"A group of developers from free software digital video recorder
(DVR) related projects announced the first step towards a solution
for obtaining free television listing information this week. The
search for such a free guide data source has been on since June,
when Zap2it Labs announced it would shut down its free, XML-based
service as of September 1.
"Zap2it's announcement cited 'continued misuse' of the
service--which it had offered "to hobbyists for their own personal,
noncommercial' use--and 'other business factors' as reasons for
discontinuing the service. Zap2it is a product of Tribune Media
Services, a commercial TV listings provider supplying information
to newspapers and proprietary DVRs..."