screenrights

Screenrights aims to facilitate the use of audiovisual material and to optimise returns to copyright owners through the collective management of their rights.

Copying from TV for teaching

More than 10,000 Australian schools, TAFEs and universities have a Screenrights licence to copy from television and radio, and to make certain online uses of these copies. In New Zealand this includes many schools and most universities, polytechnics and colleges. Teachers can record the latest documentaries, news, current affairs, movies and other programs whenever they want. The chart below shows the type of audiovisual material copied by Australian and New Zealand educational institutions in 2006.

Types of AV material copied by Australian and New Zealand eductational institutions in 05/06

Paying filmmakers for their work

Screenrights now collects more than $23 million a year for educational copying. This money is distributed to filmmakers, broadcasters, distributors, writers and other copyright owners. Without this money it would be much more difficult for our filmmakers to continue producing films that inspire and educate students.

The countries from which our members come

Innovation and growth delivering real benefits

Since Screenrights was established in 1990 to administer educational copying, we have continued to grow. We also now offer:

  • An international collection service collecting overseas royalties for the film industry;

  • A government copying service collecting royalties for copying from TV in Australian government departments;

  • A retransmission service collecting royalties for the Australian retransmission of free to air broadcasts on other services such as Pay TV;

  • EnhanceTV, a unique web resource for Australian educators, providing information and a weekly guide on educational TV programs and films. EnhanceTV was developed by Screenrights to help educators use television in the classroom and to improve the film industry's reach into this important sector;

  • ISAN Australasia which gives filmmakers access to a unique new means of identifying their work in a global digital environment. Screenrights and APRA/AMCOS are the ISAN (International Standard Audiovisual Number) registration agency in Australasia.

  • Screenrights lobbies for improved rights for our members in areas such as copyright reform. We successfully lobbied for extensions to the educational copying provisions to include further online uses of copied programs and for the introduction of payment to rights owners when broadcasts of their programs are retransmitted.

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Coroners Inquest Ninox Television - Coroners Inquest, Ninox Television

The Screenrights money was an unexpected New Years bonus which means a great deal to me. It was more money than I was expecting and it will be used to help support my business over the next couple of months as I continue to develop new projects. In short: I was rapt.
- Liz Burke Partner K.S. Beamish, E.J. Burke and S. Owen