Singh, 2011. The FRAPA Report 2011 - Protecting Format Rights.

Pls see attached PDF

'TV Format Protection through Marketing Strategies?'

Commercially successful programme ideas are often imitated or adapted. Television formats, in particular, are routinely copied. Starting from radio formats in the 1950s to game shows and reality programme formats of today, producers have accused others of “stealing”. Although formats constitute one of the most important exports for British TV producers, there is still no certainty about the legal protection of TV formats from copycat versions. Since TV formats fail to fall neatly within the definitions of protected material under international copyright and trade mark regimes, producers have been trying to devise innovative means to protect their formats from plagiarism. The globalization of cultural and entertainment markets may itself have contributed to the rise of TV formats, interconnecting programming industries in a world of multiplying channels. This paper theorizes that global broadcasting and programme marketing strategies can also be used by TV format producers to protect their formats. Specifically, eight different strategies may be used: (a) trade show infrastructure and dynamics; (b) visual brand identity and channel fit; (c) brand extension and merchandising; (d) corporate branding; (e) national branding; (f) genre branding; (g) constant brand innovation; (h) fan communities. The paper develops a methodology for capturing the use and effectiveness of these eight strategies in preventing the copying of formats

“TV Format Protection through Marketing Strategies?”

Commercially successful programme ideas are often imitated or adapted. Television formats, in particular, are routinely copied. Starting from radio formats in the 1950s to game shows and reality programme formats of today, producers have accused others of “stealing”. Although formats constitute one of the most important exports for British TV producers, there is still no certainty about the legal protection of TV formats from copycat versions. Since TV formats fail to fall neatly within the definitions of protected material under international copyright and trade mark regimes, producers have been trying to devise innovative means to protect their formats from plagiarism. The globalization of cultural and entertainment markets may itself have contributed to the rise of TV formats, interconnecting programming industries in a world of multiplying channels. This paper theorizes that global broadcasting and programme marketing strategies can also be used by TV format producers to protect their formats. Specifically, eight different strategies may be used: (a) trade show infrastructure and dynamics; (b) visual brand identity and channel fit; (c) brand extension and merchandising; (d) corporate branding; (e) national branding; (f) genre branding; (g) constant brand innovation; (h) fan communities. The paper develops a methodology for capturing the use and effectiveness of these eight strategies in preventing the copying of formats

CREATe 2012-2016: Impact on society, industry and policy through research excellence and knowledge exchange

On the eve of the CREATe Festival May 2016, the Centre published this legacy report (edited by Kerry Patterson & Sukhpreet Singh with contributions from consortium researchers)

Cancer Education and Awareness Program: Education and Its Role in the Prevention of Cancer

As U.S. healthcare accelerates into an era of science fiction, we find that most diseases are treatable via technological intervention. This has, unfortunately, reduced the role of the physician as the patient’s teacher and advocate in the clinical setting. The Cancer Education and Awareness Program attempts to tackle one of the worst diagnoses a patient can receive, and dispel the misconceptions the general popu- lation has about the prevention of disease. We do this by reaching out to high school students in the local community, and through the method of storytelling, we teach them the science behind the disease. This allows them to be able to appreciate a more tangible aspect of disease that seems generally out of their reach. CEAP has tried to bring back the role of the physician as an educator by taking this role straight into a high school classroom. We hope this will allow our target audience to learn about the relevant consequences of their decisions now, and to impact their health in the future

'TV Format Protection through Marketing Strategies?'

Commercially successful programme ideas are often imitated or adapted. Television formats, in particular, are routinely copied. Starting from radio formats in the 1950s to game shows and reality programme formats of today, producers have accused others of “stealing”. Although formats constitute one of the most important exports for British TV producers, there is still no certainty about the legal protection of TV formats from copycat versions. Since TV formats fail to fall neatly within the definitions of protected material under international copyright and trade mark regimes, producers have been trying to devise innovative means to protect their formats from plagiarism. The globalization of cultural and entertainment markets may itself have contributed to the rise of TV formats, interconnecting programming industries in a world of multiplying channels. This paper theorizes that global broadcasting and programme marketing strategies can also be used by TV format producers to protect their formats. Specifically, eight different strategies may be used: (a) trade show infrastructure and dynamics; (b) visual brand identity and channel fit; (c) brand extension and merchandising; (d) corporate branding; (e) national branding; (f) genre branding; (g) constant brand innovation; (h) fan communities. The paper develops a methodology for capturing the use and effectiveness of these eight strategies in preventing the copying of formats

Strategic Behaviour in the International Exploitation of TV Formats - A Case Study of the Idols Format

