You will need a licence to exhibit a film (or a similar display of moving pictures) in front of an audience, which is intended to entertain that audience.
However, no licence will be required if the film is part of an exhibit in an art gallery or museum, nor for films which demonstrate or advertise products, nor for educational or instructional films.
Films can be shown at non-profit events in community premises (church/chapel halls, village/parish halls, community halls, etc) without a licence, provided that the event has been given permission by the premises management committee, the showing is between 8am and 11pm, and no more than 500 people are present at the time.
You do not need a licence to show a film incidentally to some other activity which does not itself require a licence.
In all cases, admission of children to films must be restricted in accordance with the rating certificate issued by the British Board of Film Classification (BBFC), or any age restriction that we have placed on a particular film.
If you are showing a copyrighted film in public, you will need the permission of the copyright holder and distributor, in addition to any licence from us.
You do not need a licence from us to show television programmes, provided they are shown at the time of broadcast. However, recording programmes and playing them back later is licensable. To show or record any television programmes, you will need a TV licence for your premises, and for pay-TV channels a commercial contract with the broadcaster.