Broadcast Rights Agreement Template (UK)
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 those right and the rest is administration. Leave them vague and you have sold something nobody can measure.
Two UK-specific points shape this version. If the event is on the list of sporting and other events of national interest, the Broadcasting Act 1996 and the Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated Events restrict how exclusivity can be sold at all — Group A events must be offered for full live coverage to qualifying free-to-air services, while Group B allows live pay coverage provided secondary coverage is offered. And the news carve-out that most templates copy from each other should not be presented as the source of another broadcaster's rights: fair dealing for reporting current events under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988 exists independently of the contract, and it is fact-specific.
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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. In particular 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 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.
5. News Access
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 exception permitting use for the purpose of reporting current events, and it does not determine whether an unlicensed use is lawful.
6. Sub-licensing and 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. 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 shall accept an advertiser or sponsor in a category conflicting with the other's contracted title or category sponsor without first discussing it, and each shall notify the other of such a conflict as soon as it becomes aware. Each party remains responsible for compliance with the advertising rules applying to its own transmissions.
8. Rights Fee and Payment
- Rights fee:
- Instalments:
- Payment terms:
- days from a valid invoice
The fee is exclusive of VAT and of any withholding required by law. 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 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.
10. Anti-piracy and Territorial Protection
The Licensee shall apply the following measures and shall not knowingly make the Event available outside the Territory: Each party shall 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 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.
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 shall stop transmitting the Event, may complete a transmission already in progress, and shall 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.
- No third party may enforce this Agreement.
- 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 exclusive jurisdiction of its courts.
For the Licensor
Date signed:
For the Licensee
Date signed:
Listed events come before exclusivity
The listed-events regime is the first thing to check because it can make an exclusive grant unperformable. Events designated under the Broadcasting Act 1996 are split into two groups: Group A requires full live coverage to be offered to the qualifying free-to-air services, and Group B permits live coverage on subscription television provided secondary coverage — highlights or delayed coverage — is offered. Ofcom's Code sets out how rights must be made available on fair and reasonable terms.
This template asks whether the event is or may be listed, and if so records that the grant is subject to the regime and that the parties have taken advice. That is more honest than a template that assumes a clean exclusive sale, and it protects both sides: a licensee that pays for exclusivity it cannot lawfully have is as exposed as the licensor.
Define five dimensions, and reserve the rest
A modern grant needs medium and platform, territory by named country, window, language, and exclusivity level. Streaming makes each of those load-bearing: the licensee has to know exactly where it must geo-block and the licensor has to know exactly what it can still sell.
The most valuable sentence in this document is the reservation: anything not expressly granted stays with the licensor. That is what decides ownership of the distribution channels nobody thought about at signature — which for the last decade has consistently been the platforms that did not exist yet.
News access: a contractual carve-out, not a grant of statutory rights
Other news organisations will use something, so the contract should say what is permitted: a maximum clip length, a maximum number of uses per bulletin, a delay before first use, credit, and a restriction to general news programming rather than programmes built out of somebody else's footage.
What the contract must not do is present that as the source of the other broadcaster's rights. Under the CDPA 1988 fair dealing for the purpose of reporting current events can apply to a broadcast, subject to sufficient acknowledgement and to the exclusion of photographs, and whether a particular use qualifies is a question of fact. 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.
Money, reporting and the things that leak
Live rights leak. A licence that says nothing about geo-blocking, technical protection or takedown cooperation leaves enforcement with the party that has least information about it. This template sets 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 suspends the rights, yes; 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. And the cancellation ladder is set out by scenario — abandoned, curtailed, moved, behind closed doors — 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.
- Listed events
- Optional. Records that the event is or may be designated and that the grant is subject to the statutory regime.
- Grant of rights
- Media and platforms, territory by country, languages, windows and exclusivity, with all 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, VAT 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 the 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.
UK compliance checklist
Check the listed-events regime before selling exclusivity
Events designated under the Broadcasting Act 1996 must be made available to qualifying free-to-air services on the terms the regime sets, with Group A requiring full live coverage to be offered and Group B permitting pay coverage where secondary coverage is offered.
Broadcasting Act 1996, Part IVRead Ofcom's Code on listed and designated events
The Code governs how rights to listed events must be made available and on what terms, and applies to the acquisition as well as the broadcast.
Ofcom Code on Sports and Other Listed and Designated EventsDo not contract away the news exception
Fair dealing for reporting current events can apply to a broadcast, subject to sufficient acknowledgement and to the exclusion of photographs. A contractual news carve-out is a commercial permission and does not determine whether an unlicensed use is lawful.
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, s.30Fix ownership of the feed and the archive
A licence to broadcast is not ownership of the recording. State who owns the master 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. A clause reserving everything not expressly granted keeps future platforms with the licensor by default.
Check participant and personality consents
Confirm the licensor actually holds what it is granting, including any consents from participants, venues and governing bodies needed for the licensee to exercise the rights.
Deal with VAT and withholding on the rights fee
State whether the fee is exclusive of VAT 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 listed events. If the event is or may be designated, turn on the listed-events clause and take advice before agreeing exclusivity.
- Build the grant. Set the media and platforms, the territory by country, 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 the money usually flows from the broadcaster to the rights holder. A services agreement engages someone to produce and deliver the coverage, and the 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. Our services template is linked from this page.
Can I sell exclusive rights to any event?
Not if it is a listed event. Events designated under the Broadcasting Act 1996 have to be made available to qualifying free-to-air services on the terms the regime sets — full live coverage offered for Group A, secondary coverage for Group B — and Ofcom's Code governs how that works. Selling exclusivity you cannot lawfully grant exposes both parties, which is why this template asks the question up front.
How should the territory be defined?
By named countries, not "domestic and international". Streaming makes the definition operational: the licensee has to know exactly where to geo-block and you have to know exactly what remains sellable. Deal expressly with the Channel Islands, the Isle of Man, in-flight and maritime, and armed-forces networks, because those are the usual points of argument.
Can other broadcasters show clips?
Some use will happen, and part of it may be lawful without your permission: fair dealing for reporting current events can apply to a broadcast, subject to sufficient acknowledgement. This template sets a contractual carve-out — clip length, uses per bulletin, delay, credit, general news programming only — and says expressly that it neither creates nor limits any statutory exception, because a contract cannot decide that question.
Is the two-minute limit in most templates a real rule?
No. It is a figure copied from template to template. There is no UK statutory clip length, and in the EU the position comes from national implementations of the short-reporting right rather than from a licensor's grant. 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 visibility 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 by scenario — cancelled outright, partly delivered across a season, curtailed after transmission began, moved to a new date or venue, or played behind closed doors — rather than leaving everything to force majeure. Each has a stated effect on the fee, with a pro-rata mechanism for a season only partly delivered.
Related templates
Disclaimer
This template and guide are general information about UK practice, not legal, broadcasting-regulatory, competition or tax advice, and nobody has reviewed your deal. Listed-events and competition questions are specialist; take advice before signing a significant rights agreement.
