U.K. Streaming Levy Officially Rejected by Government: “We Support a Mixed Ecology”
Panic over, streamers — the U.K. government has rejected calls for a levy on platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime and Disney+.
The streaming tax had been put to the government by Britain’s Culture, Media and Sport Committee in a bid to salvage local British production on high-end television and film, allowing public service broadcasters such as the BBC and ITV to claw back some of the finance hogged by streamers.
It comes as the booming production industry in the U.K. continues to skew toward the platforms. U.K. production spend reached £5.6 billion ($7.9 billion) in 2024, a 31 percent increase since 2023, with £4.8 billion ($6.5 billion) of this total coming from inward investment and co-productions.
In its response, published Thursday, the government did not agree with the proposed 5 percent levy, and instead expressed a wish to see “a healthy, mixed film and TV ecology.”
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“Investment from SVoD [Subscription Video on Demand] services contributes to the success of our domestic sector,” the statement said, noting schemes such as Amazon Prime’s Video Pathway and Disney’s investments in the expansion of Bedfordshire’s National Film and Television School.
The response cited Barbie and Bridgerton‘s £80 million ($109m) and £275 million ($375m) contribution, respectively, to the U.K. economy over the last five years. The regency-era Netflix show has supported 5,000 local business in Britain.
“In line with our objective to support a mixed ecology, we will however continue to engage with major SVoD services, with the independent production sector and with PSBs [Public Service Broadcasters] on how best to ensure mutually beneficial conditions for all parties,” it added.
The government said it would “strongly welcome” increased investment in U.K. content and wants to see more successful co-productions between streamers and PSBs, it concluded, such as the BBC and HBO’s His Dark Materials or the BBC Three-Netflix team-up on A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder.
Netflix alone has invested billions of pounds into the U.K., working with more than 200 producers and 30,000 cast and crew members. “Netflix members have already paid the BBC license fee. A levy would be a double tax on them and us. It’s unfair,” a source close to the matter told THRwhen news of the levy first swirled. “This is a tariff on success. And our members are going to be punished.”
The government response also ruled out a return to the European Union’s Creative Europe. “Whilst we do not have any plans to rejoin Creative Europe, we recognize these sectors’ unique and valuable contributions to Europe’s diverse cultural landscape and the economic benefits that relationship brings.”
Support from the government in this area includes scaling up the U.K. Global Screen Fund — from £7m ($9.5m) to £18m ($24.5m) annually — in a bid to show commitment to increasing U.K. independent screen content’s international reach.
