is clear but the will is lacking.
