Mediaworks Wins Injunction

Media Release
For Immediate Release
Wednesday, 12 September 2007

Mediaworks Wins Injunction

MediaWorks, owner of TV3, is delighted with today’s interim injunction against Sky’s coverage of the Rugby World Cup ordered by the High Court in Auckland. A full hearing of the injunction will take place on Friday.

The ruling imposes a ban on Sky including TV3 Rugby World Cup footage on “The Cup”, “Rugby Highlights” (channel 33) and “Sport 365 Highlights”.

“Clearly Justice Winkelmann agreed that there is a case to answer in relation to Sky’s unauthorised use of our footage in a variety of programmes across various Sky channels,” said TVWorks Chief Operating Officer Rick Friesen.

“The full hearing of the injunction application on Friday will be an excellent opportunity for us to fully disclose and explain our position in open court. We will seek a permanent injunction against all unauthorised use,” said Mr Friesen.

“Our motivation in taking this action is to protect the enormous investment we have made in securing the rights to the Rugby World Cup so that all New Zealanders can enjoy the event live and free-to-air,” Mr Friesen said.

“We appreciate the fact that TVNZ has honoured the agreement regarding news coverage of the Rugby World Cup. However Sky has used footage to which it has no rights beyond the scope of the news agreement,” Mr Friesen said.

ENDS

© Scoop Media