DStv recording (non-PVR) not allowed: MultiChoice

Responding to questions on whether MultiChoice allows the home recording of its broadcasts, the pay -TV operator said that subscribers are only allowed to use its PVR facility.

“In line with recent agreements with our content suppliers, the copying of our content is not permitted except on MultiChoice PVRs,” said the satellite broadcaster. “Copy protection measures will be implemented in line with these agreements.”

Asked about the legality of home TV recording, Tobias Schönwetter, copyright expert and senior manager at PricewaterhouseCoopers, said that television broadcasts in South Africa may be recorded and stored on any medium, so long as it is for private use.

Schönwetter explained that they call such legally permitted recording of broadcasts on a storage medium for viewing at a later, more convenient time, “time-shifting”.

While Schönwetter is of the opinion that time-shifting is allowed under South African law, he points out that broadcasts may contain sound recordings or movies which do not allow copying for private use.

“In South Africa, TV broadcasts are copyright protected and therefore underlie many restrictions in as far as copying – and recording is one form of copying – is concerned,” Schönwetter said.

Tobias Schönwetter

“But my view is that if sound recordings or movies are contained in a broadcast, time-shifting remains legal.”

Schönwtter said this applies to both free-to-air channels such as SABC, e.tv, and community TV stations, as well as pay-TV broadcasts such as DStv and Top TV.

Recordings may be stored on any medium, Schönwtter said, whether cassettes, DVDs, hard drives, USB sticks, or anything else.

“One word of caution, however,” Schönwetter added. “This does not mean that users can develop work-arounds for their PVRs in order to store their movies [or other content] on a different medium.”

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Photo of Tobias Schönwetter by Paul Scott