Contributor Rights
Hear from the people behind the scenes at the BBC Archive
Contributor Rights
Contributor Rights
An interview with Simon Haywood-Tapp from the BBC Rights department
There's a whole department in the BBC that negotiates agreements so the BBC can re-broadcast archive programmes. This interview with BBC Rights expert Simon Hayward-Tapp explains why rights is a complicated subject.
- Click on a heading below to jump to that section of the film
- Why can't I have access to the entire BBC archive?
- What are 'rights' in broadcasting terms?
- In broadcasting terms, who has 'rights'?
- What if the person with 'rights' cannot be traced?
- Do people ever refuse to grant rights?
Transcript
Why can't I have access to the entire BBC archive?
In many ways it would be very nice if we could have the whole archive available. Sadly, that's unlikely to happen because although the BBC owns the rights in the whole programme, we don't necessarily own the rights in all the individual elements that make up that programme. So, for example, someone will write a script for a drama. We might have the rights in that script to do certain things with it - like repeat it or sell it on DVD - but we won't necessarily have the right to make it available as an archive trial for example.
