Will Netf lix get taxpayers’ cash to make news shows?
Radical shake-up proposed by Ofcom
NETFLIX could be given taxpayers’ money to create public service shows, such as news, under Ofcom’s proposals to overhaul the broadcasting industry.
The media regulator yesterday warned UK broadcasting was ‘unlikely to survive in the online world’ unless the system is revamped for the digital age.
One of Ofcom’s radical suggestions was that the public service broadcasters – including the BBC, ITV, Channel 4 and Channel 5 – could unite to launch a single streaming service to rival Netflix and Amazon Prime Video.
And the regulator said measures to protect public service content could include asking providers like Netflix to deliver the programming. They could bid for cash from a ‘contestable fund’ of public money to make the show.
It comes amid criticism of Netflix over its latest series of The Crown and concerns over the fabrication of some scenes.
Ofcom’s chief executive Dame Melanie Dawes yesterday said: ‘There might be ways of bringing in new providers or even providers that are already there, like Netflix or Sky or Discovery, into the [ public service] market.’ Ofcom’s research found audiences are increasingly ‘turning away’ from traditional public service broadcasters, like the BBC, in favour of streaming giants, leaving traditional UK services ‘at a critical juncture’.
Its findings said two in five viewers of streaming services say they can imagine watching no broadcast TV at all in five years’ time.
The report also showed 14.8million households in the UK subscribed to Netflix, with Amazon Prime Video on 9.5million.
Overall, 60 per cent of homes, 17million, subscribe to at least one on-demand service.
Ofcom concluded that there needed to be a radical overhaul of laws and regulations to help preserve the public service broadcasters.
But handing over public cash to Netflix, which is not regulated in the UK, to make content which is regarded as fulfilling a public need would be controversial.
Ofcom said: ‘ Other companies could become public service media providers. Alongside the content provided by existing public service broadcasting, new providers could help deliver public service media in future.’
Its consultation document published yesterday also paved the way for the UK’s broadcasters, such as the BBC, to fulfil their requirements through online services rather than traditional broadcasting. The regulator also said viewers find it difficult to have to use various different services – like BBC iPlayer, ITV Hub and All 4 – to access public service on-demand content.
It said audiences could ‘ benefit significantly’ if the shows were
‘At a critical juncture’
made available through a ‘combined service’.
The report found more than a third of adults can see themselves no longer watching the main channels within the next three years, a figure which rises to more than half among 16 to 34-year-olds.
And Ofcom said while people still value public service content, audiences are increasingly turning to global streaming.
Research found Netflix reaches 66 per cent of 15 to 24-year-olds each week, while BBC iPlayer reaches only 28 per cent. But worryingly the media regulator found older people were also spending less time watching broadcast TV and more time online. It said those aged between 55 and 64 watched nearly 37 minutes less in 2019 than they did in 2010 – with 44 per cent of over-55s owning an internet-connected TV.
The report said it expected digital terrestrial broadcasting to ‘continue to play a significant role for at least the next decade’.
Dame Melanie said that for all the gains viewers had got from change and innovation, there was a risk of ‘losing the kind of outstanding UK content that people really value’.
But she said: ‘We’re not nostalgic about institutions either. We’re basically saying it’s the content that matters to the viewer.’
While the report did not directly address the licence fee and funding methods for the BBC, it pointed out the different ways public service content was funded abroad.
It also said a full subscription model where services are behind a ‘paywall’ would be ‘hard to reconcile’ with the aim of bringing the nation together. A BBC spokesman said: ‘We’re pleased to see Ofcom’s call for regulatory reform that’s fit for a global, digital market place.’
Ofcom’s consultation comes before final recommendations are made to the Government next summer.