How many people make up a public broadcast?

[anthonybartley]

On a random rabbit hole this morning, I was pondering how many people need to be present before something becomes a public broadcast?

I dug up an old Reddit thread about some radio agency in the (UK) midlands area that was going around businesses charging them £1000 for a license - if more than 5 people were listening to the radio in the workplace - link

If 20 people all work in the same office - and they all drive to work listening to the same radio station, why then do they have to pay £1000 to listen to the radio when they are together? Surely radio stations have always made their money through advertising - or is this actually a big earner for them, that we don't really talk about? I work from home now, but I have vivid memories of working in the offices, a snooker club and a few warehouses - and one staple of all of them was the usually very tinny sounding radio blaring away in the background.  

Does this same amount (5 people) also apply to television? - i.e. more than 5 people in the room means you need a more costly business license (or similar) ? Again, what happens if it's a big family? And if family is excluded, does it mean that moment a friend comes to visit, by law, the TV needs to be quickly turned off?

I know about the whole IPTV/Sports Streaming vs Pubs and bars debate - but I'm more curious to know what are the legalities for a home or work space? Does anyone here run a business and pay the extra license? Are these things actually enforced?

[John Green]

The only thing I can think of that's comparable, is when World Record Day was used as an excuse to release a few copies of music on discs, to retain (U.S.?) copyright on previously-unreleased tracks. There was a later ruling to the effect that issuing a few dozon copies of a song didn't constitute 'general release'. Something to that effect, anyway.

[tom rogers]

Perhaps the public broadcast term refers to where the funding for the service comes from and not the size of the audience.

Here is a bit if info from the government’s website about tv licenses and how it apparently works:

www.gov.uk/find-licences/tv-licence#:~:text=How%20much%20it%20costs,for%20both%20homes%20and%20businesses.

[anthonybartley]

"A TV Licence costs £169.50 (£57 for black and white TV sets)"

So the privilege of seeing in colour is exactly £112 (and fifty pence)

If God was a TV license officer, we'd probably be charged extra for looking at a rainbow.

But off-topic

I'm thinking of the concept of 'home cinema' - Let's say you set up a screen in your garden in the summer. If you and your family are sitting around watching then that's fine, clearly no harm done. However, what I'm trying to figure out, is how many friends would a person need to invite before it becomes an "event" requiring the permission of the copyright holder?

It's all a bit of nonsense, of course, but is there a specific number? For radio/workplace it's 15 people. I'm more curious about home TV or garden cinema scenarios. The BBC TV license doesn't appear to be that specific. And this isn't so much about a TV license, more the idea of projecting/screening something to x amount of people. 

I'm not about to do this either - it's just a personal curiosity. It was triggered by my nephew - We picked up a large TV recently and he commented that "we don't to go to the cinema anymore." Not true, of course, and no doubt motivated by the fact that everything looks 10x bigger when you're 11 years old. But it got me thinking about the increase in 'mini cinemas' (if you like) and how even the home screens are just getting bigger and bigger and cheaper and cheaper. Not so much an issue for now, but I can see this question popping up again in the not-too distant future.

A projected film in a well-sized cinema is about 200gb (usually less). We're already almost there in terms of Bluray 8K, UHD, etc consumer discs. Right now, people do have the means to project something (almost) that good at home - if they had a big enough screen. It also explains why the last two premieres I went to (Indiana Jones/Ghostbusters) were virtually empty, sadly, with so many empty seats.