Seen All Those TV Clips On the Internet? Network Legal Affairs Execs Have Too

Posted by Eriq Gardner

Bloggers may soon have to mourn RedLasso, an immensely popular web service that lets users search its database of recorded television for clips to post online.

RedLasso is only in beta, with 18,000 testers including the Huffington Post and Perez Hilton, but the company has experienced tremendous traffic growth of some 24 million unique visitors in April. Word on the street is that the company was seeking $15 million in VC capital.

Not so fast. Despite assurances that it launched with the blessing of broadcasters and would soon get rights for content, industry heavyweightw weren't happy that their programming was turning up everywhere on the web without its hand in the pot.

On Monday, Fox, CBS, and NBC sent this cease-and-desist letter, claiming Red Lasso has created a "business based on the unauthorized syndication of" others' content.

RedLasso responded to the copyright infringement charges by telling Reuters: "We believe that curtailing distribution through the Redlasso platform only exacerbates a flawed distribution model. We hope to develop mutually beneficially partnerships with the world’s major media companies, including many of those we’ve heard from today.”

Perhaps not the best way to win a content licensing scheme, but hey, it worked for YouTube.

According to the Silicon Alley Insider, an NBC source said the company doesn't mind people grabbing NBC content, but they'd rather bloggers turn to the recently-launched Hulu or Msnbc.com