Twelve months after British web-based TV PVR TVCatchup shut down under legal pressure, a Scandinavian counterpart is also reportedly riling regulators in Finland.

SEE ALSO: TVCatchup Returns; PVR Site Reborn As ‘Legal’ Live TV Streamer

TV-Kaista stores programmes from Finland’s free-to-air channels on its web server, and offers them as VOD to users for a monthly subscription. But the Finnish Broadcasting Company YLE says users need a TV license to use the service, and Finland’s copyright society Kopiosto says TV-Kaisa is flat-out infringing IP. ArcticStartup reports: “The parties in dispute are gearing up for a major battle by recruiting Finnish law firms.”

Registered in Mauritius, TVCatchUp, too, had let users schedule their own online programme recordings and even “borrow” shows from fellow users, but shut down to address legal concerns in February 2008. It relaunched in November to offer only live streams from 18 channels, using the same loophole section 73 of the copyright act that live streamer Zattoo uses to stream free-to-air channels. There have been no further channels additions despite TVCatchUp’s hope to offer premium stations. As channels themselves get serious about streaming - the BBC and ITV (LSE: ITV) now simulcast each of their channels on their own websites - these aggregators are beginning to swim in crowded waters.