educational copying
New Zealand
A Screenrights Television and Radio Copying Licence lets schools, universities and polytechnics, colleges and Wananga record whatever they like from television and radio, in exchange for the payment of an annual fee.
Screenrights is a non-profit company that distributes all money it collects to the producers, writers and other rightsholders in recorded programmes, after deducting its administrative overheads only.
The Screenrights licence has been established under provisions in the New Zealand Copyright Act that provide educators with access to an important educational resource while ensuring payment to the rightsholders who make the programmes teachers and academics want to use.
The Screenrights licence is versatile and flexible. You can copy:
- Any programme – movies, documentaries, Maori language programmes, news and current affairs
- Anywhere - make copies at home or in your library
- From any channel – pay or free to air
- AV material legally available online – download podcasts, vodcasts or programmes from the Internet ( for universities, wanting to download radio programs from the internet, please note there are some limitations of advice ask your copyright officer)
- In any format – copy onto VHS, DVD or a hard drive
- To use in teaching or to keep in the library as a resource
Use new technologies such as E-cast, Clickview and DVC
A Screenrights licence also lets licensed schools and universities store, access and play recordings using the latest digital technologies, such as E-cast, Clickview and Digital Video Commander systems. These systems also control AV content shown on interactive whiteboards and other display devices.
Copying without a Screenrights licence
Under the New Zealand Copyright Act, educational institutions that don't have a Screenrights licence may infringe copyright if they copy any programmes covered by the agreement. Failure to get a Screenrights licence therefore means that you will miss out on a comprehensive right to copy from television, radio and the internet.
Audiovisual material being copied
The following chart represents the breakdown of audiovisual material being copied by New Zealand and Australian educational institutions in 2008.
More information
Animalia, Burberry Productions / Animalia Productions
"Whilst many programs are available commercially, very few are captioned and in our efforts to support the hearing impaired and to ensure equity in the classroom, it is essential that we are able to record captioned programs using the Screenrights licence."
- Joanna Taylor Director, Information Services Presbyterian Ladies' College Sydney
