Broadcast Rights Agreement Template (Australia)

Updated on 22 August 2026

A broadcast rights agreement licenses the right to show an event. Everything valuable sits in four definitions: what is licensed, where, on which platforms and for how long, and whether anyone else can do the same thing at the same time. Get them right and the rest is administration; leave them vague and you have sold something nobody can measure.

Australia has a specific constraint that has to be checked before exclusivity is priced. The anti-siphoning scheme under the Broadcasting Services Act 1992 prevents media content service providers other than national broadcasters and certain commercial television licensees from acquiring rights to televise a listed event, so that free-to-air services get the chance first. The Communications Legislation Amendment (Prominence and Anti-siphoning) Act 2024 broadened the scheme and extended it to online streaming services, and a new anti-siphoning list commenced on 17 December 2024. A rights deal for a listed event that ignores this can be unperformable.

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Broadcast Rights Agreement

This Agreement is made on between (ABN ) of (the “Licensor”) and (ABN ) of (the “Licensee”). The Licensor grants the Licensee the rights described below in relation to the Event.

1. The Event

The Event means:

The Licensor confirms that it holds the rights it grants, including any consents from participants, venues and governing bodies needed for the Licensee to exercise them, and that exercising them as permitted here will not infringe a third party's rights.

OptionalAnti-siphoning clauseRecord that the event is or may be on the anti-siphoning list.

2. Grant of Rights

Media and platforms:
Territory:
Languages and commentary:
Exclusivity:
Term:: to

All rights not expressly granted above are reserved to the Licensor. No right is granted in any medium, platform, territory, language or window that is not listed, and the grant does not extend to betting or data feeds, immersive formats, or archive exploitation unless stated.

Notwithstanding any exclusivity, the Licensor may continue to do the following:

3. Windows and Holdbacks

Live window:
Delayed and repeat rights:
Catch-up availability:: days after the Event
Holdbacks:

4. Production and Delivery of the Feed

Where the Licensor supplies the feed it will do so at the agreed technical standard and at the scheduled start time and will notify schedule changes as soon as possible. Where the Licensee produces the coverage it will have the access the Licensor has agreed and will comply with venue accreditation and safety rules.

OptionalNews access carve-outPermit short news use by other broadcasters on defined terms.

5. News Access

Notwithstanding any exclusivity, other broadcasters and news services may use extracts of the Event for news reporting on these terms: extracts of no more than seconds, no more than times in any single bulletin, not before hours after the Event has ended, with an on-screen credit to the Licensee, and only within news programming rather than a programme built substantially from Event footage.

This is a contractual permission given by the parties. It does not create, limit or replace any fair-dealing or other statutory exception permitting use for the reporting of news, and it does not determine whether an unlicensed use is lawful.

6. Sub-licensing and Onward Carriage

OptionalSub-licensing permittedAllow the licensee to sub-license or authorise onward carriage.

The Licensee will not sub-license, assign or authorise any third party to transmit or redistribute the Event, in whole or in part, without the Licensor's prior written consent. Ordinary distribution by the Licensee's own carriage partners is permitted only where the Licensor has approved those partners in writing.

7. Advertising and Sponsorship

Inventory is allocated as follows: Neither party will accept an advertiser or sponsor in a category conflicting with the other's contracted title or category sponsor without first discussing it, and each will notify the other of such a conflict as soon as it becomes aware. Each party remains responsible for compliance with the advertising rules and industry codes applying to its own transmissions.

OptionalRevenue share on inventoryGive the licensor a share of advertising or sponsorship revenue, with reporting.

8. Rights Fee and Payment

Rights fee:
Instalments:
Payment terms:: days from a valid tax invoice
GST:

If an instalment is unpaid 14 days after a written reminder the Licensor may suspend the rights until it is paid. If the Licensor fails to deliver the feed or the access it agreed, the Licensee may withhold the proportion of the fee attributable to the affected events until it is remedied.

9. Reporting and Audit

The Licensee will provide: The Licensor may audit the supporting records once in any twelve-month period on days' notice, during business hours, using an auditor bound by confidentiality. The Licensor bears the cost unless the audit reveals an underpayment of more than five per cent, in which case the Licensee bears it and pays the shortfall.

10. Anti-piracy and Territorial Protection

The Licensee will apply the following measures and will not knowingly make the Event available outside the Territory: Each party will promptly notify the other of unauthorised distribution it becomes aware of and give reasonable cooperation with takedowns and enforcement. Enforcement decisions about the Licensor's rights remain the Licensor's.

