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Broadcasting white paper to protect British content by giving
public service broadcasters a more flexible remit for the
programmes they produce and show
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Plans to better protect viewers of video-on-demand services
from harmful content with Ofcom to rule on new content
standards and given new regulatory powers
TV and radio lovers will enjoy a new golden age of programming as
the government updates decades-old broadcasting regulations to
give the UK’s vital public service system a deal fit for the
streaming age.
Rapid changes in technology, viewing habits and the emergence of
global media giants have brought new challenges for UK
broadcasters. More people are watching programmes on their
phones, laptops, tablets, games consoles and on smart TVs.
Competition for viewers and advertising revenue has
intensified.
According to Ofcom, the share of total viewing for ‘linear’ TV
channels such as ITV and the BBC fell by more than ten per cent
between 2017 and 2020. The share for subscription video-on-demand
services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime Video rose from six per
cent to 19 per cent over the same period.
Plans in a new broadcasting white paper published on Thursday
will boost domestic public service broadcasters (PSBs) which
develop talent and skills, drive growth in the creative
industries and deliver distinctive, diverse British content. It
will allow them to compete fairly and continue to make shows
loved at home and abroad and support the UK’s booming production
sector, which is worth £3 billion, even before accounting for the
success of the BBC, ITV and Channel 5’s own production
studios.
UK public service broadcasters will no longer be subject to a
complicated set of ‘purposes’ and ‘objectives’ from laws made in
2003. Their remit will be overhauled and simplified, with a new
definition of what it means to be a PSB and a focus on creating
distinctive shows which reflect British culture, support domestic
film and TV production, and provide impartial and accurate
news.
While making sure PSBs continue to serve audiences across the UK
with universally-available high-quality programming, they will be
given greater freedom and flexibility in how they can fulfil
their public service obligations. They will be allowed to meet
their public service requirements showing content on online
platforms instead of just on their main channels as it stands
today.
The government will legislate to make sure PSB content is always
carried and easy to find for UK audiences on connected devices
and major online platforms, including on smart TVs, set-top boxes
and streaming sticks.
Proposals also include measures to protect audiences from a wider
range of harmful material - such as unchallenged health claims -
while watching programmes on video-on-demand services (VoDs).
These services will be brought under UK jurisdiction and subject
to a Video-on-Demand Code similar to the Broadcasting Code,
enforced by Ofcom. Fines for breaches could be up to £250,000 or
five per cent of annual turnover.
Culture Secretary said:
“The UK’s TV and radio industries are world-renowned for their
creativity, driven by exceptional talent that is delivering
groundbreaking public service programming.
“Set against the backdrop of the digital transformation of our
viewing habits, today’s plans will revamp decades-old laws to
help our public service broadcasters compete in the internet age
and usher in a new golden age for British TV and radio. This will
provide jobs and growth in the future along with the content we
all love.”
The white paper proposes that the opportunity to secure rights to
air TV’s major sporting events such as the FIFA World Cup and
Wimbledon be made an exclusive PSB benefit via reforms to the
listed events regime. A review will also look at adding digital
and on-demand rights to the scheme to ensure free-to-view access
for the nation when watching the ‘crown jewels’ of sport on
digital platforms.
Requiring it to continue to meet the obligations placed on PSBs,
the government will move ahead with plans to move Channel 4 out
of public ownership to become a privately-owned public service
broadcaster like ITV and Channel 5. This will allow it to access
greater investment to grow and create more great programming made
by people who live and work in the UK without losing what makes
it distinctive.
Under private ownership, the government will remove a restriction
on Channel 4 which effectively prohibits it from producing and
selling its own content. This will allow it to diversify its
revenue streams and improve its long-term sustainability. Channel
4 will still be required to commission a minimum volume of
programming from independent producers, in line with the quotas
placed on other PSBs, to protect its contribution to the
sector.
Channel 4’s existing obligations in terms of regional production
outside of London and England will be maintained, as will its
remit to provide distinctive, educational, innovative and
experimental programming that represents the breadth of society,
and obligations to show ‘original’ programmes and provide high
quality news and current affairs.
The government will look to use some of the proceeds from the
sale of Channel 4 to deliver a new creative dividend for the
sector.
The government intends to legislate as soon as the parliamentary
timetable allows.
***ENDS***
Further information on new measures in the white paper
A new public service remit for TV
The UK’s public service broadcasters (PSBs) are the BBC, ITV,
STV, Channel 4, S4C and Channel 5. The PSB system makes sure
viewers can access a wide range of public service content on a
free-to-air basis. The government wants this to continue.
The PSB remit is from an analogue age. Its last update was
reforms to the Communications Act in 2003 as a set of fourteen
overlapping and outdated ‘purposes’ and ‘objectives’ for
broadcasters.
These include, for example, a requirement for PSBs to provide
programmes depicting ‘leisure interests’ like cooking and
gardening. In addition, each broadcaster has a specific remit set
out in legislation, together with further commitments established
in their broadcasting licences, or in the case of the BBC, its
Royal Charter.
