Skip to main content

Privacy Notice

Last updated 15.08.24

This Privacy Notice explains in detail how BBC Maestro collects, uses and discloses your personal data. Please read this Privacy Notice carefully before submitting any personal data to us.

1. What is this notice and who does it apply to?

In this section, you can find general information about the Platform, its owner, and this Privacy Notice.

1.1 We are Maestro Media Limited (the "Company", "we", "us" or "our") and we are the controller, acting under the licence of the BBC. We're an English company (company number 11996244) and our registered office is at 10 Kelham Gardens, Marlborough, England, SN8 1PW.

1.2 We operate a platform which provides users with access to e-learning, informational and/or instructional audio-visual content delivered by celebrities or other well-known experts (the "Platform"). This privacy notice applies to all users of the Platform (whether they access it through our website (at bbcmaestro.com), via any app we might release from time to time, or through any other means) and the term 'Platform' as used in this notice applies to any and all such channels.

1.3 We respect our users' privacy and are committed to treating any information that we obtain about you with as much care as possible and in a manner that is compliant with all applicable data protection laws. For users in the EU, that includes the EU General Data Protection Regulation 2016/679 ("GDPR"). It will also include any applicable national law, such as (in the UK) the Data Protection Act 2018 and the UK GDPR as transposed into national law (collectively, we'll refer to these as "Data Protection Laws").

1.4 Please read this privacy notice carefully. Among other things, it explains:

1.4.1 what personal data we may collect about you in connection with: (i) our delivery of, and your use of, the Platform; and (ii) any related interaction between you and us (e.g. via email, telephone or social media);

1.4.2 how we collect, store, disclose, transfer, protect and otherwise process that personal data (and for what purposes); and

1.4.3 other important information, such as the lawful basis or bases by which we process your personal data, how long we retain your personal data, and the rights you have in relation to the personal data we hold about you.

1.5 This policy supplements (and its terms apply in addition to) any other terms of use or other terms and conditions agreed between you and the Company from time to time, including the Platform terms and conditions.

1.6 This notice is intended to be communicated to you in a concise, transparent, intelligible and easily accessible manner, but we appreciate that you may have queries or want to seek clarification as to its terms. If so, please email [email protected] and we will endeavour to respond as soon as possible.

1.7 The Company reserves the right to make changes to this notice from time to time, including as may be necessary or prudent to reflect any changes in: (i) the ways in which we gather and process personal data; (ii) Data Protection Laws; or (iii) best practice. We will endeavour to notify you of such changes but you are advised to check for an updated version of this notice here each time you use the Platform or otherwise interact with us through email, phone or social media.

1.8 It is important that the personal data we hold about you is accurate and current. Please keep us informed if your personal data changes or if you become aware that any data that we hold is not accurate during your relationship with us.

2. How and when we collect personal data

2.1 We collect personal data about you when you:

2.1.1 purchase a course (or a subscription to one or more courses) on the Platform;

2.1.2 access and use the Platform (including automatically by way of cookies and similar technologies – please refer to paragraph 11 below for more information); (For more information, kindly refer to our cookie policy)

2.1.3 register for an account on the Platform;

2.1.4 subscribe for or participate in competitions, contests, special events, or our mailing list;

2.1.5 make any enquiries about a course, or otherwise contact us about the Platform (whether in writing, by email, by telephone, through social media or via any contact form available on the Platform);

2.1.6 request technical support or other customer care support;

2.1.7 participate in polls, surveys and questionnaires related to the Platform; or

2.1.8 post content on our social media pages or on any area of the Platform which allows for user-generated content.

2.2 All of the personal data referred to in paragraph 2.1 will be provided by you directly. Where lawful, we may also obtain limited personal data from third parties or public sources (for example, the open electoral register or credit reference agencies) and we may process that information where it is an essential component of the products and services we offer you.

3. What personal data we collect

3.1 The type of personal data we process may include (if and as applicable):

3.1.1 identity and contact information, such as your name, user name, email address, postal address, location of account registration, date of birth, telephone number and other information provided by you when you register for an account on the Platform, purchase a course, or subscribe for other services, contests, special events or our mailing list ("Identity and Contact Data");

3.1.2 technical data including the information obtained through the use of cookies when you use the site such as time zone, IP address and connection speed) (please refer to paragraph 11 below for more information) ("Technical Data");

3.1.3 information which you provide in any correspondence with us, including details of any enquiries or requests for technical support you might send us ("Correspondence Data");

3.1.4 in relation to any order, purchase or subscription made by you, details of the course(s) ordered, purchased or subscribed for by you (including the type of course, purchase price and any relevant information added by our admin), your payment information, your preferences and other transaction information provided or obtained in connection with any such order, purchase or subscription ("Product and Service Data");

3.1.5 your responses to any polls, surveys and questionnaires we may run from time to time ("Response Data");

3.1.6 marketing and communications data, which includes your preferences in receiving marketing from us and our third party partners and your communication preferences ("Marketing and Communications Data");

3.1.7 any personal data contained in content you post (as reviews on the Platform, on our social media pages or through any other posting any user-generated content) ("UGC Data"); and

3.1.8 information ascertained by your interaction with us through the Platform, including your interests and purchase history ("Transaction Data").

