Background

Pact has a strong track record of success in defending independent producers’ rights.  Several years ago, by campaigning on our members’ behalf, we successfully made the case to government that producers should own their own Intellectual Property (IP).  The changes this ushered in, under the Communications Act 2003, have had a profound impact on our sector to this day.

"Thanks to Pact, the UK is the best place in the world to be an independent television producer."
Cat Lewis, Nine Lives Media

Although this game-changing policy has helped our sector develop into the world-beating position we currently enjoy, Pact's ongoing campaigning work remains vital.  The policy and legal teams at Pact keep a very close eye on forthcoming legislation and regulations, negotiating hard to ensure that it will not adversely affect your business.

We achieve this by having active, ongoing dialogues with a range of important bodies including the government, regulators and UK broadcasters as well as other key opinion-formers. We ensure that all of these bodies are aware of the sector, its value and its contribution and we produce a range of materials on a large number of industry-related issues to substantiate our position. 

These materials (including research, information and consultation responses) are usually authored by our in-house policy and legal teams.  However other pieces of work are either commissioned or co-commissioned by Pact and authored by independent external bodies with extensive sector knowledge. 

Some of the areas which Pact regularly campaigns on include:

• Intellectual Property Rights
• International sector issues
• UK nations and regions
• Diversity
• Digital technology

What we do

At the start of every campaign we consult with our members through the Pact Council.  We recognise that one of the reasons why our recommendations to government are often heeded is because they are based upon accurate industry insight and knowledge. 

Often a campaign will involve a response to a consultation.  In this process we would collate extensive data on the sector. This is done to give the consulters a strong sense of the potential opportunities (or threats) which would flow from a legislative change.

Alongside the written response we would arrange meetings with the key figures conducting the consultation to underline key points which we believe need their attention.

If legislation results from the consultation process, we would campaign to ensure that it contains measures which help our sector to grow.