TV link-sharing site UKNova has closed operations after pressure from the copyright bods at Fact.
The site has always toed an 'ethical' line with the links it publishes, insisting that any links on the site had to be of a non-commercial nature. Despite this a 'cease and desist' order was sent to the site and it has now stopped sharing links.
A statement, which is no longer available but was posted on Neowin's forums, explained the situation.
"Despite our efforts to cooperate with the UK media companies, Fact have stated: 'ALL links or access to content provided by UKNova are infringing, unless it can be proven that explicit permission from the copyright holder for that content has been obtained'," noted the statement.
"Whilst we believe that they are wrong both legally and morally on account of the strong 'no commercial content' stance that we have always taken, we are not in a position to be able to risk lengthy and costly court battles to prove this. Therefore we have no other option but to close down the trackers. It has not been an easy decision to take, but it is apparently our only option."
Link bait
UKNova was said to be used by many who were looking for UK television content overseas – providing a service that the likes of iPlayer does not yet offer.
It refused to offer links to premium content on the site, explaining in its FAQs that if the content could be bought, then it should be bought.
This is the second UK-centric site of recent months that has been in the news over linking to copyrighted content.
Given that the other, SurfTheChannel, saw its owner Anton Vickerman given a four-year prison term, it's clear why UKNova decided to shutdown before things got too serious.
Via Digital Trends
