Non-exclusive VOD licensing checklist for African Christian producers

A practical checklist for producers preparing a streaming distribution deal: rights, territories, AVOD/TVOD/SVOD, masters, reporting, marketing and revenue share.

A non-exclusive streaming licence can help an independent Christian producer reach new audiences without giving up every other distribution opportunity. It can also create confusion if the agreement simply says “you may stream my film” without defining what streaming actually means. The first item to establish is the identity of the rights holder. The producer signing the agreement should own or control the rights being granted. If a ministry, church, production company and director all participated in the project, the distributor needs to know who has authority to sign. A clean chain of title is more valuable than a long contract filled with undefined promises. The second item is the list of works. A catalogue licence should identify the titles included, preferably in a schedule that can be updated by mutual agreement. A distributor should not assume that a licence covering one film also covers every future production from the same studio. Third comes territory. “Worldwide” is convenient but not always available. A producer may already have an agreement in Nigeria, France or the United States. Another distributor may control airlines, television or theatrical rights while digital rights remain available. CUTV can work with a limited region if the agreement describes it clearly. The fourth item is language. Distribution may require English, French or local-language subtitles and dubbed tracks. The contract should state which versions CUTV may use and whether CUTV may create translations or must receive approved language assets from the producer. Fifth, define the business model. AVOD means the viewer watches free while advertising or sponsorship supports the service. TVOD means a rental or purchase transaction. SVOD means subscription access. These rights should not be bundled automatically. A producer may approve AVOD but refuse permanent digital purchase, or allow TVOD for a new release before moving the title into subscription. Sixth, state the viewing window. A TVOD rental might provide 48 hours after first playback. A subscription title may remain available throughout the term. A permanent purchase entitlement may continue after the distribution agreement expires, depending on the contract. These details affect both the platform architecture and the consumer promise. Seventh, address offline viewing. Downloading a protected copy for offline playback is a separate technical use. The producer should explicitly allow or prohibit it. The agreement may also limit the number of devices or the duration of an offline licence. Eighth, discuss public and church screenings. Christian films are often shown in churches, youth groups and conferences. Consumer streaming rights do not automatically include public exhibition. If CUTV later offers a church package, the rights for communal projection should be written separately. Ninth, prepare the delivery materials. A clean master, poster, landscape artwork, subtitles, trailer, still photographs, synopsis, cast information and release year reduce launch delays. The producer should also confirm that CUTV may use promotional materials in social media, email, WhatsApp campaigns and paid advertising. Tenth, define the revenue base before negotiating the percentage. A “60/40 split” is incomplete unless both sides know whether the calculation uses gross receipts or defined net revenue. Payment-provider fees, taxes, refunds, chargebacks and certain direct transaction costs may need to be deducted before the split. The agreement should say exactly what is deductible. Eleventh, set the reporting cadence. Monthly or quarterly statements should show the title, territory, transaction type, gross receipts, defined deductions, net revenue and the producer’s share. The producer should know when payments are due and what minimum payout threshold, if any, applies. Twelfth, cover advertising rules. An AVOD licence should make clear whether programmatic ads, direct sponsors, pre-roll, mid-roll or branded sponsorships are allowed. Some ministries may want restrictions on certain advertiser categories. Those expectations are easier to manage before launch. Thirteenth, include a takedown and rights-dispute process. If a music claim, actor dispute or territorial conflict appears, both parties need a method to suspend the title while investigating. The contract should also specify who is responsible for warranties about music, footage, artwork and underlying rights. Fourteenth, define the term and renewal. A one-year non-exclusive deal with renewal options is different from a five-year agreement. Termination rights should explain what happens to active rentals, purchases, outstanding reports and promotional materials after the relationship ends. Fifteenth, avoid confusing YouTube visibility with distribution permission. A film that is already on YouTube may still have value on another platform, but an embeddable upload is not a licence for CUTV to download, rehost or sell the film. A written licence should cover the exact delivery copy and business model. For CUTV, the goal of a non-exclusive agreement is alignment rather than ownership. The producer keeps ownership