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="Save" Teachers TV Videos #saveTTV=



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On Thursday April 21st 2011 I received this message in my inbox from Teachers TV :


 * Dear Leon,**


 * I am writing to confirm that, following the termination of the Teachers TV contract, the Teachers TV website will cease to be available from 29th April, 2011.**


 * Where can I find Teachers TV videos after the 29th April?**


 * The Department for Education (DfE) will make all Teachers TV programmes available to distributors on a non-exclusive basis. Any distributor who provides Teachers TV programmes will be required to stream them for free at the point of use. Details of where you can access Teachers TV programmes can be found on the DfE website.**


 * Where can I find more information about the closure of the Teachers TV website?**


 * For more information please visit our help pages.**


 * What do I need to do if I have a viewing log, or links to the Teachers TV website?**


 * If you have completed a Teachers TV viewing log, or have links to Teachers TV videos on your website or VLE, you need to take action. Please check our help pages for details.**


 * Thank you for your continued support. Please pass this message on to any colleagues who may be interested.**


 * Sarah**

The help pages

@http://www.teachers.tv/help?utm_source=&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Shut+Down+EMKT+closedown+not+signed+up+or+not+reg+1

referred to,

point out that the videos, if downloaded under the **Creative Archive** :

"**//may be kept provided their storage and use complies with the Creative Archive Licence.//**"

Now the ** Creative Archive Licence ** is here:

@http://www.teachers.tv/creativearchive

and it is pretty clear you CAN store, share and make derivative works of the video of ** Creative Archive Licensed ** files (i.e. remash them) if you are a UK school or Museum so long as you attribute the original files, do not make derogatory references about them or the companies and individuals etc that are portrayed in them (They are wonderful :) and keep all the branding and badging in place.

What **you cannot do** is download, store and share the :

**Videos made available under the Viewing Licence after the 29th April.**
Most of the ** Viewing License ** files are in the Resources section:

@http://www.teachers.tv/resource

You **//can//** download the ** Viewing Licence ** files for **//yourself for your own personal use//** before April 29th but you **can't share them with anyone else**. You also have to be resident in the UK.

//You can't//:


 * Alter or modify the ( Viewing Licensed ) video in any way;**
 * Make copies of the** **( Viewing Licensed )** **video or store any copies of the video, other than incidental or transient copies;**

The reason why the **Viewing Licence** is stricter than the **Creative Archive Licence** is because there are a lot of "underlying rights" and full copyright in the ** Viewing Licence ** films (I'm guessing) - so you'll be undermining other commercial filmmakers, photographers, videographers, audio specialists, composers, web designers, music makers IPR - (Intellectual Copyrights) if you download and fileshare them (does that sound familiar?).

The "Underlying Rights" of these films are a tangled web of layered resources which different producers have the rights to and they cannot be distributed (notionally) because they will probably result in loss of revenue for the copyright holder. And when the contract runs out they can be easily (or not so easily) re-written to allow the producers to make a commercial profit. It is not unforseen that the DfE will use these excellent resources to sell to the rest of the world and extend the geographical rights domain of the materials under a new license - they would be stupid not to. However, just like the BBC it will not own the content, or Intellectual Copyright and will doubtless have to come to some arrangement with each or every producer and artist. This may be prohibitive in some cases and just not practical. In others, if you can find them and pay them, it might be worth the candle.

In a previous life a large part of my role was working with a production company to clear "underlying rights" for DVD production for educational resources. The ** Creative Archive License ** is generally freer of these rights (because they have been contractually waived before the films were made) rather than the more commercial ** Viewing Licence ** which obviously contains stuff that the creators feel is of more value commercially.

=**So easy peasy**=


 * Allowed**

1) Only download the videos issued under the ** Creative Archive License ** for wider sharing as a School or Museum **in the UK Only**.


 * Not Allowed**

2) **Don't** download and copy or make derivative works of any films that have a ** Viewing License **.