11. Cancellation, Curtailment and Force Majeure

If the Event does not take place at all, the fee attributable to it is not payable and any advance paid for it is refunded.
If a season or series is only partly delivered, the fee is reduced pro rata by reference to the events actually delivered.
If the Event is curtailed after transmission has begun, the parties will agree a proportionate reduction reflecting what was delivered.
If the Event moves to a different date or venue, the rights apply to it as moved provided the Licensee can still exercise them; if it cannot, the fee is treated as for a cancelled event.
If the Event takes place without spectators or in a materially altered format, that alone does not reduce the fee unless the parties have agreed otherwise.
Neither party is liable for a failure caused by something genuinely outside its control, but this does not excuse a failure to pay sums already due.

12. Term, Termination and Archive

This Agreement runs for the term above. Either party may terminate immediately if the other commits a material breach and fails to remedy it within days of written notice, or becomes insolvent. Archive position after the term: . On termination the Licensee will stop transmitting the Event, may complete a transmission already in progress, and will deal with recordings as the archive position requires.

13. General and Governing Law

This Agreement is the entire agreement on its subject matter and supersedes earlier heads of terms.
Variations must be in writing and signed by both parties.
Neither party may assign without the other's written consent, except to a successor of its business able to perform.
Nothing in this Agreement creates a partnership, joint venture or agency.
Notices go to the addresses above or to an email address confirmed in writing.

This Agreement is governed by the law of and the parties submit to the non-exclusive jurisdiction of its courts.

For the Licensor

Date signed:

For the Licensee

Date signed:

Anti-siphoning comes before exclusivity

The scheme works by restricting who may acquire the rights in the first place. Where an event appears on the anti-siphoning list, providers other than the national broadcasters and certain commercial television licensees are prohibited from acquiring rights to televise or otherwise provide coverage, which is what preserves the free-to-air opportunity.

The 2024 reforms matter because they extended the scheme to online streaming and refreshed the list. So the first question in any Australian rights negotiation is whether the event is listed and what that means for the intended licensee. This template asks the question, records the answer, and states that the grant takes effect subject to the scheme — which protects both sides, because a licensee paying for exclusivity it cannot lawfully acquire is as exposed as the licensor.

Define five dimensions, and reserve everything else

A modern grant needs medium and platform, territory, window, language and exclusivity level, each set out separately. Streaming makes the territory definition operational rather than decorative: the licensee has to know precisely where it must geo-block, and the licensor has to know precisely what remains sellable.

The most valuable sentence in the document is the reservation — anything not expressly granted stays with the licensor. That is what decides who owns the distribution routes nobody contemplated at signature, which for the last decade has consistently been the platforms that did not exist yet.

News access is a contractual carve-out, not a grant of statutory rights

Other news services will use something, so the contract should say what is permitted: a maximum clip length, uses per bulletin, a delay before first use, credit, and a restriction to news programming rather than programmes built out of somebody else's footage.

What it must not do is present that as the source of the other broadcaster's rights. Australian copyright law contains fair-dealing exceptions for reporting news, and whether a particular use falls within one is a question of fact, not something a licensor can grant or cap. This template states the carve-out as a permission the parties are giving and says expressly that it neither creates nor limits any statutory exception — which is precisely what the source template got wrong when it invented a two-minute rule.

Money, reporting and the things that leak

Live rights leak. A licence silent on geo-blocking, technical protection and takedown cooperation leaves enforcement with the party that has the least information. This template puts those obligations on the licensee and pairs them with reporting — audience data, and inventory revenue where the licensor shares in it — plus an audit right with notice and a cost-shifting threshold.

It also fixes the one-sided suspension clause most templates carry. Non-payment can suspend the rights; but a licensor that fails to deliver the feed or the access it promised should expect the licensee to withhold the proportion of the fee attributable to the affected events. Cancellation is dealt with scenario by scenario — abandoned, curtailed, moved, played without spectators — rather than left to a general force majeure clause.

Clause-by-clause guide

Parties and the event: Defined licensor and licensee and a precise description of the event, season or fixtures licensed.
Anti-siphoning position: Records whether the event is listed and that the grant takes effect subject to the scheme.
Grant of rights: Media and platforms, territory, languages, windows and exclusivity, with everything else reserved.
Windows and holdbacks: Live, delayed, catch-up and archive, plus any holdback before another licensee's window.
Feed production and delivery: Who produces the coverage, who bears the cost and how the feed reaches the licensee.
News access: Clip length, uses per bulletin, delay and credit, expressed as a permission with the statutory position noted.
Sub-licensing and carriage: Whether onward distribution is permitted and whether the licensor shares in that consideration.
Advertising and sponsorship: Who sells what, category conflicts with event sponsors, and any revenue share.
Rights fee and payment: Fee, instalments, payment days, GST and suspension rights that run both ways.
Reporting and audit: Audience and revenue reporting with an audit right and a cost-shifting threshold.
Anti-piracy and geo-restriction: Applying territorial limits, technical measures and takedown cooperation.
Cancellation and curtailment: Scenario-by-scenario fee consequences instead of a bare force majeure clause.
Term, termination and archive: Defined term, cure period, and what the licensee may keep doing afterwards.

