FAQ

For the public performance of programmes broadcast on Finnish free-to-air television channels.

Agreements on the public performance of television programmes should have been made with audiovisual copyright holders for some time, but in practice this has been impossible until now.

Customers often find it more pleasant when they have the opportunity to watch television during their visits. With a public TV licence, TV programme creators and production companies receive the compensation they are entitled to for the public performance of their work.

With a public TV licence, you may show both domestic and foreign programmes broadcast on Finnish free-to-air TV channels in your public premises.

With a public TV licence, you can handle all your licensing needs related to television programme creators and producers under a single agreement. This makes distributing compensation to TV programme creators simple, easy and responsible.

In addition to the direct benefits, the licence also offers indirect benefits: showing TV programmes in customer premises, such as waiting rooms in hospitals, medical centres, repair shops and similar locations, as well as in hotels, is often very important to customers.

The licence is in use in many countries, such as the United Kingdom, Norway, Denmark and several other EU countries.

APFI and Kopiosto – the copyright organisations behind the licence – have a legal right, based on the authorisations they have received from creators and production companies, to collect this compensation if or when TV programmes are shown in public.

If works are used without permission, the copyright holders are also entitled to claim compensation for the unauthorised use.

The compensation is distributed to the creators and production companies of TV programmes through APFI and Kopiosto.

APFI and Kopiosto are authorised by the creators of television programmes and production companies to grant licences for the public performance of television programmes. For this reason, it is practically impossible to obtain a licence from anywhere else.

The basic rule is that a public TV licence based on the Copyright Act must be obtained before TV programmes are shown publicly.

However, we understand that not everyone has been informed yet about the requirement to obtain this licence. We are working on the assumption that anyone who needs a licence will acquire one over the course of 2026 at the latest.

Although our licence broadly covers the key copyright holders, there may be exceptional cases where it does not cover a specific programme. For example, a broadcasting company may have acquired the public performance rights to a programme, after which it sells separate performance licences directly to customers. These situations can arise when there are major sporting events, for example – but even then, they are usually broadcast on pay-TV channels.

The public TV licence applies to all programmes produced by the domestic and foreign creators and production companies we represent on Finnish free-to-air TV channels.TV programmes may also be shown publicly as simultaneous live broadcasts via the broadcasters’ streaming services, provided that the terms of use of the streaming service allow this.

Showing programmes from recordings is not permitted. This applies to both recorded TV broadcasts and recorded programmes available on streaming services. The public TV licence also does not entitle you to show television programmes from paid streaming services.

A list of Finnish free-to-air TV channels is available on the Digita website.

The public TV licence covers only the permission of TV programme creators and production companies for public performance. You must obtain separate licences from the copyright holders of the music in TV programmes through GT Musiikkiluvat Oy.

GT Musiikkiluvat

APFI and Kopiosto together represent the vast majority of the creators and production companies of TV programmes broadcast to the public.

This means that a small number of creators remain outside the copyright holders we represent; in some cases, these creators may have the right to prohibit the public performance of a particular programme or demand separate compensation for it.

Examples of these individual cases include major sporting events for which licences may be sold separately. For example, this was the case with the Milano Cortina Winter Olympics.

The Yle tax is paid to ensure that Finland has independent public media accessible to everyone. The Yle tax does not entitle you to show TV programmes in public spaces.

If you want to show TV programmes in public spaces, you need a public TV licence.

Sections 1 and 2 (economic rights) of the Copyright Act.

Generally speaking, a public performance is defined as the presentation of works at an event that is open to the public and where the participants have not been individually selected in advance. It does not matter how many people are in attendance or whether the event is free or subject to a fee.

If the occasion or space where the TV programme is publicly shown has a predetermined number of participants, the determination of whether it constitutes a public performance must be based on the size of the audience or whether the programme is shown for purposes of gain.

The showing of TV programmes is considered a public performance when they are shown to a large closed circle for purposes of gain. Such occasions include events organised by companies for a select group of customers, for example.

In addition to this, the showing of TV programmes to a closed circle of more than 25 people for purposes of gain is considered a public performance. Examples of these types of closed circles include situations where TV programmes are shown to employees at the workplace, in the workplace canteen, at company parties or in other similar spaces or events.

The Copyright Act does not directly define what constitutes a public performance, so the boundaries have largely been established through case law.

Your licence covers pay channels. If you also show freely available, free-to-air basic channels on your company’s premises, you need a public TV licence as well.

If your operations are suspended for an extended period, such as during the winter or summer, you will only be charged for the months during which you were active. When purchasing the licence, you must specify the months during which you will be operating.

Public spaces include customer waiting rooms, restaurants, gyms, libraries and other similar spaces open to the public. The key point is that you, as the business owner, cannot decide who uses the premises; in other words, the audience is not predetermined.

The number of people in the space at any given time is not a decisive factor in and of itself. According to a decision of the Supreme Court (KKO 2002:20), when an apartment hotel offered its guests the opportunity to watch television broadcasts on the televisions in their rooms, the practice was deemed to constitute a public performance.

A licence is required for premises to which your customers have free access. The waiting room is a public space in the sense that anyone can enter it.

Public spaces include customer waiting rooms, restaurants, gyms, libraries and other similar spaces open to the public. The key point is that the business owner cannot decide who uses the premises; in other words, the audience is not predetermined.

It is also considered a public performance if television programmes are shown to a comparatively large closed circle for purposes of gain, such as on the company’s staff premises or at company events. A group of more than 25 people has been considered a comparatively large closed circle. This means that if the company has more than 25 employees, it must obtain a licence for a television set located in the staff premises, even if not all employees are gathered around the television at the same time.