Movie Licensing Group MPLC Names New CEO

President P.J. Kuyper succeeds founder Peter Kuyper, who remains chairman of the board

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/8/2013 1:02:55 PM

The Motion Picture Licensing Corp. has named president P.J. Kuyper Jr. CEO of the licensing organization.

He succeeds his father, MPLC founder Peter Kuyper, who remains chairman of the board.

MPLC is the independent agency that issues the public performance license for movie and TV studio content. That is the blanket license required by associations, libraries, churches, camp grounds and others for public performances of copyrighted content. Any performance outside the home, whether or not it is a nonprofit or charges for the viewing, needs a license. There is an exemption for educational instruction, but it is narrowly defined, as MPLC points out. For example, preschools must get a license (which costs between $100 and $255 annually, according to size of student population), it says, since the exemption is only for academic institutions using it for instruction, not for entertainment uses.

MPLC represents the work of over 400 TV and movie studios and independent producers, providing more than 450,000 such public performance licenses.