Information about why and according to what lawful basis we process this data is set out in the table at paragraph 4.6 below.

3.2 We do not process:

3.2.1 any special categories of personal data (including details about your race or ethnicity, religious or philosophical beliefs, sex life, sexual orientation, political opinions, trade union membership, information about your health and genetic and biometric data);

3.2.2 any information about criminal convictions and offences; or

3.2.3 any information about children under the age of 13, and you should not provide us with any such information.

4. The purposes for which we process your personal data

4.1 We use your personal data for a number of purposes but only where the law allows us to.

4.2 We may process your personal data in any circumstances where such processing is necessary:

4.2.1 in order to perform any agreement between us (including pursuant to our Platform terms and conditions and your purchase of any course or subscription);

4.2.2 to comply with any applicable law or regulation; or

4.2.3 for the purposes of the legitimate interests pursued by us or third parties. These legitimate interests include the purposes identified above in the table below at 4.6 but also include other commercial interests and our internal administrative purposes.

4.3 Consent

4.3.1 Generally, we don't rely on consent as a lawful basis for processing your personal data. Occasionally, though, to avoid sending you unwanted emails, we will get your consent before sending certain marketing communications to you. You are not required to opt-in to marketing communications in order to access the Platform.

4.3.2 You may withdraw your consent at any time by contacting [email protected]. You can also unsubscribe from different types of emails by following the unsubscribe link displayed at the bottom of each email. The withdrawal of your consent doesn't affect the lawfulness of processing based on consent before withdrawal or the lawfulness of processing based on other lawful grounds set out below.

4.4 We may process your personal data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data and the nature of services you avail on our platform.

4.5 We may process your personal data ourselves or in conjunction with our third-party service providers in accordance with paragraph 6.

4.6 Information about the purposes for which we use your personal data, the types of personal data we process to achieve these purposes, and the lawful basis by which we process it, is listed below:

4.6.1 Data we process in accordance with (a) Performance of a contract with you: 

To register you as a new customer: Identify and contract data, technical data, and marketing and communications data 

To process and deliver orders, purchases and subscriptions, including to (a) Manage payments, fees and charges, (b) Collect and recover money owed to us, and (c) Issue refunds where required: Identify and contract data, technical data, and transaction data 

To allow users to access the Platform and access their purchased content: Identify and contract data, technical data, product and service data, and transaction data 

To manage our relationship with you which will include (a) notifying you about operational changes to our Platform, and any changes to our T&Cs and/or privacy notice; and (b) respond to enquiries, messages and requests for technical support: Identify and contract data, technical data, and correspondence data 

4.6.2 Data we process in accordance with (b) Our legitimate interests (to acquire new customers, to study how customers use our products/services, for running our business): 

To administer and protect our business and our platform, website or app (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data): Identity and contact data. technical data, correspondence data, product and service data, response data, marketing and communications data, UGC data, and transaction data 

To improve our Platform, products/services, marketing, customer relationships and experiences: Identity and contact data. technical data, correspondence data, product and service data, response data, marketing and communications data, UGC data, and transaction data 

4.6.3 Data we process in accordance with (c) Consent: 

To enable you to partake in a prize draw or competition, to leave a review or to complete a survey: Identity and contact data. technical data, response data, marketing and communications data, UGC data, and transaction data 

To deliver relevant and personalised platform content and advertisements to you and measure or understand the effectiveness of the advertising we serve to you: Marketing and communications data, response data, product and service data, identity and contract data, UGC data, and transaction data 

To make suggestions and recommendations to you about goods or services that may be of interest to you: Transaction data and marketing and communications data 

4.6.4 Data we process in accordance with (d) To comply with our legal obligations: 

To keep accountancy records: Identity and contract data, product and services data, and transaction data 

4.7 We will only use your personal data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose.

4.8 If we need to use your personal data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you (which may be by way of update to this notice) and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

4.9 Please note that we may process your personal data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with the above rules, where this is required or permitted by law.

5. What if you refuse to provide us with any personal data?

5.1 Where we need to collect personal data by law, or under the terms of an agreement we have with you, and you fail to provide that data when requested (or fail to consent to the processing of that data, if necessary), we may not be able to perform the contract or arrangement we have or are trying to enter into with you (for example, to provide you with products or services). In this case, we may have to cancel a product or service you have with us but we will endeavour to notify you if this is the case at the time.

