UK Targets Disney, Netflix And Amazon With New Streaming Regulations

Walt Disney Co DIS, Netflix Inc. NFLX and Amazon.com Inc. AMZN are facing the prospect of U.K. government regulation of their streaming services.

What Happened: This potential shift in U.K. policy was previewed by Oliver Dowden, secretary of state for the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, who argued that the nation’s television broadcasters “certainly can’t compete in a digital world while operating under analog rules.”

In a blog posting, Dowden announced his intention to publish a white paper in the autumn that would redefine the state of U.K. broadcasting.

“First, we need to level the playing field, and address one blatant disparity forcing traditional broadcasters to compete with one hand tied behind their backs,” he wrote. “Every ‘linear’ broadcaster – BBC, Sky, etc. – has to comply with stringent content and audience protection standards.

“You might assume the same is true of video-on-demand services like Amazon Prime and Disney+,” he continued. “You’d be wrong. Of course, some have done an admirable job of introducing their own procedures - such as Netflix’s voluntary age ratings partnership with the BBFC. But this is all on an ad-hoc and inconsistent basis.”

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While not tipping his hand on what his white paper would recommend, Dowden only hinted his goal will be to ensure “public service broadcasters are given sufficient visibility – a.k.a. ‘prominence’ – on different online platforms, and ensure viewers can continue to find and access original and high-quality British content.”

However, Dowden targeted one U.K. television network for change: Channel 4, which was launched in 1982 as a publicly-owned, commercially-run station. Dowden stated it was “time to seriously consider changes to its current public ownership model,” although he offered no clue regarding what this would entail.

What Else Is Happening: While streaming services don't face special regulatory oversight in the U.S., the situation is different across the Atlantic.

The European Union’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive requires a 30% European content quota for streaming services aimed at the continent’s audiences. Individual EU nations are also negotiating both content quotas and investment quotas that would finance locally-produced films and shows for presentation by the streaming services.

At the same time, the EU is seeking to reduce the percentage of U.K. content shown on European television and streaming services. The U.K. is Europe’s largest producer of film and television productions and its content is still being included in EU quotas despite the country’s January 2020 Brexit withdrawal.

Photo by Marco Verch / Flickr Creative Commons.