BBC agrees indies Terms of Trade

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The BBC and Pact have agreed on the new Terms of Trade for commissioning television programmes from independent producers, which will give independent producers the ownership and control of the programmes they create.

Andrew Zein, Chairman of Pact and Managing Director of Tiger Aspect Productions, commented: "The significant benefits of these new terms will be felt by producers large and small."

The Terms of Trade agreement provides detailed business terms and complements the principles outlined in the BBC's Code of Practice which was approved by Ofcom earlier this year. "The Terms of Trade herald a new era in our relationship with the independent sector," says Jana Bennett, the BBC's Director of Television.

Independents will own all rights in the programmes they produce. The BBC will take a licence to use programming across its portfolio of channels for a period of five years and to exercise public service new media rights.

The BBC can extend its licence once for a period of two years and extend on a rolling two year basis for returning series whilst it continues to re-commission the programme.

The BBC will pay independent production companies repeat fees for uses of programming during the licence period not covered by the initial licence fee. Independent Producers of regional programmes transmitted on network will now receive an enhanced payment.

Independents will control all distribution, including international rights, format rights, commercial new media rights, videos and DVD rights and merchandising, subject to certain protections required to protect the BBC's licence.

The BBC will be entitled to a share in net profit from the exploitation of all rights in the programming.

The Terms of Trade agreement applies to all independent television production deals retrospectively from 6 January 2004, for all public service channels, regional and network (with some limited exceptions).