Copyright Office

Using Radio & T.V. Broadcasts for Educational Purposes

For a general information about copyright see Overview of Copyright. For general information about copyright & broadcasts see Films, Television and Radio.

The Copyright Act allows the University to record, reproduce, perform and/or communicate radio & T.V. broadcasts for educational purposes. Communicate means to make the item available online or to email or fax the item to someone. This provision includes any material that has been broadcast such as films, commercials, recorded music, radio interviews etc on free-to-air radio or T.V., pay television, satellite broadcasts or podcasts of broadcasts. It does not include reproducing moving images or sounds from the internet.

What can you do?

You can:

This provision is very flexible, you can:

Some conditions apply:

  1. It must be for educational purposes - educational purposes are defined as reproducing or communicating material for a particular course of instruction or for the administration of that course. They also cover reproducing material to be included in a library collection. Educational purposes do not cover general or commercial activities of the University, such as marketing and promotion.
  2. You can not copy any pre-recorded videos, DVDs or sound recordings.
  3. You must mark each copy, either on the item itself or on the container, with the following:
    • the name of the institution for which the copy is made, i.e. the University of Melbourne;
    • a reference to Part VA of the Copyright Act;
    • the date on which the program was broadcast or transmitted;
    • the date on which the copy was made.
  4. If placing the recording online you must also:
    • Restrict access to University of Melbourne staff and students - material can be placed on a LMS but not on an open access website.
    • Include a copyright warning notice on each recording - the notice should appear either before or as the material appears on screen. Copies of the notices are available here.

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Using Podcasts for Educational Purposes

You can download a podcast of a broadcast from the web to show in class, use as teaching material or make a copy available in the library. Australian podcasts and webcasts can be copied for educational purposes if they were originally 'born' as free broadcasts, e.g. the podcast of Andrew Denton's Enough Rope was originally broadcast on the ABC and therefore can be copied . You must follow the requirements for using broadcasts as outlined above in Steps 3-4.

Podcasts and webcasts that were originally broadcast overseas can also be copied - so long as the country of origin has signed the Rome Convention. Please note: many countries are not signatories, including the United States, New Zealand, China, Hong Kong and Singapore. (Click here to see a full list of countries that have signed the Rome Convention). Podcasts from countries that are not covered can still be linked to.

Podcasts and webcasts that were created exclusively for the internet and have not been broadcast 'free-to-air' are not included and permission from the copyright owner would be required to copy these for educational purposes. You may however provide students with a link to the podcast or webcast.

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Off Air Recording Service

An Off Air Recording Service is available from Digital Media Services. The Off Air Recording Service records a number of programs routinely but will also record specific program on request. The Off Air Recording Service streams many of its recordings via a restricted access website. If the Off Air Recording Service do not already hold a copy of a broadcast, they may be able to obtain a copy from another service.

Informit TVNews - TVNews indexes Australian television news, current affairs and selected documentaries from the free-to-air networks with links to the digitised video content and/or DVD delivery. This is an easy and copyright compliant way to access TV news broadcasts for teaching purposes under the Part VA or ScreenRights Licence.

TVNews also allows material to be downloaded, so videos can be placed on the LMS. If you download material from TVNews and make it available on the LMS, you must follow the guidelines for using TV & Radio Broadcasts .

All individual stories from a particular broadcast are indexed with a detailed synopsis. TVNews is updated daily, with stories appearing on an evening news broadcast generally being available for access the next morning.

The video for each story or documentary is available in Windows Media player format as a progressive download, allowing viewing to begin before the total video file is transferred. Items range from under 30 seconds for short stories, to over an hour for selected documentaries.

Screenrights provides a service - EnhanceTV - that provides study guides and television guides about educational programs broadcast on television. Broadcasts can also be purchased from EnhanceTV.

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Further Information

Content updated 17/01/08

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