The Commercial Affairs Department was created with the merger of the Business Affairs Department and Programme Finance Department.

Commercial Affairs are responsible for the negotiating, contractual and financial aspects for all developments, commissions and licensed programmes apart from film acquisitions and major US Programming.

Each commissioning area has a Commercial Affairs Manager team working closely with the respective commissioning editors.

As soon as a project is green lit, work starts to get the tariff price and the contractual details agreed with the production company, which are then submitted to either a Programme Finance Committee (PFC) or to the Business Approval Board (BAB) (For further information on PFC or BAB, please refer to the Approval of Projects section of this site).

During the production process, Commercial Affairs Managers are available to answer contractual and financial issues that producers and other Channel 4 departments have.

Commercial Affairs approves all the major underlying documents for a production including contracts for presenters, actors, writers etc. When a programme has been completed, Commercial Affairs are responsible for ensuring that the Channel receives a Programme as Completed Form (PAC Form) and all underlying documents such as clip licences and talent agreements. (For further information on the PAC Form and Underlying Documents, please refer to (web address) ).

Even after a programme has been delivered, Commercial Affairs often liaises with other Channel 4 departments including Programme Management, Press and Marketing to ensure that there are no contractual restrictions or obligations that could affect the work of those departments.

Commercial Affairs are also responsible for the negotiating, contractual and financial aspects for work carried out by 4Ventures including programme distribution, 4Learning, corporate, website and interactive.

The Rights section of Commercial Affairs negotiates with all main UK collecting societies (representing actors, writers, music publishers etc). It is the music blanket deals held with PRS, MCPS and PPL that dictate the music reporting requirements of the Soundmouse system. (For further information on the Soundmouse system, please refer to (web address) ). The Rights Section also administers clearances for programme sales and manages the channel's comprehensive rights database.