The CEOs of nine UK broadcasters have issued a statement calling on the UK parliament to pass the proposed Media Bill before it is prorogued on Friday, 24 May.
The Bill is currently at its “third reading” stage in the House of Lords.
The statement says: “As leading CEOs from the UK broadcasting industry, we call on politicians across parliament not to let the opportunity to modernise the rules that govern our sector pass.
“The Media Bill as currently drafted is widely supported across industry and parliament itself and has undergone parliamentary scrutiny in the Select Committee and both Houses of Parliament, having completed second reading and committee stage in both houses,” it continues.
“The reforms proposed in the Bill will update key aspects of media legislation for the online TV era, to ensure audiences continue to benefit from the highest quality UK-originated content from the PSBs, and help the UK’s content sector thrive for years to come.”
The statement is signed by Sky’s Dana Strong, ITV’s Carolyn McCall, Tim Davie from the BBC, Channel 4’s Alex Mahon, Channel 5/Paramount’s Sarah Rose, STV’s Simon Pitts, Sioned Wiliam from S4C, MG Alba’s Domhnall Campbell and ITN’s Rachel Corp.
The Media Bill’s main points are:
- Plans to bring video-on-demand services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, wherever they’re based, under new Ofcom rules more aligned with the existing rules for linear broadcasters;
- Changes aimed to ensure public service broadcasters’ on-demand services are easy to discover on smart TVs and streaming sticks;
- VoD services to be required to provide subtitles, audio description and signing to support disabled people;
- Updates to requirements for what content Public Service Broadcasters must show, and changes to the listed events regime
