Published: Wednesday, 15th October, 2008 10:00am

Kids’ club faces massive copyright bill

by Colin Hutton

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‘Heavy-handed’ licence enforcers pull plug on radio, TV, DVD player and CD player

ANGRY: Kids at the Yoker Resource Centre protest against the PRS’s £3,000 bill

MUSIC, television and DVDs are off the agenda at an after-school club due to “draconian” threats over copyright laws.

The club has been told to stump up £3,000 if it wants to continue to use its TV, radio or CD player.

The Performers’ Rights Society (PRS) — an organisation that protects copyright infringement — is cracking down on all premises that do not have an appropriate licence.

The PRS points out it is illegal to even put on the radio without one.

And the Yoker Resource Centre, which is home to various groups and clubs, is just one of the community centres being targeted.

Organisers there claim a licence would cost £1,000s and that the PRS is unfairly targeting not-for-profit organisations.

Yoker resident Elizabeth Busby, who is the after-school supervisor at the centre, said: “We can’t afford to pay this money.

“Although we have a TV licence for the centre under these rules we cannot let all the kids watch it.

"We can see where this is coming from because the internet and things has done a lot of damage to their industry, but we do not see why the children should suffer.

“If the children are watching a DVD then I have gone out and paid for it, so whether it is one person or twenty-five I still paid for it.

“It’s not as if I’m buying pirate copies or downloading them illegally.

“Soon it will be the Hallowe’en party and what do we do for music?”

PRS declined to comment.