and can continue to exploit other opportunities, while CUTV receives a defined right to distribute selected works to selected audiences. A practical first conversation can therefore be short: who owns the rights, which titles are available, which territories are open, which models are allowed, and what delivery assets exist? If those answers are clear, the detailed contract becomes much easier to negotiate. This checklist is educational and operational, not a substitute for jurisdiction-specific legal advice. Producers should obtain qualified legal review for material agreements, especially where multiple territories, music rights or exclusivity are involved. CUTV distribution intake: https://christntouch.com/distribute Professional contact: contact@christntouch.com A negotiation worksheet for a first CUTV licensing call Before the call, the producer can prepare a one-page rights summary. It should list the legal name of the rights holder, the titles being offered, the countries already licensed elsewhere, the languages available and the business models the producer is willing to discuss. This document is not the final contract; it is a way to discover conflicts early. CUTV should ask whether any third-party music, archive footage, stock imagery or co-production agreement limits digital distribution. A producer may honestly own the film while having only a narrow licence for one song. Identifying that limitation before launch is far less expensive than responding to a claim after viewers have paid. The call should separate promotional access from programme access. CUTV may need a trailer, vertical clips, still images and a poster months before the full master launches. The producer should explicitly permit those promotional uses and identify any asset that cannot be used in paid advertising. Delivery specifications should be practical. A mezzanine master such as ProRes or a high-quality H.264/H.265 file may be suitable depending on the workflow, while CUTV can create adaptive renditions only if the licence allows the necessary technical copies. Subtitle files should be delivered separately where possible so the same master can support multiple languages. The parties should also discuss data expectations. Producers often want useful performance information: paid transactions, unique viewers, territories, completion rates or campaign results. CUTV should state which metrics it can reliably provide and avoid promising personal user data that should remain private. For revenue share, both sides should walk through a numerical example. If a rental generates the equivalent of ten dollars, which payment fee is deducted, which tax applies, what counts as a refund, and what amount is the percentage applied to? A concrete example often reveals ambiguity faster than another page of legal language. Currency matters as well. CUTV may collect payments through different rails in XAF, USD or other currencies. The agreement should define the reporting currency and the exchange-rate method for settlements. It should also state who bears transfer fees and what happens when the amount due is below the payout threshold. Territorial pricing can be discussed without changing the producer’s percentage. A lower consumer price in Cameroon and a higher price in the United States can reflect purchasing power while the agreed revenue-share formula remains consistent. The producer should know whether CUTV has permission to run discounts or promotional codes. Windowing is another negotiation tool. A producer may prefer a premium rental window for the first 30 or 60 days, followed by subscription or AVOD. CUTV’s technology can support different entitlement types, but the contract should define the sequence rather than leaving it to a dashboard setting. Exclusivity deserves special caution. A non-exclusive licence is usually simpler for an emerging platform because the producer can continue using YouTube, church screenings, television and other distributors. If CUTV requests exclusivity later, the scope should be narrow and connected to a meaningful commitment such as a minimum guarantee, marketing spend or specific territory. A church-screening licence can become a distinct B2B product. If the producer authorizes public exhibition, CUTV may eventually sell church or youth-group access separately from household streaming. That opportunity should never be inferred from a consumer VOD clause. The contract should also define content replacement. If the producer supplies a corrected master, new subtitles or improved artwork, CUTV needs a process to update the asset without creating a new consumer purchase accidentally. Version control becomes especially important when an old file contains a technical error. Finally, both sides should agree on communication after signature. One operational contact for masters and metadata, one financial contact for statements, and one rights contact for legal notices can save substantial time. A good licence is not only permission; it is a framework for running the relationship. For an African Christian producer, the strongest negotiating position comes from clarity: documented rights, professional files, a known audience and realistic commercial goals. For CUTV, the strongest position comes from transparent accounting, respectful pricing, useful distribution and a refusal to monetize rights that were never granted.