Bill in legislature seeks to put Iowa PBS content in public domain

[Y2kTheNewOldies]

Bill in legislature seeks to put Iowa PBS content in public domain

“The bill as written would make it impossible for us to defend or protect any of the existing contracts that we have on all of the productions that we do,” said Susan Ramsey, director of communications for Iowa PBS.

current.org

Note this debate only affects content produced by the local PBS affiliate in the state of Iowa.

A bill in the Iowa state legislature would put Iowa PBS content in the public domain, a move that the station argues would leave both it and the state open to lawsuits.

Jim Gibbons, a former Iowa State University wrestling coach, is lobbying for the legislation after a failed attempt to obtain archival footage that included him. In August 2020, Iowa PBS began working with a California production on a documentary about a 1986 wrestling match between Iowa State and the University of Iowa.

The contract between Iowa PBS and the production company ended in April 2021 after talks broke down over editorial control, according to Susan Ramsey, director of communications for Iowa PBS. In June 2021, Gibbons asked the station for permission to make use of the documentary, which Iowa PBS denied, according to Jake Highfill, a lobbyist who is backing the bill. (Ramsey declined to discuss the station’s previous communications with Gibbons.)