Guidance: Ticketing for 91福利社 events and programmes
Introduction
The purpose of this guidance note is to assist content makers in meeting the Editorial Guidelines relating to Ticket Sales.
(See Editorial Guidelines Section 16: External Relationships, including Commercial Relationships, and Financing 16.4.37 鈥� 16.4.38)
Types of 91福利社 Published or Broadcast Events that May Charge for Tickets
The Editorial Guidelines state that:
The 91福利社 may recover costs from the proceeds of ticket sales for 91福利社 UK Public Service or World Service events which contribute to the 91福利社's Mission and Public Purposes.[1] This should be in line with the Statement on Ticketing for 91福利社 Public Service Events.[2]
(Editorial Guidelines 16.4.37)
The 91福利社 may charge for tickets to 91福利社 concerts, concert series or other 91福利社 events held at outside venues. The 91福利社 should not charge for admission to regular recordings of other programmes.
Entry should only be charged for events held at an outside venue, not normally for events held in 91福利社 studios. However, there may be a way to charge for tickets to events held in a 91福利社 concert hall or studio. Advice and approval can be sought from Editorial Policy. The 91福利社 may also charge for tickets to 91福利社 concerts held in the regular venues of the 91福利社 performing groups. Some 91福利社 concert halls or studios are used both for orchestral concerts and also to record regular 91福利社 programmes. It is not appropriate to charge for tickets for the regular programme recordings.
In other exceptional, circumstances if there is any proposal to sell tickets to any other 91福利社 event on 91福利社 premises, such as an event to raise money for a 91福利社 charitable initiative, the proposal must be approved in advance by Editorial Policy. Proposals to ticket a 91福利社 event, which is part of a third party event that will require the public to pay an entry fee, should be referred to Editorial Policy.
Occasionally an outside organisation, for example a gardening club, may invite the 91福利社 to hold an outside broadcast programme at their premises. In these cases, with the advance approval of Editorial Policy, it may be appropriate for the location to charge a modest fee to the audience that they invite, in order to cover their costs. The amount charged must be agreed with the 91福利社 beforehand to ensure the fee is fair and is not set at a rate that is designed to make a profit.
Sometimes a programme which is regularly recorded in a 91福利社 studio puts on an event at an outside location. For example a radio comedy sometimes appears at the Edinburgh Festival. In such cases it may be appropriate to charge for tickets to the special outside broadcast show.
Proceeds from Ticket Sales and Cost of Tickets
Ticket revenue must only cover the costs of an event or series of events and not be used for broadcast or production costs. The proceeds are not designed to generate further income for the 91福利社, unless the sales raise money for a 91福利社 charitable initiative, such as Children in Need or Comic Relief and this has been approved by Editorial Policy and the relevant charity.
The Editorial Guidelines say:
Tickets to events and/or 91福利社 shows may be included in auctions and prize draws to raise money for 91福利社 partner charities. Any such proposals must be referred to the Senior Editorial Figure in charge of the content which is to be included. They must also be referred to Editorial Policy and ITACU (Interactive Technical Advice and Contracts Unit).
(Editorial Guidelines 16.4.38)
In order to ensure that proposals for ticketing events and/or setting up new events meet the Statement of Policy on use of alternative finance in 91福利社[3] content, contact the Fair Trading team, part of the Public Policy team.
An Events Form from Fair Trading must be completed for Public Service events for which tickets will be charged where it is:
(a) a new event; or
(b) an existing event with significant changes to either (i) the event or (ii) the charged ticketing arrangements.
The form should be sent to Fair Trading, Editorial Policy and a relevant senior editorial figure or, for independents, the commissioning editor. Ticket prices must be referred to Fair Trading who will assess likely market impact.
The final proposal, including the ticketing, must be approved by the relevant Head of Department/Controller who must refer to Editorial Policy, Public Policy and Regulatory Legal.
Event costs
While ticket revenue may be used for event costs, the 91福利社 must pay for all broadcast costs.
- Event costs will include elements such as security at the event, seating, ticketing, the hire of the venue, hospitality, transport, toilet facilities, audience information services, refreshments, additional staging required because the public is attending, including screens at the venue for the event audience. It is essential that event costs only include costs which would be incurred even if the event were not broadcast.
