gor[b] Paul Gorbould: Words and Pictures

Shelving the book

As an update to my previous post, the extremely funny and popular "Introducing the Book" skit from the Norwegian broadcaster NRK has been pulled from YouTube.

It seems NRK is one of those broadcasters that isn't comfortable with sharing their stuff outside of their own confines (*coughs nervously and looks around him*).

"Introducing the Book" was "removed by user" from YouTube last night - despite NRK's own glowing news report (from two days ago) on how "Norwegian humour is catching on internationally". (One wonders how long this clip will be YouTube...)

That clip describes how the clip has topped the YouTube charts - a relative rarity for a clip from Norway - and had received over one million viewers via YouTube. But the writing was on the wall: the announcer also mentioned that

It is illegal to upload NRK material to the Internet without an agreement, and NRK's lawyers are now investigating the case.

She goes on to say that Oystein Bache, who cowrote the skit six years ago, was "flattered" by the bit's popularity:

this is probably the closest we are getting a world wide launch, and we are very pleased so far.

A sad response to international acclaim, huh?

For the moment, the original Norwegian version is still on YouTube, but don't bet on it staying there.

To NRK's credit, the clip is available on their own site - in Norwegian only. (The accompanying story headline still refers to their former viral success: NRK-klipp på YouTube-toppen.)

Which is great, and all... if you understand the Norwegian language. Which only 0.07 per cent of the world does.

Now, lest I sound too sanctimonious about NRK's decision to murder their own success, I should disclose that CBC has done the very same thing.

One of the most popular clips on the CBC Archives site (where I work) is a 1993 clip entitled A Network called 'Internet'. The National host Peter Mansbridge introduces the internet for the first time, and you can hear the air quotes around the term (throughout, it's just called "internet" - the word "the" became popular later, I guess.) Great clip, gets a lot of traffic.

Also got a lot of traffic on YouTube, where someone posted a pirated version. There was no credit given, no mention of CBC, no link to the source, and worst of all, someone inserted a pre-roll ad for another website at the beginning. CBC requested the video be removed, and it was. (Of course, it reappeared a few months later - but the YouTube version is really horrible quality.)

Are these cases any different? I'm not sure. In CBC's defence, the YouTube version is identical to the CBC one, but lower quality. The NRK clip is different in that it offers no English translation; the YouTube version added value (one could almost argue it's a derivative work, if one had a ballsy lawyer.) I don't decide these things, but in the CBC case I think the lack of credit and the inserted ad made the piracy a lot harder to put up with.

The NRK clip in all likelihood had rights issues not present in the CBC clip - the skit had writers and actors, and I know that in Canada these are major stumbling blocks to putting anything on the internet (see the current ACTRA dispute over just this issue.) Perhaps they had no choice but to take it down from YouTube (but not their own site) or face the wrath of the unions. Who knows.

And, copyright aside, any time a clip appears elsewhere it means less traffic to the owner's website, and less ad revenue (but more bandwidth cost....)

Regardless, fencing your content in isn't the best way to get viewers. CBC is exploring outside partnerships already - we already have a deal with Google Video, which now owns YouTube. If you go to video.google.ca, you'll see a whole section of CBC clips.

To my knowledge, there isn't a similar section for NRK (though Google Video has over 500 NRK clips, probably illegally.)

Perhaps they are working on a similar deal. I'd check their website to find out... but I don't speak Norwegian.

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Update (22 Feb. 07): For the moment, the video has been reposted here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xFAWR6hzZek
...and many other places on YouTube.

You can also watch it here:
http://www.devilducky.com/media/57946/

Since writing this piece, I've e-mailed some new media contacts at NRK to ask if there are any plans for a legal English version. No word yet, though.

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Update (26 Feb. 07): I heard back from a contact at NRK, who says that "NRK has had a lot of questions regarding this clip and are planning to publish it again, with subtitles" - which would certainly be better than having it go on and off YouTube at the whim of the lawyers.