So I was following this awesome series, Legend of Chusen. But then the subbing teams suddenly stopped because of license issue. So, I am very confuse on how shows/series/films are shared and sub through viki. I thought fan channel means it is started by fan and will not be subject to viki’s policies and ads. So, when I was hearing that fan channels are being taken down for lack of license. I’m confused.
Direct questions I have are:
Do viki need to obtain license right in order to have series on viki?
How can one series be okay to sub then suddenly stop because of license issue?
Will the requirement of license have any impact on fan channel in the future?
From what I understand as of Monday 9/12 the function to embed videos was removed from Viki. Fan channels are based on links from YouTube or Daily Motion. The video is embedded on the channel and the subtitles were added with Viki tools which you can see on Viki under the embedded video. If a video is taken down from YouTube or Daily Motion then that embedded link no longer exists. That’s why sometimes fan channels had difficulty in continuing when there weren’t videos available on these sites due to them being taken down for copyright infringement or the provider removing them. Viki only provides the tool to add the subtitles and is not responsible for the link sources. Fan Channels have become an issue because Viki was receiving more and more complaints about copyright infringement from companies. So Viki made the decision to remove this tool and Fan Channels are no long able to upload anymore videos from YouTube or DailyMotion.
Viki has allowed what was already uploaded before the 9/12 date to remain up and so Fan Channels are working on the videos they had uploaded before that date, but unable to add new ones. This is also depending on if the videos continue to be available on YouTube or Daily Motion.
If by chance, Viki is able to obtain a license for these dramas, such as Legend of Chusen, then the work can continue and the remaining episodes can be added and Viki will be the source of the videos.
A fan channel is one where Viki has not acquired the necessary license from the content creator/owner to stream said content on this site. As a consequence, videos located on those channels are neither supplied by the content owner to Viki nor hosted on Viki servers (as would be the case for licensed channels). Essentially, on fan channels, videos are hosted on another website and embedded to the Viki site.
While videos on fan channels do not contain ads by Viki, those channels are, just as all content on the site is meant to be, subject to the terms of the site. The terms of service states that the site does not permit copyright-infringing activity. And, though I don’t know much about copyright law, there’s probably an argument that embedding copyright-infringing content (videos used for fan channels often fall into this category) onto the site is also copyright infringement.
This is usually because the content owner finds out part way through the series that it’s being hosted through channels that it never approved of. So it sends take down notices, etc. and the content has to be removed.
Previously, some channels/series could exist without licenses. As of Sept 12, 2016, new fan channels are pretty much non-functional. Like BJW said above, Viki has now disabled adding external videos to channels. No videos, no subs.
Make sure to favorite channels you want to see and send in a title request form for them to let Viki know you’re interested in the content. I don’t know how much of an impact it has on the content Viki will try to license, but it’s better than nothing
