Must I pay Sacem to have a TV in our gite?

MUST I pay a licence fee to Sacem to have TV in our gite, and if so what is this for? F.B.

Published Last updated

SACEM collects royalty rights for artists in the musical and film industries when their work is made accessible to the public.
A spokeswoman for the association Gîtes de France, a popular labelling organisation for gites, said: “In principle the position of Sacem and the ministry responsible for it [Culture Ministry] amounts to them saying that as soon as anyone who rents out accommodation of any kind puts at their customers’ disposal any means of
accessing works of music, this must give rise to royalty payments.
“There are no exonerations in particular, however we note that there is a wide variation in practice with regard to this.”
She said that they inform their members of the rules and they then choose what to do.
Do note also that you need to pay the TV licence fee. If the gite is considered part of your personal home or homes and you pay taxe d’habitation on it, this is covered by your normal TV licence bill, but if it is considered purely for rental and you pay the cotisation foncière des entreprises, you need to pay per television, with a discount of 30% from the third.