A new remit, to be set out in further detail in legislation, will
recognise public service content takes many forms, including
culturally relevant content reflecting all parts and people of
the UK; economically important content produced by independent
producers and across the UK; and democratically impactful content
such as trusted, impartial news and current affairs. It will also
be made clearer that PSBs must contribute to this remit and will
be accountable for the extent of their contributions.
PSBs are required through a quota system to broadcast a minimum
amount and variety of public service content (for example,
programmes made outside of London), but they currently only get
credit for this if they show it on their main linear channel (so
in the case of ITV, on ITV1). The government will give PSBs
greater flexibility to meet their obligations, including reaching
audiences by delivering content on a wider range of services
including via on-demand platforms.
British shows such as Dr Who, I May Destroy You, Great British
Bake Off, Top Gear, Luther, Downton Abbey and Planet Earth have
been huge international hits but also reflect a vision of a
modern UK.
The globalisation of broadcasting means more of the content
people watch is set in non-specific locations or outside the UK,
with an international cast, communicating in US English. This
risks TV made in the UK becoming indistinguishable from that
produced elsewhere and less relevant for UK audiences, as well as
reducing UK soft power abroad.
Research by Enders Analysis has shown that UK original programmes
from international streaming services such as Netflix have had
fewer British terms, expressions, reference points or idioms than
equivalent broadcast programmes.
A consultation will be launched on new rules to make sure PSBs
continue to commission ‘distinctively British’ programming –
shows loved and admired not just at home but also around the
world, because they could not have been made anywhere else. It
will consider a range of options including incorporating
requirements directly into the existing quota system.
A change of ownership for Channel 4
Channel 4 is a great UK success story and the government wants it
to remain so and to thrive over the long term. Since 1982 it has
done an excellent job delivering its founding purposes: to
provide greater choice for audiences and support the UK TV
production sector.
Forty years on, independent production in the UK is a mature £3
billion industry, up from £500 million in 1995. ‘Indies’ are
increasingly less reliant on Channel 4 for commissions. Only
seven per cent of the sector’s revenues come from Channel 4 and
it spends significantly less in the north, as a percentage of
total production spend, than ITV. In 2020, Channel 4 spent £210
million on external commissions, less than the BBC (£508 million)
and ITV (£356 million), which have in-house production studios.
Channel 4 also spends less with the smallest independent
producers than all other large PSBs – for example, only 16 per
cent of Channel 4’s average external commissioning spent between
2018 and 2020 was with producers with turnover of less than £10m,
compared to 37 per cent of Channel 5’s.
Viewer choice is no longer a problem in the world of smart TVs
and streaming sticks, catch-up and on-demand. This rapidly
changing media landscape means Channel 4 is facing unprecedented
competition for viewers, programmes and talent from global giants
with deep pockets. Netflix spent £779 million on UK original
productions in 2020 - more than twice as much as Channel 4.
Under public ownership, Channel 4 has limited ability to borrow
money or raise private sector capital by issuing shares and its
current setup effectively stops it from making its own content.
This makes it heavily reliant on cyclical advertising revenues
which are moving to digital platforms. Advertising
made up 91 per cent of Channel 4’s revenues in 2020. Linear TV ad
revenues fell by a third (35 per cent) from 2015 to 2020.
Having fulfilled its original mission, Channel 4 is now at a
unique turning point. The government has consulted on the best
means of ensuring its future success and sustainability and in
its response to the consultation today concludes now is the time
to pursue a change of ownership.
Access to capital and the freedom to make and own content are
important tools Channel 4 will need to succeed in the future,
create new revenue streams and compete. The government believes
the required investment to do this at scale and pace is best
provided under private ownership, rather than asking taxpayers’
to bear the associated risk.
Regulation of video-on-demand services
Ofcom estimates three in four UK households use a subscription
video-on-demand (VoD) service. But services like Disney+ and
Amazon Prime Video are not regulated in the UK to the same extent
as UK linear TV channels. Netflix and Apple TV+ are not regulated
in the UK at all.
Except for BBC iPlayer, on-demand services are not subject to
Ofcom’s Broadcasting Code which sets standards for content
including harmful or offensive material, accuracy, fairness and
privacy. There are some protections for under-18s but minimal
rules exist to protect audiences from, for example, misleading
health advice or pseudoscience documentaries.
The government will give Ofcom powers to draft and enforce a new
Video-on-Demand Code, similar to the Broadcasting Code and in
line with its standards, to make sure VoD services, which target
and profit from UK audiences, are subject to stricter rules
protecting UK audiences from harmful material. This will
primarily be aimed at larger ‘TV-like’ video-on-demand services
such as Netflix, ITV Hub and NOW TV and level the rules between
VoD services and traditional broadcasters.
UK viewers will be given new powers to complain to Ofcom if they
see something concerning and will be better protected from
harmful material. Ofcom will be given a strengthened duty to
assess on-demand providers’ audience protection measures such as
age ratings and viewer guidance, with powers to force changes if
necessary.
