Media Bill

Key facts

● The Government has provided over £17 billion worth of additional rates relief since 2020. Changes announced at the end of the review in October 2021 will reduce the burden of business rates by a further £7 billion over the next five years.

● Introducing a new relief to support investment in property improvements will enable occupying businesses to invest in expanding their properties and making them work better for customers and employees. This is part of a £750 million package to support investment, which includes exemptions for green plant and machinery like solar panels and 100 per cent relief for low-carbon heat networks.

Media Bill

The purpose of the Bill is to:

● Reform decades-old laws to boost our public service broadcasters, which develop talent and skills, drive growth in the creative industries across the UK and deliver distinctive, diverse British content.

● Enable a change of ownership of Channel 4 to give it the tools it needs to succeed in the future as a public service broadcaster while protecting its distinctiveness.

The main benefits of the Bill would be:

● Delivering a new public service remit for TV while making sure public service broadcasters continue to service audiences across the UK with universallyavailable, high-quality programming.

● Making sure public service broadcast 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.

● Enabling a change of ownership of Channel 4 so it can continue to thrive and grow its impact for years to come as part of the wider public service broadcasting system.

● Protecting viewers using video-on-demand services through a new Video-on-

Demand Code, to be drafted and enforced by Ofcom.

● Removing a threat to the freedom and sustainability of the press by repealing

Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013.

The main elements of the Bill are:

● Ensuring that public service content is prominent, available and easily accessible across a range of platforms.

● Updating the public broadcasting framework to better facilitate the delivery of public service broadcasting through digital platforms and promoting the production and distribution of distinctively British content.

● Giving Ofcom new regulatory powers to draft and enforce a Video-on-Demand

Code to make sure services which target and profit from UK audiences are subject to stricter rules protecting UK audiences from harmful material.

● Allowing for the conversion of Channel 4 from a statutory corporation to a new corporate structure that could be sold, and other changes concerning Channel 4’s obligations and remit to ensure the sustainability of the broadcaster.

● Updating the public service remit of S4C (Sianel Pedwar Cymru), the Welsh language television service, to include digital and online services. Removing the current geographical broadcasting restrictions so that S4C can broaden its reach and offer its content on a range of new platforms in the UK and beyond.

● Repealing Section 40 of the Crime and Courts Act 2013 which would (if commenced) force new publishers to pay the costs of any court judgment if they were not a member of the approved regulator, regardless of the outcome of the court judgment.

Territorial extent and application

● The Bill will extend and apply across the UK.

Key facts

● In 2019, the UK’s public service broadcasters were able to spend just under £3.2 billion on the content they showed. Whereas, Netflix alone spent an estimated $13.9 billion (£11.5 billion).

● 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.

● The UK has a unique broadcasting ecology, worth about £12 billion a year and responsible for 180,000 jobs across the UK (including film).

● Independent production in the UK is now booming - revenues have grown from £500 million in 1995 to £3 billion in 2020.