Broadcast rights vs. mechanical license?

[Gorgon Heap]

Well, by now we all know about the songs/sketches omitted from TMS Season One on DVD. What I want to know is, knowing that the episodes run in uncut and cut for time formats with those omitted sketches, would Disney still be able to broadcast them with the missing material, or do the music rights block broadcasting also? It seems odd since they never did before- the Joel Grey, Paul Williams, and Vincent Price episodes ran with those cut sketches on Nickelodeon. Do you think it's at all likely that we could see TMS re-runs on Disney or a Disney-owned affiliate?

David "Gorgon Heap" Ebersole

 

[GelflingWaldo]

There are difffent rights that need to be secured for home video releases and for broadcasting. Broadcasting rights are usally easier to get (and cheaper). If Disney wanted to re-air episodes of The Muppet Show, they would need to secure broadcast rights for the songs - and they probally would be able to get the broadcast rights to the ones that they couldn't get distrubition rights to sell on the DVD. Getting the rights to air a songs is a lot simpler and a lot cheaper than getting rights to sell the songs on a DVD.

 

[Was Once Ernie]

It depends on what rights were originally negotiated. If they were for broadcast and rebroadcast, but not for home video (which didn't really exist when the shows were made), then they could be rebroadcast uncut. If, however, the original deal specified so-many runs, then that deal could have concluded and would have to be renegotiated.

The short answer is, yes, it is possible, but it's up to some lawyer somewhere.