copyright
How do you request for a TV show to be made available again?
<p>Say you remember a show from your childhood and would love to watch it again. 
It could be for sentimental purposes, because you want to write about it, or make a research paper, or want to adapt it for the big screen, etc.</p>

<p>Now, say that the right holders are either retired and very old, and haven't decided to make a VOD or a DVD or a BLU-RAY offer for this TV show that would allow you to legally purchase or watch it again.</p>

<p>Is there a way to request that the right holders make the works for which they own a copyright public? 
I'm not asking how to get in touch with someone, but if there's a law that can make a copyright holder forced to release the works they own copyright to.</p>

<p>There is no such law; copyright secures exclusive rights for the copyright holder (and related rights sometimes secure certain rights for the author which cannot be sold or given away except through death), but it cannot be used to force them to spend money to distribute it in a form that you can conveniently use. Such a rule would defeat the purpose of copyright law, which is to give the copyright holder control over the use of the work, not take away their ability to do so.</p>

<p>You can certainly <em>request</em> that they release the work, and can offer to pay them for doing so. But someone who does not own the copyright or any related rights cannot use copyright law to force the person who <em>does</em> own the copyright to spend their own money to convert a show into a new format.</p>