The international trade in TV formats has been increasing steadily. According to the Format Recognition and Protection Association (a format producers' industry association) the value of the global TV format business exceeds € 9.3 billion (FRAPA 2009). In the early 2000s, the market grew more than 30 per cent in three years, and the UK became one of the lead exporters of formats, along with USA and the Netherlands (FT 2005). This case study investigates how Idols became one of the most successful television formats sold worldwide – with, as noted in the Introduction, over 40 global versions – in the absence of specific format rights. Component parts of an Idols type format may attract copyright protection in its production manual (also known as 'format bible'), set design, programming sequence, episode segments and musical content; but in a court of law, the underlying concept and the format arrangement of the components does not attract copyright protection. From a legal perspective, if there is no formal protection regime provided by law, competitors should be able to copy the product freely and hence the price of such a product should be zero. However, formats are bought and sold for large sums of money. The licensees fees alone for a sought after format, such as Idols, can cost broadcasters in a Western European territory, upwards of €35,000 for one series of 20 to 30 episodes of 1 hour duration besides additional fees for consultancy in the form of flying producers. This case study identifies the strategies employed by producers of the Idols format to counter the limited legal protection available to their cultural products. The case study is structured as follows. The first section gives an introductory overview of international trade in the Idols format, circumscribing the issue of format imitation from a legal and commercial point of view. Secondly, the research design for the case study is explained. Thirdly, market based patterns of format protection and exploitation are identified from the empirical data. The chapter concludes with a discussion section, in which these patterns of exploitation are grouped into three overarching strategies pursued by the producers of the Idols format

The Protection of television formats: intellectual property and market based strategies.

Television formats have become a major export product, with Britain alone accounting for nearly half of all format hours broadcast annually worldwide. Yet, there is no such thing as a television format right under copyright law. Any producer is free to develop game, reality and talent shows that are based on similar ideas. This research analyses the paradox of growth in the international trade of formats in the absence of any legal solutions which provide precise and enforceable governance. The research first assesses the limits of copyright law as a means of protecting formats, by creating a bespoke database of 59 format disputes reported in the trade press and in online services. Disputes are categorised by jurisdiction, ground of dispute and decision or settlement. Secondly, theoretical propositions of format protection are developed, based on theories from the diverse fields of cultural theory (production of culture perspective), marketing (brand identity, innovation and extensions) and media economics (distribution dynamics and scale of production). These propositions then are exposed to semi-structured interviews with format sellers at international television trade fairs, as well as senior managers at Fremantlemedia (a leading format originator and distributor). The qualitative data is synthesized into a theory of format trade using IP and market based means of protection. Format developers appear to use three groups of strategies to exploit TV formats internationally. These are (1) Formalization and transaction of know-how (format bibles, flying producers, confidentiality agreements and access control); (2) Managing the brand (brand identity, localisations, brand extensions, innovation, trademarks); (3) Distribution dynamics and industry conventions (scale of production, social networks, retaliation, trade fairs). This research contributes to original knowledge in media and cultural industries management by first empirically illustrating a recurrent, under-researched problem and then advancing a theory to understand industry behaviour to overcome the same

Empirical observations on television format rights disputes from 1987 to 2007

Commercially successful ideas in the creative world are often imitated or adapted. Television formats, in particular, are routinely copied. From early radio formats to game shows and reality programme formats of today, producers have accused others of “stealing”. Although formats constitute one of the most important exports for British TV producers, there is still no certainty about the legal protection of TV formats from copycat versions. Since TV formats fail to fall neatly within the definitions of protected material under international copyright and trade mark regimes, producers have been trying to devise innovative means to protect their formats from copycatting and plagiarism. Though the globalization of cultural and entertainment markets may itself have contributed to the rise of TV formats, interconnecting programming industries in a world of multiplying channels, this paper theorizes that global broadcasting and programme marketing strategies can also be used by TV format producers to protect their intellectual property rights. Specifically, eight different strategies may be used: (a) trade show infrastructure and dynamics; (b) visual brand identity and channel fit; (c) brand extension and merchandising; (d) corporate branding; (e) national branding; (f) genre branding; (g) constant brand innovation; (h) fan communities. The paper prepares the ground for evaluating the use and effectiveness of these eight strategies in preventing the copying of formats

Building television programme brands in the digital multi-channel world – perspectives of the uk television professionals.

This is a pioneering study of television programmes from a brand management perspective by bringing together published literature in line with industry perspectives on programme and channel branding in the UK. The research traces the development of broadcast branding from its visual brand image era to today’s strategic brand thinking and management of individual programme brands by studying the role brand management plays in broadcasting today in the UK. The study concludes that broadcast brands are being compared more often to retail brands with the TV channel being a store and a programme being a product or line. It establishes the growing prominence of programme brands, the reasons for it and how it affects the resulting changes in relationship between the producers and broadcasters, besides shedding light on how programme brand extensions will develop in the future. At the same time, it says that the channel brands are poised to grow and consolidated in this highly fragmented multi-channel digital world driven by interactive, convergent and user-friendly technologies. Finally, it underlines the growth of non-broadcast commercial brands (in terms of advertiser funded content) which will play a major role in shaping how the programme and channel brands are built. Conducted in three months time as part of a Master’s degree submission, the research uses qualitative methodology and semi-structured interviews with purposively sampled industry professionals within an interpretive research philosophy. Though it does not deduce any theory, it adds to the definitive knowledge of programme and channel brand management in broadcasting today in the UK