Should I expect compensation if a TV network wants to use video footage of mine?

I would ask them straight out if you will be compensated.

Edit: I’m not sure what kind of a show you’re talking about, but I’ve never known anyone to receive payment for a news program, unless it was a huge story with some awesome footage.

@Taciturnu well if they said no, would you still allow them to use it?

Personally? Yeah. Compensation would be nice, but I’m not one to try to capitalize on that sort of a thing. If you really want some form of payment, I would ask what the reasonable compensation would be, vs asking if there would be any.

Yes you should. If you expect none, you’ll get little. If you expect a lot you’ll get more.

@goose756 was it a car accident or something you captured on your cellphone?

Yes, ask for compensation from the TV station. If you are contacted by a lawyer, maybe yes.

News agencies don’t typically pay for news. That’s why I was trying to determine what he meant. Normally, they’ll just say something on the air like, “This video captured by one of our viewers Goose from GreyVodkaville on his cellphone shows the actual crash.”

@bkcunningham I had the same thought.

@Taciturnu I thought you were when I read your first post.

I would say no, you shouldn’t “expect” it but I suppose it doesn’t hurt to ask; but if you do ask, I would be prepared for them to be kind of stand-offish about it. If you are not a professional providing them with professional quality video they might be very happy to do without your video rather than pay for it. They may have sent their own camera “persons” to the scene and captured video that will do the job for them even if it wasn’t quite as timely and on the scene as yours.

how much could an amateur video be worth if it were not a monumental event (like the Rodney King beating or a bank robbery showing the robbers) or something? probably not much. I would rather be a good samaritan member of the community and donate the rights to it, and get the credit, rather than asking for a couple hundred or whatever you think it’s worth and having them turn you down.

yeah.. its not a cell phone video its higher quality vid for sure. Its not a news station, but the travel channel doing a show on vacations gone wrong basically. I have a vid of a hot air balloon hitting the top of a building and then crashing the ground :/