Broadcast Rights Agreement Template (Gibraltar)

Updated on 22 August 2026

A broadcast rights agreement licenses the right to show an event. Everything of value 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.

Gibraltar has its own broadcasting framework rather than relying on a neighbour's. The Broadcasting Act 2012 transposed the EU audiovisual media services rules into Gibraltar law and created a licensing regime for broadcasting for the first time, administered with the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority, and the Broadcasting (Licensing) Regulations 2019 sit under it. Two practical consequences follow: the licensee's regulatory obligations are its own and cannot be assumed away by contract, and the short-news-report concepts that came in with the audiovisual rules are part of the local framework rather than something a licensor grants.

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Broadcast Rights Agreement

This Agreement is made on between of (the “Licensor”) and 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.

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. Regulatory Responsibility

Each party is responsible for its own regulatory obligations. The Licensee confirms that it holds any broadcasting licence its transmissions require — licence details: — and that its obligations and licence conditions remain its own and are not assumed or limited by this Agreement. Nothing in this Agreement requires either party to act inconsistently with a regulatory obligation.

4. Windows and Holdbacks

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

5. Production and Delivery of the Feed

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

OptionalShort news report carve-outPermit short news use by other broadcasters on defined terms.

6. Short News Reports

Notwithstanding any exclusivity, other broadcasters and news services may use extracts of the Event for general 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 general 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 statutory right of access for short news reports under Gibraltar's broadcasting framework, and it does not determine whether an unlicensed use is lawful.

7. Sub-licensing and Onward Carriage

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

The Licensee shall 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.

8. Advertising and Sponsorship

Inventory is allocated as follows: Neither party shall accept an advertiser or sponsor in a category conflicting with the other's contracted title or category sponsor without first discussing it. Each party remains responsible for compliance with the advertising rules applying to its own transmissions.

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

9. Rights Fee and Payment

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

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.

10. Reporting and Audit

The Licensee shall 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.

11. Anti-piracy and Territorial Protection

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

12. 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 shall 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.

13. 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 shall stop transmitting the Event, may complete a transmission already in progress, and shall deal with recordings as the archive position requires.

14. General and Governing Law

This Agreement is the entire agreement on its subject matter, may only be varied in writing signed by both parties, and is governed by the law of Gibraltar. Neither party may assign without the other's written consent except to a successor of its business able to perform. Notices go to the addresses above or to an email address confirmed in writing. The parties submit to the exclusive jurisdiction of the Supreme Court of Gibraltar.

For the Licensor

Date signed:

For the Licensee

Date signed:

Define five dimensions, and reserve the rest

A modern grant needs medium and platform, territory, window, language and exclusivity level, each stated separately. For a Gibraltar rights deal the territory question needs particular care, because the natural audience spills across the frontier and into UK satellite and online distribution, so "Gibraltar" and "the Gibraltar audience" are not the same thing.

The most valuable sentence in the document is the reservation — anything not expressly granted stays with the licensor. That is what decides who owns distribution routes nobody contemplated at signature.

Licensing sits with the broadcaster

The Broadcasting Act 2012 created a licensing regime administered with the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority, and the licensing regulations that came into force in 2019 set out how it works. A rights contract cannot transfer those obligations: whether the licensee may transmit at all, and on what conditions, is between it and the regulator.

So this template includes a clause confirming that each party carries its own regulatory obligations, that the licensee is responsible for holding any licence its transmissions require, and that nothing in the agreement requires either party to act inconsistently with a regulatory obligation. It is a short clause that prevents a long argument.

Short news reports are part of the framework, not a gift

Every exclusive rights deal needs to say what other news organisations may use. The workable approach is a defined carve-out: a maximum clip length, uses per bulletin, a delay before first use, credit, and a restriction to general news programming.

What the contract must not do is present that carve-out as the source of another broadcaster's rights. Gibraltar's Broadcasting Act 2012 transposed the audiovisual media services framework, which includes access for short news reports on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms, so the statutory position exists independently of the contract. This template states the carve-out as a permission and says expressly that it neither creates nor limits any statutory right — the error the source template made 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 least information. This template puts those obligations on the licensee and pairs them with reporting and an audit right with 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 should expect the licensee to withhold the fee attributable to the affected events. Cancellation is dealt with scenario by scenario 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.
Grant of rights: Media and platforms, territory, languages, windows and exclusivity, with everything else reserved.
Regulatory responsibility: Confirms the licensee holds any broadcasting licence its transmissions require and carries its own obligations.
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.
Short news reports: 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 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.

Gibraltar compliance checklist

Confirm the licensee's broadcasting licence
The Broadcasting Act 2012 created a licensing regime for broadcasting in Gibraltar, with the Broadcasting (Licensing) Regulations 2019 under it, administered with the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority. Whether the licensee may transmit is between it and the regulator.
Gibraltar Regulatory Authority — broadcasting
Do not contract away the short-news-report position
The Broadcasting Act 2012 transposed the audiovisual media services framework, which provides for access for short news reports on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. A contractual carve-out is a commercial permission only.
Broadcasting Act 2012
Define the territory precisely
The natural audience spills across the frontier and into UK satellite and online distribution. State the territory by reference to transmission and availability, not to the audience you hope to reach.
Fix ownership of the feed and the archive
A licence to broadcast is not ownership of the recording, and a transfer of copyright needs to be in writing and signed. State who owns the master and archive.
Reserve unlisted rights expressly
New distribution routes appear faster than contracts are renewed. Reserving everything not expressly granted keeps future platforms with the licensor.
Check participant and governing-body consents
Confirm the licensor holds what it grants, including consents from participants, venues and sporting bodies needed for the licensee to exercise the rights.
Name the Supreme Court of Gibraltar
The governing-law and jurisdiction clause should name Gibraltar law and its Supreme Court rather than defaulting to England.

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.
Build the grant. Set the media and platforms, the territory, the languages and each window.
Confirm regulatory responsibility. Record the licensee's broadcasting licence and keep the clause leaving regulatory obligations with it.
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 belong in separate documents because the obligations and remedies point in opposite directions.

Does the broadcaster need a licence in Gibraltar?

The Broadcasting Act 2012 created a licensing regime for broadcasting here, with licensing regulations in force since 2019 and the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority administering it. Whether a particular service needs a licence, and on what conditions, is between the broadcaster and the regulator — a rights contract cannot transfer that. This template records the licence and leaves the obligation where it belongs.

How should the territory be defined?

By reference to transmission and availability, and precisely. Gibraltar's natural audience extends across the frontier and into UK satellite and online distribution, so a grant of "Gibraltar" rights that ignores spillover and online availability will be argued about. Say what the licensee must geo-block and what the licensor can still sell.

Can other broadcasters show clips?

Some access exists independently of your contract: Gibraltar's Broadcasting Act 2012 transposed the audiovisual framework, which provides for access for short news reports on fair, reasonable and non-discriminatory terms. 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 right.

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

No. It is a figure copied between templates. National implementations of the short-reporting right set their own conditions, and a licensor cannot grant or cap a statutory right in any event. Choose a number 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 shown.

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.

Related templates

Disclaimer

This template and guide are general information about Gibraltar practice, not legal, broadcasting-regulatory or tax advice, and nobody has reviewed your deal. Licensing requirements and the audiovisual framework change; confirm the current position with the Gibraltar Regulatory Authority or an adviser before signing.