Chicago Court Issues Sport Filming Rules While Chabot Confiscates Cameras At Town Hall

August 29, 2011
by Sam Rolley


A Chicago-area Federal Court of Appeals has ruled that schools in Wisconsin have the right to reserve privileges to film local high school sporting events to paying video production companies.

A Chicago-area Federal Court of Appeals has ruled that schools in Wisconsin have the right to reserve privileges to film local high school sporting events to paying video production companies, reports The Associated Press. Many people believe that because the schools are heavily funded by taxpayer money, this is an assault on the 1st Amendment. http://www.startribune.com/sports/preps/128341723.html

Local newspapers in small towns throughout Wisconsin will no longer have the right to provide video streams of local sports to their subscribers because of the ruling in the case, http://www.ca7.uscourts.gov/tmp/AP0VK4VF.pdf Wisconsin Interscholastic Athletic Association, and American-HiFi, Inc., v. Gannett Co., Inc., and Wisconsin Newspaper Association, which began in 2008.

The athletic association sued The Post-Crescent, an Appleton, Wis., newspaper, for streaming live coverage of its high school football playoff games, despite anger from many fans who rely on local papers for sports coverage. Bob Dreps, the attorney representing Gannett and the Wisconsin Newspaper Association, discussed the court’s ruling with the AP.

“We’re disappointed in the decision’s failure to distinguish taxpayer-funded high school sports from professional sports in any meaningful way. These are government-sponsored events,â€