Since 1998 there have been proposals in the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for a treaty to protect the intellectual property rights of broadcasting entities. The WIPO Standing Committee on Copyright and Related Rights is currently working towards a treaty on the protection of broadcasting organizations.

The Second Revised Consolidated Text for a Treaty on the Protection of Broadcasting Organizations presents four candidates for protection: (i) transmissions initiated by broadcasters; (ii) transmissions initiated by cablecasters; (iii) transmissions initiated by webcasters; and (iv) pre-broadcast signals.

Meanwhile, a side working paper has been prepared to highlight alternative non-mandatory solutions for the protection of webcasting organizations, including simulcasting organizations. This working paper accompanies the Second Revised Consolidated Text and suggests that certain webcasting provisions will be inserted into the main treaty, with signatories having the choice either to opt-in or to take a reservation.

This instrument would address the growing problem of signal piracy in many parts of the world, including piracy of digitized pre-broadcast signals, and the perceived need to update the protection of broadcasting organizations beyond what is provided by the Rome Convention (1961). A major issue is whether the treaty should also include webcasting, which takes place both in the form of direct diffusion of programming online, and by way of simultaneous Internet diffusion of over-the-air broadcasts. Opinion is divided as to whether webcasts as such should be protected in the same way as over-the-air broadcasts.