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What does ERA License?

ERA grants its principal Licences in accordance with the Licensing Scheme, which has been certified by the Secretary of State under Section 35 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 ('the Act'). The Licences issued by ERA under Section 35 authorise the following two non-commercial educational activities:

  • Recording from broadcasts made in the UK of the works and performances owned or represented by ERA members; and
  • Electronic communication of licensed recordings within an educational establishment.

Recordings may be made by or on behalf of an educational establishment.

You require an ERA Licence if you wish to use recordings of broadcasts as teaching resources. Open University programmes are covered by a separate licensing scheme. Certain rights may not be covered by ERA Members; recordings may be made of this material outside the ERA scheme under a separate licence.

In general, what can be recorded?

The ERA scheme permits recordings of broadcasts to be made for non-commercial educational use. A 'broadcast' is defined as a transmission for simultaneous and lawful reception by members of the public i.e. it is not encrypted or encoded and is for general reception, unlike pay per view services. The ERA Licence therefore covers scheduled free to air broadcasts on:

  • BBC television and radio
  • ITV Network services (including ITV2 and ITV3)
  • Channel Four, E4, More 4 and Film 4
  • Five Television
  • S4C

It also applies to any other licensed broadcast services. These cover both radio and television services.

What about on-demand services?

Further information regarding on-demand services can be found by clicking here...

 

Download a copy of the ERA booklet.

Further terms and conditions of the Licence.

ERA Plus

Since 1 August 2007 ERA has offered its licensees the opportunity to take out an additional licence which will enable licensed ERA Recordings to be accessed by students and teachers online...

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