PM seeks advice over Optus copyright ruling

Updated February 08, 2012 14:42:47

Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the Federal Government is getting urgent legal advice on whether it needs to make changes to copyright laws.

The Federal Court has ruled Optus is not breaching copyright by allowing customers to watch sporting matches shown on free-to-air TV on a short delay through its mobile TV Now service.

Media analysts says the ruling makes multi-million-dollar exclusive rights deals worthless.

Telstra has exclusive online broadcast rights for both the AFL and NRL, and its latest online deal with the AFL for the 2012-16 seasons cost the telco $153 million.

NRL chief executive David Gallop, his AFL counterpart Andrew Demetriou, Cricket Australia's James Sutherland, Tennis Australia's Steve Wood and the head of lobby group the Coalition of Major Professional and Participation Sports, Malcolm Speed, met government ministers on Tuesday.

They discussed the ramifications of the ruling and measures to protect their rights under the Copyright Act with Ms Gillard, Sports Minister Mark Arbib, Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and Attorney-General Nicola Roxon.

"What's a matter for us is considering whether or not there needs to be changes to the copyright laws in view of these circumstances," Ms Gillard said.

"We have said to them - and I'm very happy to say publicly - that we will urgently consider options here."

Opposition communications spokesman Malcolm Turnbull says any law changes need to be specific.

"We have got to be very careful that the amendments are not so broadly worded they have impacts on other activities," he said.

"What they need to do is focus... on language that is very narrow and very specific to the particular issue at hand."

Gallop says the sporting bodies have an urgent need for the Government to introduce new laws.

"A relatively simple amendment to the Copyright Act will fix it," he told ABC News 24's Grandstand program.

"We are talking about something that could seriously devalue our rights.

"You have effectively got an asset of the sports, which is the copyright in our content - something we consider to be valuable in our balance sheet, and it has ended up in the somebody else's balance sheet in Optus."

The ruling could seriously reduce the NRL's next television deal as the code prepares to renegotiate its broadcasting rights.

The current deal ends at the end of this year, with the NRL's administrators, clubs and players all awaiting the new broadcasting rights arrangements for how much cash the code has for the following years.

Gallop, who was coy on the money value the NRL would be seeking, said the ruling by the Federal Court has a "knock-on" effect to the rest of a sport's broadcasting product.

"You can talk about it in terms of the mobile and internet rights, but it has a knock-on impact across all the exclusivities that sports are seeking across the platforms," he said.

"It will impact across the whole negotiations if we don't get it fixed."

ABC/AAP

Tags: information-and-communication, broadcasting, television-broadcasting, business-economics-and-finance, industry, telecommunications, copyright, government-and-politics, federal-government, australian-football-league, sport, cricket, rugby-league, nrl, tennis, australia

First posted February 08, 2012 14:35:06

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Tennis for Beginners - Basic Tips and Advice

This article goes into the basics of tennis for beginners. What are the first things you have to do when starting to play tennis? At what age should you begin? And what's the best tennis racquet to begin with?

To start, one of the best ways of learning to play tennis is to use your body's natural abilities. If you do this the right way, you will build up thousands of natural muscle connections. It will ensure that you can keep on developing and never run into a dead end along the way.

First Steps to Take

Three things are crucial to me when it comes to tennis for beginners:

Step 1 - In case you have never had previous tennis coaching, then find yourself a tennis coach who can teach you the fundamentals. Only when you have learned the basics of tennis, you can move on to more advanced stuff.

Step 2 - This is about really delving into tennis through reading, watching tennis games, and practicing tennis as much as you possibly can. My favorite motto is "sleep, drink, eat tennis".

Step 3 - Now it's time to learn specific baseline tactics and other tennis drills for beginners. The goal should be to develop as quickly as you possibly can. Your focus should be to win - playing tennis is not the same as hitting balls!

When to Start?

What is the best age to start playing tennis? The answer to this question really depends on your goals. If you really want to become part of the top 100 tennis players in the world, then you should start as young as possible. Remember that a famous tennis player like Andre Agassi picked up a tennis racquet before he could even walk. Boris Becker won Wimbledon at the age of 17, and Rafael Nadal was winning professional tournaments at age 16. One exception is Vince Spadea, but even he started playing tennis at the grand old age of 14.

The reason for this, is that young children can effortlessly develop their coordination just like young children can learn any language without effort.

However, don't let these sobering facts stop you from starting to play tennis. Even if you don't become a top 100 tennis player, tennis is still an excellent way to develop mental strength and fitness. And don't forget that for talented amateurs, Europe has leagues that pay you to represent their club. Also, many tennis players who don't make it to the top, still get good paying jobs as tennis coaches.

Your First Tennis Racquet

When you buy your first tennis racquet, it doesn't have to be a professional racquet. But unless you are particularly light or young, it should be an adult racquet. If you weigh under 80 pounds, you should go for a junior racquet, meaning any racquet under 27 inches.

Particularly, you should try to avoid the following:

Racquets with a head size under 100 square inches. Racquets with a larger head size make it easier to hit the ball and such racquets also give the player more power as they have a larger sweet spot.

"Head light racquets" that have their weight based in the handle, as they are particularly meant for advanced players and not for beginners.

Racquets that start to weigh in at under 280 pounds. Very light racquets are meant for players who are very light themselves. However, once you start off with a very light racquet, it is typically hard to change to a proper one later. So it's better never to start with a light racquet in the first place.

Aluminium racquets for beginners are the cheapest and can already be bought for $30 to $70. As you advance, you can switch to a graphite racquet which are available in the $80 to $330 price range.

Max Gregor is the editor of How-2-Tennis.com, a complete information resource for beginning and advanced tennis players. Find more about tennis terminology at his site.