Netflix: is it killing off British telly?

The Commons' Culture, Media and Sport Committee recently recommended that online streaming services such as Netflix should be asked to pay 5% of their UK revenues into a pot to be used to fund home-made dramas.

The committee's concern is that British shows could potentially disappear from the telly as public broadcasters get battered by competition.

Netflix and the other streamers would be able to tap into money from the fund, as long as this is going to be for a co-production with a UK broadcaster.

A 5% tax would also solve an increasing problem with domestic production: the wealthy, global streamers have driven production costs so high that high-end drama is no longer within our public service broadcasters' means to make – their production of this kind of show fell by 25% last year, to a record low since 2019. Already, they would no longer be able to make a Wolf Hall or a Mr Bates vs. The Post Office. But the streamers won't be funding these dramas themselves because they have very little value abroad beyond Britain.

Streaming services are already dominating the viewing market... the number of UK viewers watching streaming services has risen from 20% to 70% in the last decade; while coverage of British-owned channels has fallen to a record low of 75.5%.

Of course, Netflix et al do pay their way into our creative industries: they've invested billions in the UK, and given work to thousands of actors, writers, musicians and technicians. But as they own the intellectual property rights, all the revenues from those UK-based productions – such as Netflix global blockbuster Adolescence – "returns to the US".

Final thoughts...

Some EU countries already impose a levy on US streamers to fund their creative industries. Maybe Britain has to be a little more ruthless in protecting its cultural legacy. Otherwise, we’ll end up on “the second tier of the creative world – as respected hired hands and backroom boffins doing the bidding of those who actually run the ranch”.

Posted Using INLEO