New Hotel Licence Tariff for PPL
There is a new PPL licence that applies to hotels. The agreement follows decisions in the European Court in 2009 that hotels should pay fees for copyright material appearing on TVs in bedrooms. The new tariff licenses the supply of recorded music to hotel bedrooms, either through an internal relay system or by providing guests the equipment to play recorded music. If you supply recorded music to your hotel bedrooms you will need to be licensed from 1 January 2013 however, in order to ease the administrative burden for hotels, PPL will arrange the necessary licence(s) on renewal of your existing licence(s)
FAQ’s on New Hotel Tariff
What does the new tariff cover?
The tariff licenses the supply of recorded music to hotel bedrooms. This will occur in one of two ways: If you use an internal relay system to transmit television and/or radio services to guest bedrooms this will require a licence from PPL from 1 January 2013. If you provide both the equipment in hotel bedrooms for the playing of sound recordings and the actual sound recordings (for example both a CD player and CD's for guests) this will require a licence from PPL from 1 January 2013.
What do you mean by an internal relay system?
Most modern hotels use a relay system to transmit television and radio signals to hotel bedrooms. The television/radio signal is delivered through an antenna or satellite dish to a central point in the hotel and from this point is transmitted onwards to the various bedrooms. The system is often known as a Satellite Master Antenna System (SMATV) and commonly known brands include Comm1000 and Codeplus. These systems may just provide satellite television and radio channels but may include additional services such as movies on demand through companies such as Quadriga and Orbiss.
How do I get a licence?
If you are an existing customer PPL will license you for the supply of music to hotel bedrooms when you renew your existing licence. The fees will be charged from 1 January 2013. For example if your existing licence expires on 1 May, at renewal as well as renewing your existing licence you will, if applicable, be licensed for the supply of music to hotel bedrooms for the period 1 January 2013 to 30 April 2013 and then for the year going forward from 1 May 2013.
What is the surcharge?
Where a business has used PPL’s sound recordings without having first obtained or renewed a licence the fees due may be subject to a 50% surcharge. This is designed to act as a deterrent to the unlicensed use of sound recordings, and to compensate PPL for the considerable administrative effort expended in detecting and taking action in respect of these infringements of copyright. As PPL has not previously licensed the supply of recorded music to hotel bedrooms it will not apply the surcharge for usage under this tariff in 2013 providing that any fees due are paid by 1 January 2014.
How much are the fees?
For 2013 the fees are £46.92 plus VAT per 15 bedrooms (or part thereof) .