5.2 Whilst we may be able to provide you with certain products and services notwithstanding your refusal to submit personal data, this may limit your ability to participate in some activities, or use certain features, services or functionality.

6. Sharing information with affiliates and third parties

6.1 We will not share any of your personal data with third parties except as set out in this paragraph 6 or otherwise notified to you or agreed between you and us from time to time.

6.2 We may share personal data with our group companies and partnered companies (together, "Affiliates") in order to run our Platform and provide our courses and for the other purposes outlined in this notice. Where you access the Platform through your insurer, employer or another Affiliate, we may share limited information with such third parties for the purposes of administering our relationship with such third parties and to better inform the selection of courses which we make available on the Platform from time to time. 

6.3 We work closely with the British Broadcasting Association and BBC Studios Distribution Limited (together the "BBC") in order to use BBC trade mark(s), acquire certain footage and for other purposes relating to the Platform. We may share your personal data with the BBC:

6.3.1 in the event of any request from any users for technical assistance which is either directed at the BBC or which otherwise requires input from the BBC; and

6.3.2 if and to the extent that you have consented to the sharing of your personal data with the BBC for marketing purposes. For further information please see the BBC Privacy Policy here.

6.4 From time to time, we will also need to share personal data with the following types of third party service providers who we engage to provide services which facilitate our business and who may need to process your personal data to the extent necessary to provide those services:

6.4.1 Sassy Films, operated by Sassy Films Limited, our video production and editing partner;

6.4.2 Bind Media, operated by Bind Media Ltd, our marketing partner;

6.4.3 MailChimp and Mandrill, operated by The Rocket Science Group LLC, our transactional and marketing email service;

6.4.4 Klaviyo, operated by Klaviyo, Inc., which we use in addition to MailChimp to administer our email marketing;

6.4.5 Segment, operated by Segment.io, Inc., a data management platform that we use to inform our marketing strategy;

6.4.6 Stripe, operated by Stripe, Inc., our e-commerce partner;

6.4.7 Heroku, operated by Salesforce.com, Inc., our hosting service provider;

6.4.8 GitHub, operated GitHub, Inc., our software hosting provider;

6.4.9 Cloud Front, operated by Amazon Web Services EMEA SARL, our content delivery network provider;

6.4.10 Facebook and Instagram, operated by Facebook, Inc., our social media partners;

6.4.11 Xero, operated by Xero Limited, our accountancy software provider;

6.4.12 Zendesk, operated by Zendesk Inc., our customer service software provider;

6.4.13 Google Analytics and Google Ads, operated by Google LLC, our provider of online marketing tools

6.4.14 Databox, operated by Databox Inc., our provider of analytics dashboards;

6.4.15 Promo Veritas, operated by Promo Veritas Ltd., who independently administer any promotions and competitions we run;

6.4.16 Mixpanel, operated by Mixpanel Inc., our provider of product analytics dashboards;

6.4.17 HotJar, operated by Hotjar Ltd, our provider of website analytics dashboards and insights;

6.4.18 Typeform, operated by Typeform S.L., our provider of online forms and surveys;

6.4.19 FiveTran, operated by FiveTran Inc., our automated data movement platform;

6.4.20 BigQuery, operated by Google LLC, our enterprise data warehouse provider;

6.4.21 Looker, operated by Google LLC, our data intelligence platform;

6.4.22 Twitter, operated by Twitter Inc., our social media partners, and

6.4.23 Apple and Google, our online app store providers;

6.4.24 Unbounce, operated by Unbounce Marketing Solutions Inc., our landing page provider; and

6.4.25 any similar or replacement third parties from time to time.

6.5 We seek to ensure that any third party engaged by us who processes your personal data in connection with the purposes listed above has policies and procedures in place to ensure compliance with Data Protection Laws.

6.6 For any third parties that are based, or process data, outside of the EEA, we engage such third parties in accordance with paragraph 7.

6.7 Unless otherwise disclosed to you from time to time, we will remain the controller responsible for the processing of your personal data notwithstanding that third parties may be engaged as data processors.

6.8 We may also share your personal information with third parties where we are required to do so by law or regulation (such as in connection with an investigation of fraud or other legal enquiry) or in connection with other legal proceedings (including where we believe that your actions violate applicable laws, any terms of use governing our Platform or any other arrangement between us, or any usage guidelines for specific products or services, or threaten the rights, property, or safety of our Company, our users, or others).

6.9 In the event that our business or any part of it is sold or integrated with another business, your details may be disclosed to our advisers and those of any prospective purchaser and will be passed to the new owners of the business.