The maximum fine for regulated VoD services will be £250,000 or
an amount up to five per cent of an organisation’s revenue,
whichever is higher.
Reforms to the listed events regime
The current listed events regime ensures events of national
interest are available to view live, and for free, by the widest
possible audience. The list is set by the Culture Secretary and
includes the ‘crown jewels’: major sporting events such as the
Olympic Games, men’s football World Cup, FA Cup Final, Grand
National and Wimbledon finals.
Once listed, broadcasting rights to these events must be made
available for purchase first to ‘qualifying broadcasters’ - those
which reach 95 per cent coverage of UK viewers and at no
additional cost to the viewer than the licence fee. All services
which currently qualify are operated by the free-to-air
terrestrial PSBs.
But the current regime was created via the Broadcasting Act in
1996, in a different media landscape where competition facing
PSBs was limited. The consumption habits of viewers are changing
rapidly and PSBs are now required to compete for sports rights
with global media platforms.
In recognition of the role of PSBs bringing nationally-important
moments to UK audiences, the government will look to designate
listed events a PSB-specific benefit, instead of qualification
being based on the requirement for services to be free to view
and accessible to 95 per cent of the UK.
Digital rights, including on-demand rights, are now an important
element in the sale of sports rights but they are not covered by
the listed events regime - raising questions about its
relevance.
If, for example, the Olympic 100m final was broadcast live in the
middle of the night on the BBC but all streaming and catch-up
rights were sold to a different broadcaster and kept behind a
paywall, a culturally relevant event might not be available to a
wide audience on a free-to-air basis.
The government will therefore launch a review looking at whether
the scope of the listed events regime should be extended to
include digital rights, ensuring that the public can view these
sporting events of national significance free on digital
platforms
In 2020, the government added the Paralympics as a listed event,
and this week it confirmed that the FIFA Women’s World Cup and
UEFA European Women’s Championship Finals have now been added to
Group A of the listed events regime.
Updating prominence regulation
An important part of the UK’s PSB system is ensuring public
service content is readily available to as wide an audience as
possible and easy to find. Current broadcasting legislation
guarantees the first five channels the public find when they
switch on their TVs are PSBs, by reserving these slots in
electronic programme guides on TV sets.
This provides cultural and societal benefits for viewers and
provides commercial and economic benefits for PSBs. But the rules
do not extend to on-demand platforms which enable viewers to
select TV programmes beyond the TV guide, such as the user
interfaces on Smart TVs.
PSBs are finding it increasingly difficult to secure their
presence on global platforms, maintain their prominence on them
and secure fair value for the services they provide. This
challenges the long-term stability of the UK PSB system.
The government will update ‘prominence’ rules so popular online
TV platforms, which likely include smart TVs, pay TV services,
streaming sticks and set top boxes, are legally required to carry
designated PSB on-demand services and give them prominence, as
determined by Ofcom, so they are easy to find on user interfaces
in the future.
The rules will require PSBs to “offer” their on-demand services
(BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub, All 4, My5, STV Player, S4C Clic) to
platforms while requiring platforms to “carry” these PSB
on-demand services.
Ofcom will be given new enforcement powers, including information
gathering powers and the ability to impose fines as appropriate.
It will be given a dispute resolution function to intervene to
support effective negotiations between platforms and PSBs.
Supporting independent TV producers
UK TV production, fuelled by domestic and international
investment, is booming. Revenues in the independent sector
grew more than 50 per cent between 2010 and 2019. The combined
spend by film and high-end TV production during 2021 reached
£5.64 billion, the highest ever reported.
Government intervention during the pandemic allowed productions
to continue. More than 1,100 productions signed up to its Film
and TV Restart Scheme. More than £2.9 billion of production spend
would not have been possible without the scheme, which has
supported more than 95,000 jobs.
The government today commits to ensuring the UK remains a
thriving TV production location by supporting screen
industries through creative sector tax reliefs. Recent research
shows every £1 of high-end TV tax relief delivers returns of
£6.44.
DCMS is also funding the British Film Commission with £4.8
million over three years to support the growth of seven
geographic production hubs – including one in each UK nation –
and numerous new studio developments.
The sector’s growth has facilitated the emergence of so-called
‘super indies’ which, while still classed as independent, are
often larger than the broadcasters with whom they work. The
government will review whether to introduce a revenue cap for
‘qualifying independent’ producer status to make sure it remains
effective for promoting growth.
The government will also act to protect the UK’s ‘terms of trade’
regime, a set of rules which exist to protect independent
producers when negotiating deals for new shows, and update it to
address the increasing importance of on-demand commissioning to
both PSBs and independent producers. In addition, it will
consider if there is a need to extend aspects of it to radio and
audio producers which create programming for the BBC.
Response to the Digital Radio and Audio Review
The government has today also published its response to the
Digital Radio and Audio Review. The government will continue to
engage with the radio industry to gain a better understanding of
the policies and practices of smart speaker platforms, in order
to ensure the UK has the best possible regime to allow radio to
continue to reach its listeners well into the future.