Australian compliance checklist

Check the anti-siphoning list before selling exclusivity
Where an event is on the anti-siphoning list, providers other than the national broadcasters and certain commercial television licensees are prohibited from acquiring rights to televise or otherwise provide coverage of it.
Anti-siphoning — Department of Infrastructure
Account for the 2024 reforms and the current list
The Communications Legislation Amendment (Prominence and Anti-siphoning) Act 2024 broadened the scheme and extended it to online streaming services, and a new anti-siphoning list commenced on 17 December 2024.
Prominence and Anti-siphoning Act 2024
Do not contract away the news exceptions
Australian copyright law contains fair-dealing exceptions for reporting news, and whether a use qualifies is fact-specific. A contractual news carve-out is a commercial permission and does not decide that question.
Fix ownership of the feed and the archive
A licence to broadcast is not ownership of the recording. State who owns the film and the archive and whether the licensee may keep a copy after the term.
Reserve unlisted rights expressly
New distribution routes appear faster than contracts are renewed. Reserving everything not expressly granted keeps future platforms with the licensor by default.
Check participant and governing-body consents
Confirm the licensor holds what it grants, including any consents from participants, venues and sporting bodies needed for the licensee to exercise the rights.
Deal with GST and withholding on the fee
State whether the fee is exclusive of GST and how any withholding on cross-border payments is handled, rather than discovering it at the first invoice.

How to complete this agreement

Name the parties and the event. Enter the licensor and licensee and describe precisely which event, season or fixtures are licensed.
Check the anti-siphoning position. If the event is or may be listed, turn on that clause and take advice before agreeing exclusivity.
Build the grant. Set the media and platforms, the territory, the languages and each window.
Set the news carve-out. Enter clip length, uses per bulletin, delay before first use and the credit requirement.
Decide sub-licensing and inventory. State whether onward carriage is permitted and how advertising and sponsorship are split.
Set fee, reporting and audit. Add the fee and instalments, the reporting the licensor receives and the audit notice period.
Review and sign. Check the grant, territory, windows and exclusivity say what you intended, then download and sign.

Frequently asked questions

What is the difference between broadcast rights and a broadcast services contract?

A rights agreement licenses the right to exploit the event, and money usually flows from the broadcaster to the rights holder. A services agreement engages someone to produce and deliver the coverage, and money flows the other way. Many deals contain both, but they should be separate documents or clearly separated parts because the obligations and remedies point in opposite directions.

Can I sell exclusive rights to any event in Australia?

Not if it is on the anti-siphoning list. The scheme restricts who may acquire rights to televise or otherwise provide coverage of a listed event so that the national broadcasters and certain commercial television licensees get the opportunity, and the 2024 reforms extended it to online streaming services. Selling exclusivity a licensee cannot lawfully acquire exposes both parties, which is why this template asks the question first.

How should the territory be defined?

Precisely, and with the awkward edges named: whether it includes the external territories, New Zealand where a deal is sold regionally, in-flight and maritime, and armed-forces networks. Streaming makes territory operational — the licensee has to know exactly where to geo-block and you have to know exactly what remains sellable elsewhere.

Can other broadcasters show clips?

Some use may be permitted by the fair-dealing exceptions for reporting news, which is a question of fact rather than something you control. This template sets a contractual carve-out — clip length, uses per bulletin, delay, credit, news programming only — and says expressly that it neither creates nor limits any statutory exception.

Is the two-minute limit in most templates a real rule?

No. It is a number copied between templates. There is no Australian statutory clip length, and the fair-dealing analysis does not work by fixed durations. Choose a figure that suits your event and do not present it as law.

Can the licensee sub-license to another platform?

Only if the contract says so. This template makes sub-licensing and onward carriage an express decision with an optional revenue share and reporting, because a rights holder that has not addressed it loses sight of where its event is actually shown and of the value generated downstream.

What happens to the fee if the event is cancelled?

The template deals with it scenario by scenario — cancelled outright, a season only partly delivered, curtailed after transmission began, moved to a new date or venue, or played without spectators — rather than leaving everything to force majeure. Each has a stated effect on the fee, with a pro-rata mechanism for a partly delivered season.

Related templates

Disclaimer

This template and guide are general information about Australian practice, not legal, broadcasting-regulatory, competition or tax advice, and nobody has reviewed your deal. Anti-siphoning and competition questions are specialist; take advice before signing a significant rights agreement.