7. International transfers of personal data

7.1 From time to time it may be necessary for us to transfer your information internationally. In particular your information may be transferred to and/or stored on the servers of our Affiliates or other third parties identified in paragraph 6 which are based outside of the EEA.

7.2 However, we will not transfer your personal data outside of the EEA unless:

7.2.1 such transfer is to a country or jurisdiction which the UK Government and EU commission has approved as having an adequate level of protection;

7.2.2 appropriate safeguards are in place as set out in Article 46 GDPR or equivalent provisions of other Data Protection Laws; such as:

7.2.2.1 Standard Contractual Clauses (SCCs) + UK Addendum or

7.2.2.2 International Data Transfer Agreement (IDTA) ;or

7.2.2.3 Binding Corporate Rules (BCRs)

7.2.3 the transfer is otherwise allowed by applicable Data Protection Laws (such as in the form of a derogation under Article 49 GDPR).

8. Your rights as a data subject

8.1 Subject to any conditions and requirements set out in the relevant Data Protection Laws, you may have some or all of the following rights in relation to the personal data we hold about you:

8.1.1 the right to request a copy of your personal data held by us;

8.1.2 the right to correct any inaccurate or incomplete personal data held by us. You can amend any personal data which cannot be modified on the Platform by emailing us at [email protected];

8.1.3 the right to request that we erase personal data we hold about you. You can deactivate your account on the Platform or by emailing us at [email protected]

8.1.4 the right to request that we restrict the processing of your data;

8.1.5 the right to have your personal data transferred to another organisation;

8.1.6 the right to object to certain types of processing of your personal data by us;

8.1.7 the right to object against automated decision making; and

8.1.8 the right to complain to supervisory authority (please see paragraph 12 of this notice).

8.2 NOTE that these rights are not absolute in all situations and may be subject to conditions and provisos set out in the Data Protection Laws. We cannot therefore guarantee that we'll be able to honour any request from you in connection with the rights set out above. (For example, even if you request that we delete your personal data, we may be required by law to retain some personal data for accounting and record keeping purposes.)

8.3 For further information, or to see if you can exercise any particular right, please contact us at [email protected]

9. Storage and retention of your personal data

9.1 As a minimum, we need to store your data for as long as is necessary to enable us to provide you with the content and services that you have requested from us (or to support your other uses of our Platform, such as maintaining your account(s)). So we'll usually store your personal data for as long as you have an account with us, and will usually delete it when you delete your account.

9.2 However, we will retain certain of your personal data for longer if we think it is reasonably necessary to do so in the circumstances, taking into consideration factors such as:

9.2.1 our need to perform any agreements between you and us (including order fulfilment);

9.2.2 our need to answer any queries or resolve any problems you may have;

9.2.3 your continued consent to receive marketing and other emails and communications from us;

9.2.4 our continued provision of any content or services to you; and

9.2.5 our need to comply with legal requirements (e.g. relating to record keeping).

9.3 If you tell us that you would like to delete your account, we will take steps to delete all the personal data we hold about you once it is no longer necessary for us to hold it (e.g. to fulfil any outstanding orders, resolve disputes, or as is permitted by applicable law or regulation).

9.4 For as long as we do store your data, the Company follows generally accepted industry standards and maintains reasonable safeguards to attempt to ensure the security, integrity, and privacy of the information you have provided. The Company has security measures in place designed to protect against the loss, misuse, and alteration of the information under our control. Personal data collected by the Company in connection with this notice is stored in secure operating environments that are not available to the public through our hosting and storage providers outlined above at paragraph 6.4. The Company maintains information behind a firewall-protected server and uses SSL encryption for purchases made through our online store.

9.5 You are responsible for maintaining the strength and confidentiality of any login credentials.

9.6 We will notify you as soon as reasonably practicable if we have reason to believe that there has been a personal data breach by us which could adversely affect your rights and freedoms.

10. Links to third parties

10.1 Our Platform may link or redirect to other websites, apps, social media accounts or other content which is not in our control. Such links or redirections are not endorsements of such websites or representation of our affiliation with them in any way and such third party websites are outside the scope of this notice.

10.2 If you access such third party websites, please ensure that you are satisfied with their respective privacy policies before you provide them with any personal data. We cannot be held responsible for the activities, privacy policies or levels of privacy compliance of any website operated by any third party.

11. Questions and complaints

11.1 For all questions or complaints about this notice, we would appreciate the chance to deal with your concerns before you approach the relevant data protection authority. Please contact us in the first instance using the details provided in paragraph 1.6.

11.2 You have the right to make a complaint at any time to the relevant supervisory authority for data protection issues, which in the UK is the Information Commissioner's Office (ICO) (www.ico.org.uk).