Journey
Set up a broadcasting business
Learning path for new broadcasters — television, radio, community radio, on-demand programme services and transmission providers. Work out which rules apply, put a safe broadcasting operation and your employment duties in place, get your Ofcom licences and meet the Broadcasting Code and PECR duties, and verify everything with a compliance checklist.
What this journey is for
Setting up a broadcasting business means running studios, control rooms, outside broadcast locations and transmission sites, with all the workplace health and safety duties that come with them. On top of that, Ofcom — the UK-wide communications regulator — licenses every television and radio service, registers on-demand programme services, licenses spectrum use, and enforces the Broadcasting Code. This journey walks you through that path in the order you will live it, from working out which rules apply through to checking you have everything in place.
It does not give you the step-by-step instructions or the figures — those live in the guides it points to. This is the map: it tells you where you are, why each stage matters, and which guide to open next.
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Work out which regulations apply to you
Start by getting the picture right. Every broadcasting operation shares a workplace-safety foundation, and Ofcom licensing and content-standards duties apply to every television and radio service. But the exact licences depend on what you provide — a television channel, a radio station, a community radio service, an on-demand programme service, or transmission infrastructure. Working this out first tells you which Ofcom applications to make before you go live. Use the router guide to find your route.
Which broadcasting regulations apply to your business
Work out which rules apply. A reference guide that routes you from the shared workplace-safety foundation to the right path — the safe-operation spine and the Ofcom licences and content-standards duties.
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Put your safe-broadcasting-operation and employment foundations in place
Whatever you broadcast, this is the universal spine. Risk-assess your studios, rigging, electrical equipment and outside broadcast locations, carry out your fire risk assessment, hold employers' liability insurance, and meet your equality and data protection duties. Build this in from the start rather than retrofitting it.
Set up and run a safe broadcasting operation
The duties every broadcasting operation shares — general health and safety, fire safety, employers' liability insurance, equality and data protection.
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Get your Ofcom licences and meet your content-standards duties
Ofcom is the single UK-wide regulator for broadcasting. You need the right licence before you go live — a TLCS licence for television, a sound broadcasting licence for radio, a community radio licence if you are not-for-profit, or an ODPS notification for on-demand services — and you need a Wireless Telegraphy Act spectrum licence if you operate transmission equipment. All licensed broadcasters must comply with the Ofcom Broadcasting Code, and your audience marketing and website cookies must comply with PECR. Settle these before you launch.
Get your broadcasting licences and meet Ofcom duties
Television and radio licences, community radio licensing, spectrum licences, ODPS notification, Broadcasting Code compliance, and PECR privacy rules for audience marketing and cookies.
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Verify you have covered everything
Once the moving parts are in motion, take a step back and check the whole picture holds together. A compliance checklist lets you confirm, in one place, that each obligation — workplace, employment, Ofcom licensing and content standards — is genuinely met rather than assumed. Use it as your readiness review, and come back to it when you change services, premises or technology.
Broadcasting business: compliance checklist
Verify you have covered everything — the universal workplace and employment duties, and the Ofcom licensing, Broadcasting Code and PECR duties.
You will also need the general business set-up duties
Alongside the sector-specific path above, every business carries general obligations that are not unique to broadcasting but are just as compulsory. As you build the business you will also need to:
- protect the people who work for you — meet your workplace health and safety duties, including risk assessments for studios, rigging, electrical equipment and outside broadcast locations.
- hold employers' liability insurance once you take anyone on.
- handle personal data lawfully — most businesses must complete data protection registration with the ICO, which matters wherever you process personal data about staff, contributors, competition entrants and audiences.
- meet your fire safety duties for the premises you work from.
These general duties run in parallel with the sector path rather than after it, so set them up as you establish the business. The safe-broadcasting-operation spine and the compliance checklist bring the core duties together so you can confirm they are covered.
Where this leaves you
You now have the shape of the whole task: work out which rules apply, put a safe broadcasting operation and your employment duties in place, get your Ofcom licences and meet the Broadcasting Code and PECR duties, and verify the lot. Work the guides in order and you will have a clear, defensible position from your first broadcast onwards.