Public Performance Licence for Showing Films: Country by Country

This guide is for venues that show films to an audience: independent cinemas, community cinemas, film societies, arts and cultural centres, libraries and pop-ups. Owning a disc or a streaming subscription gives you the right to watch a film at home. It does not give you the right to show it to the public. For that you need permission from whoever controls the film's rights in your country, and who that is, and what the permission allows, changes from one border to the next.

Below: the two routes to a legal screening, the licence types, who issues them in twelve markets, and what they let you do about tickets and advertising. Prices appear only where the licensor publishes them.

Two routes: booking a film or licensing a screening

A commercial cinema does not buy a separate performance licence. It books each title from the film's distributor for agreed dates and pays film rental, usually a share of the box office. The booking agreement is the permission. That chain is explained step by step in how movie theaters get movies.

Everyone else works in what the trade calls the non-theatrical market, and gets permission through one of two kinds of licence:

Licence	What it covers	Tickets and advertising
Single-title (per screening)	One named film, on a set date, at a set venue	Usually allowed on the commercial version: you can name the film publicly and sell tickets. The fee is often a minimum or a percentage of takings, whichever is greater.
Annual umbrella or blanket	Unlimited showings of a licensor's catalogue at one site for a year	Usually no admission charge and no public advertising of the title. Built for hotels, care homes, workplaces and similar.

The umbrella licence is the one that catches people out. MPLC's UK FAQ states the limits plainly: with its blanket licence you cannot charge an admission fee, and you cannot advertise a specific film beyond a closed group of patrons at the licensed premises. Anything more needs a single-title licence. MPLC renamed its "Umbrella Licence" the "Blanket Licence" in 2024; the two are the same thing. If you plan to put a film title on a poster or sell a ticket, budget for a single-title licence.

United States

The Copyright Act defines a public performance as one "at a place open to the public" or anywhere a substantial number of people outside a normal circle of family and friends is gathered (17 U.S.C. §101). The main exemption, §110(1), covers face-to-face teaching in a nonprofit educational institution's classroom. The charity exemption in §110(4) applies to nondramatic literary and musical works, not films, so a free or fundraising screening still needs a licence. Statutory damages run from $750 to $30,000 per work, and up to $150,000 for wilful infringement (§504).

• Swank Motion Pictures licenses single events and, for public libraries, an annual site licence. Its performing arts centre FAQ sets out the terms. If you charge admission, the fee is a flat rate or 50% of ticket sales, whichever is greater. Promotion on your premises, website, email, social media and direct mail is fine. A marquee, lit sign or billboard may not show the film's name, and radio, TV and newspaper advertising is not permitted. Licensing must be in place before you promote, and Swank asks for two weeks' notice, or three weeks if you need a DCP.
• Criterion Pictures USA licenses films for performing arts centres, outdoor cinemas, museums, parks and other non-theatrical venues.
• MPLC sells an annual blanket licence priced on locations and employees. It says charging admission or publicly promoting a specific title may require a different licence.

Canada

Criterion Pictures offers title-by-title bookings and annual licences, and says any public performance of a film needs the copyright owner's permission, whether or not admission is charged. You may charge admission, and pricing is then a minimum fee or a percentage of the box office, whichever is greater. On its annual licence, a 35% overage applies to ticket sales and cash donations, so you keep 65%.

Audio Ciné Films sells annual site licences and single-presentation licences. It publishes starting prices: CA$300 for a regular title and CA$450 for a pre-release, typically for events of 40 people or fewer. Fundraisers are allowed only if your agreement says so.

United Kingdom

Showing a film in public is an act restricted by copyright under section 19 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. GOV.UK names three licensing bodies, MPLC, Filmbankmedia and AVLA, and points to distributors for everything else.

