Copyright Act 1994

Acts permitted in relation to copyright works - Communication works

88: Reception and retransmission of broadcast in cable programme service

You could also call this:

"Receiving and sending on TV shows and radio programmes through cable without breaking copyright rules"

You can receive and retransmit a broadcast in a cable programme service without infringing copyright. This applies if the broadcast is made for reception in the same area as the cable programme service. It also applies if the broadcast is not a satellite transmission or an encrypted transmission. You do not infringe copyright in any work included in the broadcast if it is made for reception in the same area. If the original broadcast infringed copyright, the fact that it was retransmitted will be considered when deciding damages. This rule does not apply if you know that licences are available for the reception and retransmission of the broadcast. For this section, some old rules still apply, including those about what a broadcast is, as defined in the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008.

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View the original legislation for this page at https://legislation.govt.nz/act/public/1986/0120/latest/link.aspx?id=DLM346234.

This page was last updated on 3 December 2025 — View changes

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87B: Assessment of damages for infringement of copyright in sound recording or film, or

"Getting paid back for copyright breaches of music or movies"

89: Provision of subtitled copies of communication work, or

"Getting subtitled copies of shows and movies if you're deaf or hard of hearing"

Part 3Acts permitted in relation to copyright works
Communication works

88Reception and retransmission of broadcast in cable programme service

This section applies where a broadcast made from a place in New Zealand is, by reception and immediate retransmission, included in a cable programme service.
Where this section applies,—
copyright in the broadcast is not infringed if and to the extent that the broadcast—
1. is made for reception in the area in which the cable programme service is provided; and
2. is not a satellite transmission or an encrypted transmission:
copyright in any work included in the broadcast is not infringed if and to the extent that the broadcast is made for reception in the area in which the cable programme service is provided:
where the making of the broadcast was an infringement of the copyright in any work included in the broadcast, the fact that the broadcast was retransmitted as a programme in a cable programme service shall be taken into account in assessing the damages for that infringement.

This section does not apply if or to the extent that licences authorising the reception and immediate retransmission of a broadcast and any work included in the broadcast are available to the person providing the cable programme service under a licensing scheme and the person providing the cable programme service knew that fact.
For the purposes of this section only,—
sections 3 and 4 of this Act before repeal by the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008 continue to apply as if they had not been repealed and as if references in those provisions to this Act were references to this section; and
the definition of broadcast in section 2(1) of this Act before repeal by the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008 continues to apply as if that definition had not been repealed.

Compare

1962 No 33 s 60

Notes

Section 88(4): added, on 31 October 2008, by section 49 of the Copyright (New Technologies) Amendment Act 2008 (2008 No 27).