Statutory Broadcast Licence

Updated 27 February 2026

Introduction

The Statutory Broadcast Licence is administered by the collecting society, Screenrights. Some people refer to it as the ‘Screenrights Licence’.

The Statutory Broadcast Licence allows educational institutions to make copies of broadcasts of radio and television programs and communicate those copies solely for educational purposes.

Who can rely on the Statutory Broadcast Licence?

All government schools and the majority of Catholic and independent schools are covered by the Statutory Broadcast Licence. Please contact your local representative if you wish to check whether your school is covered.

The only TAFE institutes covered by the Statutory Broadcast Licence are:

North Metropolitan TAFE, South Metropolitan TAFE and South Regional TAFE (WA)
Bradfield Senior College (NSW).

What material does the Statutory Broadcast Licence cover?

The Statutory Broadcast Licence only covers broadcast material. It does not cover audiovisual content that has not been broadcast, such as videos on YouTube or streaming services like Netflix or Stan.

Note: There are many ways that teachers can use non-broadcast audiovisual material that is not covered by the Statutory Broadcast Licence. See Films and Videos, Flexible Dealing, Performance, Communication of Copyright Material in Class, YouTube – Using and Use of Television Programs and Film by TAFE Institutes without a Statutory Broadcast Licence for further information.

The following table summarises what material is and is not covered by the Statutory Broadcast Licence.

Material Type	Covered	Not covered
TV programs and films	Free-to-air TV broadcasts ABC, SBS, Channel 7, 9, 10, Gem, etc.	Streaming services Netflix, Stan, Amazon Prime, Disney+ etc. .
	Scheduled Foxtel / pay TV programs Only content broadcast on scheduled channels, not on-demand .	Subscription on-demand content Foxtel On Demand, Kayo Sports, etc.
	Catch-up TV from free-to-air websites e.g. ABC iView, SBS On Demand, 7plus, 9Now, 10Play, but only if the program has been broadcast on TV .	Subscription broadcaster websites Online videos from Foxtel, Sky News, etc. that have not been broadcast on TV .
	.	Rented or purchased TV programs In any format e.g. from iTunes, Google Play, retail DVDs/Blu-rays/VHS
	.	YouTube and online videos YouTube, Vimeo, TeachersTube, Edmodo, Khan Academy, etc. .
	.	Online games ABC for Kids games, educational game platforms .
Radio and podcasts	Live free-to-air radio Radio broadcasts on AM, FM bands and digital radio stations .	Online-only radio programs Programs that have never been broadcast on radio e.g. web-exclusive content from radio broadcasters’ websites, online-only podcasts from Spotify, Audible, Apple Podcasts. .
Radio and podcasts	Radio programs and podcasts from free-to-air broadcasters e.g. ABC, BBC, commercial radio, but only if the program has been broadcast on radio .

Resource centres

Most schools and covered TAFE institutes that want access to copies of television and radio broadcasts subscribe to a resource centre such as Clickview, TV4Education, Wingaru, Understanding Faith or Informit. Resource centres copy broadcast television and radio programs and make these copies accessible on their subscription platforms.

How can schools and covered TAFEs use material copied under the Statutory Broadcast Licence?

Schools and covered TAFE institutes can only rely on the Statutory Broadcast Licence to copy broadcast material and communicate those copies solely for educational purposes.

Educational purposes include:

teaching purposes, including preparation for teaching a class (e.g. playing a copy of an ABC News weather segment to a Geography class)
as a part of a course of study (e.g. a teacher asking students to watch a copy of a documentary on climate change as part of a science course).

So long as it’s for an educational purpose, students and teachers can rely on the Statutory Broadcast Licence and other education provisions in the Copyright Act to:

play copies of broadcasts directly from resource centre platforms
download broadcast content available on resource centre platforms and make this available to the relevant staff/students via a password protected DTE in some circumstances. See Flexible Dealing for further information
make their own copies of broadcast material (e.g. by recording live TV on to a DVD or to a digital file) and share these copies internally (e.g. by emailing the copy to students).

What isn’t allowed under the Statutory Broadcast Licence?

Teachers and students cannot make or use copies of broadcast content for entertainment purposes. This includes copies of broadcasts available on a resource centre’s platform.

Teachers and students cannot:

copy broadcast content or play those copies for non-educational purposes (e.g. to play at lunch time on a rainy day or at home for entertainment purposes)
play copies of broadcast content, including resource centre copies, in the staffroom or other public area (e.g. a school movie night held at the school or offsite)
download copies of broadcast content from resource centres to share on public platforms (e.g. school or TAFE websites or social media)
sell or supply copies of broadcast content for a profit
copy on behalf of, or lend a copy to, an institution that is not covered by the Statutory Broadcast Licence.

What if my school or TAFE is not covered by the Statutory Broadcast Licence?

Without the Statutory Broadcast Licence, schools and TAFEs cannot:

make copies of radio and TV broadcasts (e.g. recording live TV onto a DVD or digital file, or uploading these to a digital teaching environment)
subscribe to a Resource Centre that has copy broadcast television and radio programs available on its platform.

Schools and TAFEs that are not covered by the Statutory Broadcast Licence can still use non-broadcast audiovisual material in other ways. See Films and Videos, Flexible Dealing Performance, Communication of Copyright Material in Class, YouTube – Using and Use of Television Programs and Film by TAFE Institutes without a Statutory Broadcast Licence for further information.

In limited circumstances, you may be permitted to upload audio-visual material to your school or TAFE DTE. For further information see Films and Videos and Flexible Dealing.

TAFE institutes that are not covered should refer to Use of Television Programs and Film by TAFE Institutes without a Statutory Broadcast Licence.

Labelling/Attribution

We recommend that you always label/attribute any material you copy under the Statutory Broadcast Licence with the name of the program, the channel it was copied from and the date the copy was made. For example:

Copied under the Statutory Licence in s 113P of the Copyright Act 1968, ‘Media Watch’, ABC, 17 August 2025

Notice Requirements

Each time a program is uploaded to a password protected DTE, we recommend that you include the following notice:

[WARNING]

This material has been copied [and communicated to you] in accordance with the statutory licence in section 113P of the Copyright Act. Any further reproduction or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection under the Act. Do not remove this notice.

A practical way of including this notice is to insert a link to the notice from the labelling information. This would mean that you would upload the notice to the DTE and then link to it when required. For example:

Copied under the statutory licence in s 113P of the Copyright Act, ‘Media Watch’, ABC, 17 August 2025.

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