• Filmbankmedia issues the Single Title Screening Licence (STSL) for film clubs, community cinemas, outdoor and pop-up events. Its Annual Screening Licence covers background or ambient showing. Filmbankmedia says that if you schedule a screening, advertise it or charge admission, you need the STSL.
• MPLC sells the annual blanket licence: no admission charge and no public promotion of titles. For anything else you need its Single Title Licence.
• Distributors directly for independent, foreign-language and repertory titles. Cinema For All, the national charity for community cinema, helps groups find out who holds a title.

Filmbankmedia's published STSL prices (excluding VAT):

Venue capacity	Non-ticketed	Ticketed
Indoor, 0–50	£89	£89 or 35% of box office, whichever is greater
Indoor, 51–100	£93	£93 or 35%
Indoor, 101–200	£97	£97 or 35%
Indoor, 201–300	£150	£150 or 35%
Outdoor, 0–200	£157	£157 or 40%
Outdoor, 201–300	£224	£224 or 40%

An indoor non-ticketed screening with external advertising costs an extra £50. Above 300 seats the price is on request. A free screening that collects donations counts as non-commercial only if your publicity says clearly that donating is optional. A new account needs a £150 deposit.

Cinema For All's starter guide distinguishes two kinds of single-title licence. The commercial licence lets you advertise publicly and sell tickets. The non-commercial licence is a flat fee, but you may only promote to members and cannot sell tickets. It puts typical costs at £97–£140 per film, sometimes as a minimum guarantee or 35% of the box office, whichever is greater.

The venue is a separate question. Under the Licensing Act 2003, screening a film is regulated entertainment, and GOV.UK stresses that this is entirely separate from copyright permission. Since April 2015 in England and Wales, no premises licence is needed for a not-for-profit screening in community premises between 08:00 and 23:00, provided the audience is no more than 500, the person responsible for the premises consents, and age ratings are followed. A charge that only covers costs is fine; raising money for charity counts as profit. Scotland requires a cinema licence under the Cinemas Act 1985, with an exemption route for not-for-profit groups. Northern Ireland usually needs a cinema licence from the council.

Ireland

Permission normally comes from the film's distributor. access>CINEMA, a network of more than 70 film clubs and venues, books films centrally for its members. It describes the same split as in the UK. A non-commercial single-title licence is a flat fee, for members only, with no ticket sales and no advertising outside the membership. A commercial single-title licence allows public advertising and ticket sales, priced as a minimum guarantee or a percentage of box office, whichever is greater. A charity screening still needs a licence. MPLC Ireland sells a blanket licence for showing films and TV in businesses.

Australia

Roadshow Public Performance Licensing issues a Single Title Screening Licence per film, for commercial (paid) or non-commercial screenings, and blanket or co-curricular annual licences. Its blanket schemes exclude screenings with an admission charge and screenings advertised to the general public. Its FAQ says advertising for a screening is subject to Roadshow's prior written approval. Amalgamated Movies is the sole Australian non-theatrical licensee for Sony Pictures, Madman Entertainment, Titan View, Limelight Films and Ronin Films, and lists film societies and movie clubs among its customers.

Germany

MPLC Deutschland offers two licences. The Jahreslizenz (annual) allows public showing with no reporting, but no advertising and no admission charge. The Einzellizenz covers one title and one screening. You report the title, date and venue, and in return you may advertise and charge admission. The fee depends on event size, how recent the title is and whether you charge, and studio approval can take up to 14 days. Filmbankmedia also licenses screenings in Germany. Cinemas book from the Verleih: see our German distributor list.

Norway, Denmark and Sweden

Norway: MPLC Norge sells an annual licence (Årslisens) and Title by Title licences. Unless agreed otherwise, a Title by Title screening may not charge admission, may not be advertised outside the venue (members can be told directly) and may not get press coverage. Its standard price from 1 January 2024 for up to 75 people is NOK 1,500 without marketing or NOK 2,500 with marketing, excluding VAT. MPLC says it can supply titles for advertised public screenings on request. Norwegian Film Lisens covers Nordisk Film and Sony Pictures titles.

Denmark: MPLC Danmark applies the same default rules, with Title by Title prices from DKK 825 excluding VAT. Open-air events and advertised public screenings are arranged on request.

