Video and Broadcast Recordings
Guidelines for Off-Air Recordings of Broadcast Programming for Educational Purpose
The following excepts are reprinted from the Circular 21: Reproduction of Copyrighted Works by Educators and Librarians (Section F, Page 22).
The purpose of establishing
these guidelines is to provide standards for both owners
and users of copyrighted television programs.
- The guidelines were developed to apply only to off air
recording by non-profit educational institutions.
- A broadcast program may be recorded off-air simultaneously
with broadcast transmission (including simultaneous
cable transmission) and retained by a non-profit educational
institution for a period not to exceed the first
forty-five (45) consecutive calendar days after date of recording.
Upon conclusion of such retention period, all off air
recordings must be erased or destroyed immediately.
Definition: “Broadcast programs” are television programs transmitted
by television stations for reception by the general public
without charge.
- Off-air recordings may be used once by individual
teachers in the course of relevant teaching activities, and
repeated once only when instructional reinforcement is
necessary, in classrooms and similar places devoted to instruction
within a single building, cluster, or campus, as
well as in the homes of students receiving formalized home
instruction, during the first ten (10) consecutive school
days in the forty-five (45) day calendar day retention period.
Definition:
“School days” are school session days—not counting
weekends, holidays, vacations, examination periods, or
other scheduled interruptions—within the forty-five (45)
calendar day retention period.
- Off-air recordings may be made only at the request
of, and used by, individual teachers, and may not be regularly
recorded in anticipation of requests. No broadcast
program may be recorded off-air more than once at the request
of the same teacher, regardless of the number of
times the program may be broadcast.
- A limited number of copies may be reproduced from
each off-air recording to meet the legitimate needs of
teachers under these guidelines. Each such additional copy
shall be subject to all provisions governing the original recording.
- After the first ten (10) consecutive school days, off air
recording may be used up to the end of the forty-five
(45) calendar day retention period only for teacher evaluation
purposes, i.e., to determine whether or not to include
the broadcast program in the teaching curriculum, and may
not be used in the recording institution for student exhibition
or any other non-evaluation purpose without authorization.
- Off-air recordings need not be used in their entirety,
but the recorded programs may not be altered from their
original content. Off-air recordings may not be physically
or electronically combined or merged to constitute teaching
anthologies or compilations.
- All copies of off-air recordings must include the copyright
notice on the broadcast program as recorded.
- Educational institutions are expected to establish
appropriate control procedures to maintain the integrity of
these guidelines.
