IM Jack Rudd wrote: AGON appear to be trying to assert their rights to exclusivity over a fact, which is something on which I'd happily take them on.
Thinking back on the history of this, the live audience for significant games was first built, in the UK at least, by the Teletext/Oracle system available from 1978 onwards. If you had access to the right technology, you could follow the Battle of Baguio in real time. This contrasted with the Fischer-Spassky match only six years earlier, where live coverage relied on Teletype and Telex machines.
Every so often, "exclusive" rights could cause problems. The 1986 match in London had been covered in real time, but when it moved to Leningrad for the second half, neither the BBC nor Thames would put the moves of the day up on Teletext/Oracle until the late night Thames program had been broadcast. I did find this annoying as I had to resort to taping the program and watching it over breakfast to find out what had happened.