Permission or licence to show DVD ?

BOBS

Does anyone know if our Church group would need a licence or permission to show a DVD as part of an outreach event. It would be non profit making and we would not be asking for money from people to see it ??
Many thanks

kingfisherblue

Yes, you would. I am part of a community group (non profit making) and we wanted to show a DVD to the children in the group. We had to buy a licence for this. It cost about £60+ (sorry, I can't remember the exact amount). I don't have the details of who the licence was from (they are stored by the secretary of the group), but I know initially I rang FACT for information.

Does the church have a licence that would cover you?

BOBS

Thanks Kingfisher for your info- dont think Church has licence - trying to cost a few outreach events.

mlp

Firstly,
Assuming it's a DVD of a normally copyrighted film or other programme, you probably need a Single Title Screening License.

Search google for that, or have a look here
http://www.filmbank.co.uk/which_licence.asp

Film Bank license in the UK for the big film studios. I'm not sure how much the license is for a non-commercial screening, but I know it's a minimum charge of £79+VAT vs a box office split on commercial screenings.

You may want to explore if there are license exemptions for your group in relation to the type of DVD you are showing.

Secondly,
Depending where you plan on showing the DVD, there could be Premises License considerations (if the building you use has a premises license).

mlp

non-commercial fee confirmed as £79+VAT flat fee
http://www.filmbank.co.uk/images/45221/stsl%20price%20list.pdf

Savvy_Sue

I'm pretty sure you'd still have to have some kind of licence, but I'm sure I've seen a similar group somewhere running a film club, where they could keep costs down by not advertising the exact film title in advance.

Another place to check is 'one level up' in your church, IYSWIM. So if you were Anglicans, I'd say contact the Diocese, URC the District, Methodists the Circuit etc. Or even whatever you call Head Office ... You won't be the first church to do this.