A wildfeed is an unannounced transmission of a television program via
C band or
Ku band satellite. These programs include sporting events, news, and
syndicated shows and are often unedited.
They exist to allow network television stations to send content to smaller local stations. The shows contain no commercials, just a small gap of blank video to allow the local station to insert their own. The exception for this is for "
barter
In trade, barter (derived from ''baretor'') is a system of exchange in which participants in a transaction directly exchange goods or services for other goods or services without using a medium of exchange, such as money. Economists disti ...
" syndicated programming, where only the commercials required to be shown are included, with black space provided to mark local commercial time.
Some universities, colleges and larger schools have the equipment available to receive these signals, as do a few individuals. Some people record the preaired show onto their computers and upload it to the internet to allow people around the world early access. However, if any of the redistributed content is pre-recorded ("in a fixed medium" as described in the
Copyright Act of 1976), this is a
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, educatio ...
violation; redistribution of fully live content exists in a legal
gray area. Most networks have switched to a digital feed which requires more expensive equipment and can also be encrypted if needed. This has reduced the availability of preair episodes appearing on the internet.
See also
*
Backhaul (broadcasting)
External links
*http://www.vidiot.com/Wildfeed.html
Television terminology
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