Introduction of the
Terms of Trade

Campaign
Overview

The Terms of Trade are a set of regulations introduced following the Communications Act 2003, which set out the principles that each of the UK’s Public Service Broadcasters (PSBs) apply when agreeing terms for the commissioning of independent productions for their licensed PSB channels.*

Pact mounted an extensive and ultimately successful campaign over almost two years to bring about the Terms of Trade, effectively persuading Parliament that the current model was unfair to producers and that a legislative intervention was needed. 

The Terms of Trade meant that for the first time, independent producers could: 

• retain the IP rights to their programmes, which allowed them to generate additional secondary revenue
• negotiate standard ‘terms of trade’ to apply consistently across the entire qualifying independent production sector
• set out the parameters for primary and secondary licences on commissioned content

Campaign
Impact

Since the introduction of the Terms of Trade, the UK independent production sector has transformed from a cottage industry into a multi-billion pound sector with hundreds of companies producing content and exporting their IP globally. 

UK PSBs have an obligation to use independent producers for at least a defined minimum volume of their annual commissioning activities. The PSB Indie Quota was set out in the 1990 Broadcasting Act, which introduced a 25% independent production quota for UK PSBs. This will now also be calculated into hours following the passing of the Media Act 2024, and Channel 4 will be subject to an increased quota of 35% if it chooses to go into production. As a result, when an independent production company is commissioned for PSB content, they concurrently receive Terms of Trade and control of their IP.

Terms of Trade also apply to those producers who are commissioned by PSBs to fulfil regional quotas. For regional production quotas Ofcom - the regulator - sets quotas that the UK PSBs must adhere to:**