The DUK Distribution Committee of 14 director members along with DUK’S Head of Distribution Sim Cammarota was established in 2001, under the former DPRS, to oversee the management and administration of payments due to directors for the secondary exploitation of their works.  

In tandem with this, the committee has a key role in discussing, deliberating and reporting to the board on UK and international rights issues and all matters relating to uk and foreign collections.

The Committee currently oversees the administration of payments from four main sources:

• payments due under agreements with foreign collecting societies
• payments due under the ongoing UK Rights Agreement from 2001
• payments for the educational recording of a work (through ERA)
• payments due under an agreement with the BBC for the administration of the old residual payment system

One of the main tasks of the Committee is to oversee the management and evolution of a distribution system for monies due to UK directors from payments made under the UK Rights Agreement with the major UK Broadcasters.

This agreement is now in its third term.  The first two terms were 5 years, (2001/2005 & 2006/2011), whilst the recently negotiated third term is set for three years to 2014, enabling a sooner re-negotiation in a rapidly evolving landscape of TV and new media rights.

The key principle that the distribution scheme is built on is to reward the commercial success of a director’s work in secondary markets.  As new markets, new rights and new means of exploiting works are changing and evolving each year, the scheme is designed to be consistently under review.  It is the task of the DC to consider and with Board approval, apply modifications to the scheme in order to maintain the “best fit” of that fundamental principle of commercial success.

The DC is currently looking at ways to better quantify the value of works and their place in an ever-growing range of schedules and platforms.

From modest beginnings, DUK will distribute £20.5 million, under the newly negotiated UK Rights Agreement, to its members over the next three years to 2014. In addition to this, payments due under agreements with foreign collecting societies have doubled over the last five years.

Further details on the role of the Committee and our Rules of Distribution can be found in the Distribution section of the Directors UK website.


Peter Nicholson