Under the terms of the Programme production agreement (PPA), all programmes made for BBC Television must comply with a number of BBC guidelines and policies. The Programme production agreement (PPA) make it clear which BBC uses need to be pre-paid within the licence fee and which BBC uses should be clearable subject to further payment. These repeat/use costs must be as approved by the BBC and recorded in the Schedule of residuals which the production is required to deliver to the BBC at the end of production. The Schedule of residuals lists all the writers, contributors, copyright material and music to be referenced for any repeat fees. 

​

Music clearance

• PRS for Music is a collecting society which represents music publishers, songwriters and composers.

• PPL is a collecting society which represents record companies and recording artists.

PRS licence

The BBC has a blanket licence agreement with PRS for Music which allows any registered songs/music to be used in BBC Television programmes without individual licences being obtained. If the BBC has funded more than 10% of the production budget, the production can make use of the BBC’s PRS for Music’s blanket agreement and will not need to make individual payment for any songs/ music which are part of the PRS’s repertoire.

Some songs/music will fall outside the scope of the blanket licence agreement - so no song/music should be included in a programme without checking the registration first. If a piece of music is not registered with PRS for Music then an individual licence will need to be negotiated with the composer directly, and paid for by your production budget.

PPL licence

The BBC has a blanket licence agreement with PPL which allows registered sound recordings to be used in BBC Television programmes without individual licences being obtained. The production can make use of the BBC’s PPL blanket agreement and will not need to make individual payment for any songs/ music which are part of the PPL’s repertoire.

Some recordings will fall outside the scope of the blanket licence agreement - so no recording should be included in a programme without checking the registration first. If a piece of music is not registered with PPL then an individual licence will need to be negotiated with the Artist directly, and paid for by your production budget.

​

Harm and Offence

The BBC aims to reflect the world as it is, including all aspects of the human experience and the realities of the natural world. BBC say: "When our content includes challenging material that risks offending some of our audience we must always be able to demonstrate a clear editorial purpose, taking account of generally accepted standards, and ensure it is clearly signposted.  Such challenging material may include, but is not limited to, strong language, violence, sex, sexual violence, humiliation, distress, violation of human dignity, and discriminatory treatment or language."

​

BBC Regulators

The BBC Trust is the governing body of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) which is operationally independent of BBC management and external bodies. On 12 May 2016, it was announced in the House of Commons that the regulatory functions of the BBC Trust are to be transferred to Ofcom.

Ofcom

Ofcom is a communications regulator in the UK that regulates the TV, radio and video-on-demand sectors, fixed-line telecoms, mobiles and postal services. Some aspects of the BBC are regulated by outside bodies, such as the Office of Fair Trading (OFT), the European Commission, and Ofcom. 

​