Earlier this month, Disney struck a deal with Hulu to air a bunch of its ABC subsidiary content on the Web provider’s bandwidth. With the explosion of TV content heading for the Internet, the "re-clearing" of content for the Internet is a new and costly problem for producers and broadcasters. At the same time, this new market is creating a new growth opportunity for a niche of pros and companies that specialize in rights clearance.
A Boston Globe story on May 3, 2009 cites programming outlet WGBH, which is having to negotiate new licenses for documentaries in its archive for web consumers:
“It's only 30 seconds out of a 90-minute film, fleeting glimpses of then-President Jimmy Carter as seen in a 1976 Playboy magazine interview. But to secure the rights to use these five photos in the documentary series 'The Presidents,' which re-aired last fall, WGBH had to pay Playboy $12,400.
