The BBC and ITV (LSE: ITV) have sought the advice of lawyers to determine whether the deep-linking that online TV listings site TVguide.co.uk does to their online video streaming is legal or not, reports nma.co.uk. TVguide.co.uk, which has some 1 million unique visitors a month responsible for some 8 million page impressions, offers its users direct access to unbranded content from the two broadcasters, along with others. Broadcasters are concerned that listing aggregators will cut into their ad revenues around streaming, though Channel 4 and Sky said they were not worried about TVguide.co.uk’s moves. In early March, TVguide.co.uk began streaming content from Channel 4, BBC News 24, ITV1, 2,3 and 4, as well as Sky News with plans to aggregate content from web TV broadcasters Babelgum and Joost. In February, broadcasters were able to successfully shut down online video recording site TV Catchup which they claimed was nicking their content.


• TVCatchup Shuts Down Under Broadcaster Pressure