Sweden: Swedish Film's annual licence covers closed screenings for a limited, predefined group. Every screening open to the public needs a separate permission that Swedish Film clears with the film company. As of October 2026, MPLC's Swedish site says "coming soon".

Netherlands

The government business portal points organisations to FilmService for films and Videma for TV. FilmService's Standaardlicentie does not allow you to announce the screening. Its Pluslicentie does let you announce film titles publicly in advance. Filmhuizen that programme regularly book from distributors: see our Dutch distributor list.

France

France regulates this through the CNC rather than leaving it to contract. Non-commercial screenings (séances non commerciales) can be free or paid. They fall outside the CNC box-office control, so there is no approved ticketing and no ticket tax (TSA). They cover occasional screenings by non-profit associations, plus ciné-clubs, cinémathèques, festivals and open-air shows not run by cinemas. The CNC says they should stay exceptional: regular programming is for an authorised cinema.

The rules bite on timing and promotion. Feature films can only be shown after a delay from their visa date. For a free screening, for example, the delay is one year. The distributor's publicity material for commercial release, posters included, may not be used. An announcement may name the title but must not take a commercial form. You still need the rights holder's permission for the film. SACEM licenses only the music, and the CNC says SACEM's authorisation never covers showing the film itself.

Spain

MPLC España offers a Licencia General: annual, no reporting, but no admission charge and no advertising of the title. Its Licencia Título a Título covers a single event, such as a festival, an open-air screening or one film in a public place, and allows advertising and ticket sales. You supply the title, date, venue, expected audience and ticket price. MPLC lists cultural associations and cineclubs among its clients. Filmbankmedia also operates in Spain.

Music: the licence people forget

A film licence covers the film. Music played in your foyer, before the show or at a live event needs its own licence, and in some countries so does the music inside the film.

• UK: PPL PRS issues TheMusicLicence. For venues screening at least three days a week for four months a year, PRS Tariff C covers music in films, intermission, play-in and play-out music. Other screeners are licensed under other tariffs. Bars and cafés are charged separately. In October 2026 the Copyright Tribunal approved PRS's move to a cinema tariff based solely on admissions; final terms were still being settled. MPLC's UK FAQ also makes the reverse point: a music licence does not cover showing films.
• US: background or live music needs licences from performing rights organisations such as BMI and ASCAP, and BMI notes that a licence from one does not cover another's catalogue.
• Germany: GEMA licenses music in film screenings under Tarif T (single screenings) and T-R (regular screenings).
• France: contact SACEM before the screening.
• Ireland: IMRO and PPI license public music use.

Checklist before you announce a screening

1. Decide what you are: a cinema booking titles, or a non-theatrical screener. In France that choice has legal consequences.
2. Find who holds the non-theatrical rights for that title in your country: an agency (Swank, Criterion, MPLC, Filmbankmedia, Roadshow and others) or the distributor.
3. Pick the licence for how you will run the night. If the title goes on a public poster or you sell tickets, you need a single-title or commercial licence, not an umbrella.
4. Get the licence in writing before any promotion. Swank and Cinema For All both say this explicitly.
5. Check the advertising terms: which channels you may use, and whether the title may appear on outdoor signs.
6. Check the venue: premises or cinema licence, capacity, and age classification.
7. Add music licences for anything played outside the film.
8. Record attendance and takings, because percentage deals are invoiced on your box-office return.
9. Use a legal copy in a format the licensor approves (disc, file or DCP) and test it end to end.

When to talk to a distributor instead

Agencies are built for occasional screenings of catalogue titles. Go to the distributor when you want new releases on or near opening, a regular weekly programme, DCP delivery with keys, or independent and foreign-language films the agencies do not carry. At that point you are booking like a cinema, on film rental terms. Our directory of film distributors by country lists who to call, and the public performance licence glossary entry has the short version of this page.

Once the licences are sorted, what fills the room is a screening people can find and book: listed on your website, with tickets on sale online. That is the part Filmgrail handles.