The dot-com is the focus of intense controversy in the television world because of its plans to pick up network programming and webcast it over the Internet.

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Canada's compulsory license law allows companies to retransmit television programming broadcast over the air. This includes the fare of most major networks such as NBC, CBS, ABC and, in Canada, CBC, CTV and Global. Companies that retransmit television broadcasts pay a fee to the federal government that in turn is redistributed to each of the television networks.

Nothing in the law excludes webcasters from retransmission, says Farrell Miller, the CEO of JumpTV.

"That's the law," Miller said. "I'm not even passing judgment on whether the law is good or bad. Why should anybody be able to take NBC without permission, whether it's JumpTV, ExpressVu or Rogers Cable? ... What JumpTV is saying that as long as it exists in Canada it must be applied equally to cable, satellite and Internet."

But JumpTV faces strong opposition from the Canadian Association of Broadcasters, which is pressuring the government not to allow such webcasts. Glenn O'Farrell, president and CEO of the CAB, says Internet transmission would send the television signals into markets in which the rights holders have not negotiated commercial contracts and would ultimately cut into their value.

A U.S. House judiciary committee wrote the Canadian government last week asking it to prevent the retransmission of TV broadcasts over the Internet, according to a Canadian press report. The report said the committee cited "a possible violation of Canada's international trade obligations."

And representatives from Canada's National Football League and National Hockey League told hearings into new Canadian copyright legislation that they might be forced to go to a pay-per-view model if a third-party undermined their copyright, O'Farrell said.

CAB has called for a "carve-out" in a section of the Canadian copyright act that would make new media and Internet retransmitters ineligible for the compulsory license regime.

Miller said the technology exists to limit the retransmission of the television signals to Canada. "We have clear technology to determine where people are coming from, but what I'm saying is, don't trust me on that. Just make it part of the new law that it must be contained within Canada. If we can maintain that standard, we're good and if we can't, we won't be good."

By the same token, Miller rejects O'Farrell's contention that JumpTV should submit an application to the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, the federal broadcast regulator. Miller said it's not up to JumpTV to decide whether or not the government should regulate them. "If the government chooses to regulate us, then we'll be regulated."

However, JumpTV also notified the Communications Branch of Industry Canada late last week that it will take legal action if the federal government takes another year to study the issue.

"We are accordingly calling upon you to perform the stated public duty and that the regulations are presented for approval and publication now without any undue delay," reads the letter signed by Michael Heller, the lawyer acting for JumpTV.

"To do otherwise would be tantamount to a gross neglect of your public duty to carry out and put in force that which two ministries have promised the Canadian public for now over a year."

JumpTV currently offers for free about a dozen, licensed stations on its website, including America1 Television, The NASA Channel, and CNI 40 Mexico. Miller said he anticipates JumpTV will move to a subscriber service within 60 days.