Information for producers and broadcasters: reporting sales and commercial fees

Directors UK has an agreement in place with the UK broadcasters, Pact and TAC which impacts all production companies making shows commissioned (in whole or in part) by the following broadcasters: BBC, ITV, Channel 4, 5, S4C and Sky.

Under the agreement there are two things that producers may be required to do:

1. Pay a commercial fee
2. Report sales information annually to Directors UK

Commercial fees

What is the Directors UK commercial fee?

The commercial fee (sometimes known as a recharge or levy) is a payment due to Directors UK to compensate directors for the sales of their works.

Commercial fees apply to any programme commissioned (in whole or in part) by the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, 5, S4C or Sky UK for either their main or subsidiary channels or platforms (e.g. BBC4 or ITV3).

What producers need to do

Any production company making a programme for any of the above broadcasters is responsible for paying the fee, which is collected and administered by the commissioning UK broadcaster, who then passes it to Directors UK.

The amount due for a commercial fee will be based on a number of factors including the genre of the work.

The UK commissioning broadcaster will tell all producers:

• whether a fee is due
• how much it is and how to pay it
• and provide the current commercial fee rates.

Some genres do not require a commercial fee.

Please speak to the relevant broadcaster if you have any questions about the commercial fees or how much you should pay.

Exempt programmes

Individual programmes may also be exempt from paying the fee if they meet certain conditions, such as:

• being made by a small independent company with no prospect of secondary use, or
• being made in the nations and regions using employee directors,
• and meeting specific genre/length criteria.

If you are unsure of whether or not your work is eligible for exemption, please contact the commissioning broadcaster at the point of commission of that work. They will advise you of the process to follow in order to get exemption approval. This includes completing and submitting a form which is then sent to the broadcaster, Directors UK and Pact for approval.

Exemptions must be approved at the point of commission and cannot be applied retrospectively.

Reporting requirements

If you are a producer that has made works for the above broadcasters that have had domestic and/or international sales and/or media sales (e.g. DVD/Blu-ray/DTO), then you are obliged to report certain information to us as per the terms of the Directors UK Rights agreement and/or your commissioning agreement with the broadcasters.

Directors UK needs this information on sales in order to accurately distribute payments to our members for the secondary uses of their work.

What should be reported

Producers must report domestic and international sales and/or media sales for eligible programmes they produce, where not already reported to Directors UK by a distributor.

Eligible programmes are those commissioned (in whole or in part) by the main UK broadcasters – BBC, ITV, Channel 4, 5, S4C or Sky and made after 1 July 2001 under freelance contracts. It does not include feature films, sporting events and news.

Sales should be reported annually covering the reporting period of 1 July to 30 June each year.

The report should list all of the eligible titles sold within the reporting period together with key information about the sale(s). See below for further details.

When should it be reported

Reports are due by 30 September following the end of the reporting year.

For example, the reports due on 30 September 2026 should cover sales made within the reporting period 1 July 2025 – 30 June 2026.

How to submit reports

Reports should be submitted by email to [email protected].

Templates are available for DVD sales and television sales reporting.

Our Guide to reporting sales can be found here.

Please supply the report as an Excel spreadsheet or in a format that can be easily converted to work in Excel.

Reports should be submitted annually by 30th September of each year.

Please contact [email protected] if you have any questions.