Manual on Statistics of International Trade in Services

I.  Alternative aggregations of service and non-
service transactions 
3.144. For various analytical purposes, compilers may 
wish to aggregate service and non-service transactions 
to provide information on areas of particular interest or 
concern to users, such as all transactions relating to 
health care, environmental issues or audiovisual 
activities. As an example, the Manual  provides a 
suggested aggregation of transactions, including 
services transactions, that relate to audiovisual 
activities. This aggregation, audiovisual transactions, 
is shown as a memorandum item to EBOPS. It is 
described below. 
3.145. The coverage of audiovisual transactions is the 
same as that of audiovisual services, which is discussed 
in paragraph 3.137 above, except that it deviates from 
BPM5 and EBOPS principles in that all relevant balance 
of payments transactions between residents and non-
residents, except for transactions in goods, should be 
included. Audiovisual transactions has been included as 
a memorandum item because one of the stated needs of 
GATS is for information on a range of transactions 
relating to audiovisual activities. In addition, it is 
sometimes difficult to isolate audiovisual  services from 
other audiovisual transactions, not only because of the 
technical nature of these transactions but also because 
these transactions are often conducted between related 
enterprises. In audiovisual business networks, 
integration of production/distribution enterprises and co-
production activities are more often the rule than the 
exception. 
3.146. This memorandum item should be used to show 
the total value of such resident/non-resident transactions. 
Thus, this memorandum item covers transactions in 
services, including services included in both audiovisual 
services and royalties and license fees, and in addition 
includes the acquisition and disposal of non-produced, 
non-financial assets,
58
 such as patents, copyrights, 
trademarks and franchises. Thus, it is a reorganization of 
a range of resident/non-resident transactions, including 
transactions that are outside the range of services 
covered in BPM5 and EBOPS, and it is recommended 
for its analytical usefulness.  
                                                 
58
  See BPM5, paras. 312 and 358. 

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3.147.   Included are, for example: 
(a) Distributive rights and fees of film and 
television programmes; 
(b) Television retransmission rights for sport 
events; 
(c)  Distributive rights and fees of video games that 
are downloaded through television channels; 
(d) 
Sale of rights for films and television 
programmes, for cinema release or for broadcasting; 
(e)  Sale of rights for video editions of films and 
television programmes, based either on the number of 
video cassettes or disks produced or on distribution in a