# Opening the BBC archive and copyright law **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 24, 2003, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-the-bbc-archive-and-copyright-law/197377 "2003-08-24T20:17:18Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-the-bbc-archive-and-copyright-law/197377/1 "2003-08-24T20:17:18Z")
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3177479.stm](http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/3177479.stm) "Greg Dyke, director general of the BBC, has announced plans to give the public full access to all the corporation’s programme archives. Mr Dyke said on Sunday that everyone would in future be able to download BBC radio and TV programmes from the internet." Does the BBC hold the copyright to everything ever shown on the BBC? Or can, say, one of the Monty Python guys refuse to have their old show available free on the web, since it would cut into sales of the DVD collection? Anybody here familiar enough with British copyright law to know what problems there might be for them to have all the archives available for free? ---
**Author:** ![Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@Capt.Ridley\_s\_Shooting\_Party](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capt.Ridley_s_Shooting_Party)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-the-bbc-archive-and-copyright-law/197377/2 "2003-08-24T20:21:35Z")
This is just my opinion, however: We pay for the programmes with our television license. IMHO, they’re already ours. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-the-bbc-archive-and-copyright-law/197377/3 "2003-08-24T20:28:26Z")
I hadn’t though about the license. I wonder if they’ll restrict it to just Britain, since they are the ones who paid the fees? ---
**Author:** ![Avenger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9de0a6/32.png) [@Avenger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Avenger)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-the-bbc-archive-and-copyright-law/197377/4 "2003-08-24T20:41:53Z")
Pretty sure that if a programme is made by the BBC they own the copyright. Not the performers. Seems to make sense anyway. The DVDs of those programmes are also marketed by the BBC. Presumably, if the BBC has the rights to broadcast something on the TV, they also have the rights to broadcast it over the internet if they so wish. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-the-bbc-archive-and-copyright-law/197377/5 "2003-08-24T20:54:55Z")
Keep in mind that the archive isn’t going to be as full as people hope. Numerous tapes of radio and television shows have been lost over the years. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-the-bbc-archive-and-copyright-law/197377/6 "2003-08-24T21:12:05Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Avenger \* > **Pretty sure that if a programme is made by the BBC they own the copyright. Not the performers.** I was using Monty Python as an example, because I thought the members of the troupe might have some ownership of the name, and are not just performers. That’s just speculation, though. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2003, 9:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-the-bbc-archive-and-copyright-law/197377/7 "2003-08-24T21:21:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Avenger \* > **Pretty sure that if a programme is made by the BBC they own the copyright. Not the performers.** I was using Monty Python as an example, because I thought the members of the troupe might have some ownership of the name, and are not just performers. That’s just speculation, though. ---
**Author:** ![MovieMogul](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f08c70/32.png) [@MovieMogul](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MovieMogul)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-the-bbc-archive-and-copyright-law/197377/8 "2003-08-25T14:33:22Z")
> [@](#): > > _Little Nemo says:_ Keep in mind that the archive isn’t going to be as full as people hope. Numerous tapes of radio and television shows have been lost over the years. Though this may be true, speaking as someone who’s actually been in the BBC Archives, I can attest that the volume of material they have is still quite extraordinary, and this is quite an ambitious proposal. I remember talking to the head of the Motion Picture division of the Library of Congress, and he said that if he could, he’d stream everything in the LoC’s collection. Archival practices are all about access in the long run–the more widespread the better (though naturally, there are legal and economic realities that make this impossible for most institutions currently). [This](http://www.oblomovka.com/entries/2003/08/24#1061749500) is an interesting perspective: > [@](#): > > There are some big questions. Sorting out the contractual issues with anything but completely internally produced content will be difficult. There are artist’s residuals (payments made to actors for repeat showings of their work), external commercial content, and international rights to consider. > > It’s not clear what kind of licence the BBC will settle on for its archive. Will you be permitted to redistribute the material on file-sharing networks? Will you be able to do your own remixes of Dr. Who? Show BBC programs at your not-for-profit society? Make parodies of the news using real news footage? The project is a real legal adventure. > > But this is exactly the sort of adventure the BBC should be embarking upon. Instead of moping around trying to be “competitive” with commercial interests, it should charge in a completely orthogonal direction, pumping up the public domain, spilling out information in all directions, letting nation speak unto nation, and peer to peer. ---
**Author:** ![Rayne\_Man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/df705f/32.png) [@Rayne\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rayne_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-the-bbc-archive-and-copyright-law/197377/9 "2003-08-25T15:14:46Z")
I know the question of artist’s repeat fees is a problem. This has already occured on the new BBC7 radio channel which broadcasts mainly old programmes from the archives. Most BBC programmes can be heard via their web site not only in real time but also " on demand" for up till seven days after the original broadcast. The BBC have found that they cannot offer this facility on these old programmes because ,when the original artist’s contracts were signed, nobody had any idea that this technology would be available . So because no mention of this in the contract no “hear it now” service. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2003, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/opening-the-bbc-archive-and-copyright-law/197377/10 "2003-08-25T16:51:58Z")
On the subject of artist’s repeat fees and so on: I wrote jokes for a BBC Radio comedy show in the 80s, and have the contract I signed in front of me. Briefly (and IANAL), it appears to give the BBC certain rights to broadcast the material within a period of 2 years, for a standard percentage of the initial fee. However, I notice two later points which read: > [@](#): > > 1. I FURTHER AUTHORISE THE BBC at any time without further payment:- … > > © to permit the relay of any of the performances referred to above by any system of wire broadcasting. and: > [@](#): > > 1. SUBJECT TO PAYMENT OF 10% of the initial fee, the BBC can acquire non-paying audience rights (including educational use) in the work throughout the world. Since I know that there are dopers who make their living at this kind of thing, I would happily provide the whole text of the contract (if I was assured that I wouldn’t be guilty of copyright infringement by doing so :rolleyes: ). It seems to me, though, that if other Artists’ contracts contain similar wording, the BBC have given themselves a fair amount of lee-way.