Petition

Or rather, A Petition for Multichoice to provide us with EPG Data.

I have an HTPC, I built it myself and, well, it is awesome. One of the best features of this Media PC (running MCE 2005) is the EPG or guide. The guide allows me to view program information, schedule program based recording (as opposed to time based), schedule repeat recording, search or filter for or by content I like and many other sexy features that would make my mom say "oohh fancy" in that condescending tone that she does so well, shortly followed by her rolling her eyes.

Right, now MCE 2005 does not by default support downloading guides for many regions outside of the states. Thankfully some rather smart people have written tools that allow the importing of xml guides in the XMLTV format into MCE. Great, but where exactly do we get these xmltv guides? Well initially I got mine from Colin Savage, who obtained the data by scrapping the DSTV website for it, that is until he was issued with a cease and desist letter by MultiChoice, read more about that here. Next I built my own scrapper, which worked well for a bit until Multichoice changed their website just a wee bit. I have since managed to source the guide from else where, but i fear its only a matter of time till my new providers get issued with their very own cease and desist.

Which brings us to the petition. Here is what the MultiChoice employees had to say on the matter when confronted on the MultiChoice forums.

Official Company Statement

MultiChoice has the responsibility to protect itself from actions which may harm its business or compromise the integrity of its broadcast platform. These actions may include the unauthorized use of its material for any other purposes.

MultiChoice would like to reiterate that our broadcast content is intended only for transmission to our set top box, and not for transfer thereafter, to any other third party set top box/ device in which our encryption / AC software is not present, as we cannot guarantee that it will not be copied or pirated.

Unfortunately the company will have to take action against parties who are copying our EPG for purposes of transferring, and pirating or copying our channel providers content.

So, it is clear they're not entirely sure what an EPG is, they somehow think that a guide enables or encourages piracy, well, ok. All of which leads us to the petition started at sa-mce.com which looks like this:

We, the undersigned, appeal to MultiChoice to:

• Fully understand the issue at hand; and
• Allow customers to choose in which format they would like programming data to be provided, either via the Dish magazine or electronically; and
• Provide to paying customers, their Electronic Program Guide (EPG) data in an open standards format such as XMLTV; and
• Realize that as paying customers we wish to utilize various technologies and HTPC, STB or PVR devices to view the content provided by MultiChoice; and
• Ensure that the EPG data provided by themselves in any format, is accurate and up to date as much as is reasonably possible; and
• Not legally pursue any individual who is taking this data either provided directly from MultiChoice or obtained via the freely available online TV guide and freely transforming and providing this data in other formats to be used in a HTPC, STB or PVR device; and finally
• Issue a formal statement addressing each of the above points and any points raised in the petition introduction.

Look, I have zero faith in online petitions, I have my doubts as to whether they ever work but this is a cause I am willing to spend a couple minutes on out of hope MultiChoice will man up. Well should you agree and want to know more or wish to sign, please follow this link. If you have any thoughts on the matter be sure to leave a comment.