The email also mentioned :

The Department for Education will make all Teachers TV programmes available to distributors on a non-exclusive basis. Any distributor who provides Teachers TV programmes will be required to stream them for free at the point of use. Details of where you can access Teachers TV programmes can be found on the DfE website at @http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/toolsandinitiatives/teacherstv.

Now when you do go to:

http://www.education.gov.uk/schools/toolsandinitiatives/teacherstv.

You are presented with the information that:

T**he Department is making all 3,500 15min Teachers TV programmes and related content freely available on a non-exclusive basis. In return for undertaking to stream the programmes free at the point of use, you would be allowed to use the Teachers TV content commercially in the UK and in other countries. **


 * A full copy of the distribution agreement will be available to download.**


 * Details of where you can access digital versions of the programmes will be published here shortly.**


 * If you are interested in entering into an agreement with the Department and the National Archives to distribute the Teachers TV archive please contact** teachers.tv@education.gsi.gov.uk **for more details.**

In other words they need to come to some arrangement with interested parties to commercialise distribution and content ...The only way I can see this being allowed is **to alter the licensing**.This may not be the case but many people who waived rights on the understanding that these films would NOT be commercialised may have something to say about that perhaps - I couldn't possibly say though ;)

Who knows when these videos will be available again and in what format - there is a little clause inside the Licensing that allows the Licensor (read Gov't lawyers here I guess) to change the terms of the licence.



** That is why I launched the #saveTTV Project ** - so I wrote a blog about it at:

You have a week to save all the Teachers’ TV Videos - how to do it - power of the crowd.

and when that was achieved another one :

Teachers’ TV Video Archive - the next stage

I don't see why, when we have the right as schools and educational practitioners to download and share resources that we have to wait for some third party deal to be worked out sometime down the line that might be of commercial benefit to larger institutions for the right to stream at source - //**I'm sure it'll be a great deal but it removes the resource in the meantime and don't get me wrong I understand entirely the need for a commercial sponsor for "streaming" if no alternative is available**// but, in reality, a whole community is being disenfranchised here.

These resources often exist because of the goodwill and co-operation of excellent Practitioners, Managers, Teaching Assistants, Parents and Governors. Having it disappear - even if only for a few brief weeks or months, does not serve the community well. Rather than accept this withdrawal I'd like to think there are more enlightened and focused ways of managing around how to best use the resource for UK schools.

//**But I am certainly not acting as a distributor here in any form or manner just enabling a peer to peer process to take effect.**//

I'm a great believer in grass roots activity which empowers rather than alienates people, so I set up the Google Docs page and I will be using the donation funding that has come in, to cache files temporarily, so schools can share and distribute the films under the terms of the UK Creative Archive License as **//it currently stands at 22nd April 2011//** and to provide a crowdsourced solution to an immediate problem.

**__Again - I stress I am not acting as a distributor but merely facilitating a peer to peer sharing process and "clearing house" space for schools in the interim.__**

The hashtag, **#saveTTV**, Is double edged - it means not only save the archive but also literally "save" the files. If everyone saves different files the archive will be downloaded quickly and then can be re-aggregated by the community. It will be unevenly downloaded and unevenly distributed but the community. But if the educational community in the UK values the resource, it will rebuild it itself under the terms of the licensing.

It does look like this is happening - there are currently (//midnight 22nd April 2011//) 450 of the 3,500 available files for download that have been downloaded by the community in just a few hours since I started the blog this morning.

This wiki and the hashtag #saveTTV, will be for discussion debate and reflection as well as information on the 7 day campaign of action - please do your bit - even if it is only downloading one file and keeping it for upload centrally later.

Please join us - all you have to do is download a file under the terms of the UK Creative Archive and then put up the details of your download and your contact details.

Good luck and be imaginative and positive - we are doing this for all our children's futures.


 * Leon Cych (00:00) Easter Saturday April 2011**.