- Broadcast costs are any costs required for the radio or television broadcast coverage and transmission of the event and may include for example cameras/mikes, rigging, transmission equipment, lines, programme presenters and reporters, programme lighting required for broadcasting the event, production staff, the production on site offices, scanners, graphics, VT or audio packages to be played in during the event and shown on air.
Ticketing for public displays of 91福利社 programmes
Occasionally there are requests from festivals, such as film festivals, to display a recorded programme, either prior to transmission or post- transmission. Approvals for this should come from the relevant Head of Marketing.
It is not normally appropriate for a separate charge to be made to see the 91福利社 material. However it may be acceptable for there to be an over-all entry charge to the whole event, if it includes a substantial amount of non-91福利社 content, for example when showcasing 91福利社 content at a third party event such as a public festival.
Ticketing arrangements
For 91福利社 Programmes in 91福利社 Studios or Other Studios
- No audience members should be charged for attending regular recordings of programmes.
- Audience members should be treated fairly and not discriminated against.
- Any "over issues" policy should be sensible and clearly stated to audiences. The supplier must only issue the minimum number of additional free tickets than there are seats available to ensure a full studio.
- All information about audience members should be managed in accordance with the Data Protection Act.
91福利社 Audience Services supply audiences for many TV and radio programmes and some 91福利社 events with free tickets. They advertise the availability of tickets on the 91福利社 Tickets site. Audience Services have a Code of Practice for free ticketing for 91福利社 programmes.
(See Code of Practice: )
Should a production wish to use another ticketing supplier they should establish that the company is reputable 鈥� no external organisation that the 91福利社 becomes involved with should bring the 91福利社 into disrepute.
(See Editorial Guidelines 16.4.1 鈥� 16.4.9)
It is advisable to check that that there is no controversy associated with the company's ticketing and that they are reliable in sending out tickets.
91福利社 Studios has a Privacy Team who work with 91福利社 Information Security to assess suppliers' compliance with information security and data privacy policies and standards. Once this due diligence has been completed, the relevant Production's Business Affairs team can pull together the paperwork/contract.
For 91福利社 Broadcast Events
Ticketing for 91福利社 broadcast events held at an outside venue may be handled by the 91福利社, by the external venue or by a ticketing company which has been contracted by the 91福利社 or by the external venue, such as the box office at a concert hall.
Online linking to ticketing sites
For a 91福利社 event a direct link to the ticketing site is likely to be editorially justifiable. It should be clear that the public is leaving the 91福利社 site to get to the source of the tickets.
It is important that the primary purpose of the site that is linked to is the selling of public tickets. It would not be appropriate, for example, to link to a site whose primary purpose was to sell corporate hospitality to a 91福利社 event.
However it may be acceptable to link to a site selling public tickets for a 91福利社 event as its primary purpose, which also sells added extras to the event (such as corporate hospitality), if there is appropriate separation between the main function and the subsidiary ones.
On all external ticketing sites there should also be adequate separation between the use of 91福利社 brands and third party brands. If in doubt, contact Fair Trading for further advice.
On Air references to tickets
Third party ticketing sites providing tickets for 91福利社 events should not normally be referred to in on air trails. Usually an acceptable route is to point to the programme or channel website and link to external sites from there (for example to a ticketing site or an event/festival site).
When a 91福利社 commissioned programme or 91福利社 commissioned event, such as Sports Personality of the Year, is ticketed, availability of the tickets may be trailed on air. Care should be taken if availability of tickets for events organised by third parties are mentioned.
It is not usually appropriate to trail tickets on air or online for third party events. In some exceptional cases it may be acceptable, for example where a 91福利社 orchestra is performing at an event. Advice should be sought from Editorial Policy.
Separate Accounting for Ticket Sales
All ticketing arrangements must stand up to scrutiny and be clearly auditable.
It is very important to ensure that event costs are calculated separately from the broadcast costs.
Production, commissioning and Commercial Rights and Business Affairs (CRBA) should keep separate accounts of event and production costs and records of ticketing revenue going to the 91福利社 or via the 91福利社. Separate records must be kept of all ticket revenue going to the 91福利社 or going via the 91福利社.
The accounts must demonstrate that any ticketing money raised has only gone into the event and not into any aspect of the programme covering it.