Off-air Recordings of Radio and Television Broadcasts for Educational Purposes

It is illegal to copy radio and TV broadcasts and use them for anything other than domestic purposes, unless you have a licence to do so. The University subscribes to the Educational Recording Agency (ERA) licensing scheme, which establishes the conditions under which you are allowed to make recordings for educational purposes. The ERA licence permits teaching staff to:

All recordings and copies must be labelled to show the title of the programme and the date on which it was recorded, together with a clear statement that "this recording is to be used only for educational purposes".

The ERA licence does not permit:

Audio-Visual Presentation Services offers an ERA recording facility for staff. It can also provide further details of the scheme, and supply labels for recorded tapes and record cards on request.

Recordings of Open University and Open College programmes must be registered by Audio-Visual Presentation Services if used for educational purposes and are also subject to the payment of a licensing fee. Visit www.avps.soton.ac.uk/tvrec.shtml for more information.