MPs call for sampling streaming to help finance the British television production industry

A share of income streaming services from subscription fees should be paid to a fund to support British television production, said an influential group of deputies.

In a new report, the Culture Committee, Media and Sport (CMS) urged the government to improve support measures for producers while protecting the creation of distinctly British content.

He followed an investigation into the British television and cinema industry that examined the effects of the rise of streaming platforms like Netflix, Amazon and Apple TV.

The report noted to what extent “vital” dramas such as adolescence are to the identity of the country ” national conversations And the talent pipeline “, which they think is now” threatened “.

It is time for streamers to put their money where their mouths are, “said the report, suggesting that streaming companies pay” 5% of their sub-revenue income in the United Kingdom in a cultural fund to help finance the drama with specific interest to the British public “.

The president of the CMS committee, the deputy Dame Caroline Dinenage, noted how “the blockbusters of the Big Box-Office made made of Great Britain presented the world class film and the high-end television industry of the United Kingdom as before”.

“But the boom in the internal investment of recent years is now likely to crush our many talented independent British producers,” she said.

She added: “While banners like Netflix and Amazon have turned out to be a precious addition to industry and economics, unless the government urgently intervenes the rules of the game, for each adolescence adding to the national conversation, there will be countless British stories that never reach our screens.”

Adolescence, created by Jack Thorne and Stephen Graham, tells the story of a 13 -year -old boy accused of having killed a classmate.

This week, it has become the fourth series of the most popular English language in the history of Netflix with 114 million views.

A spokesperson for Netflix said: “The United Kingdom is the largest Netflix production center outside North America-and we want it to remain.

“But in an increasingly competitive global market, it is essential to create a commercial environment which encourages rather than penalizing investments, risk taking and success. Samples decrease competitiveness and penalize audiences that have finally increased costs.”

The Association for Commercial Displayers and on-demand services (COBA) said that levy is likely to harm streamers’ investment in the United Kingdom.

COBA Executive Director Adam Minns said: “In particular in this economic climate, a direct debit influencing existing content budgets for emissions, jobs and growth of the United Kingdom, as well as increased costs for businesses.

“Ironically, this could actually harm the dramas of the public service diffuser by reducing co -production budgets among banners.”

He added pressure on domestic production resulting from the decrease in real conditions of TV license fees.

A BBC spokesman said that the company “continues to invest” in British content but has been faced with “significant financial challenges due to the pressure on license fees and the increase in industry costs”.

“It is therefore an integral part that the BBC and the wider British creative industries have support to stimulate the growth of the creative economy and support localized content and narration.”

The report published Thursday noted how much last year, there was a 27% drop in the number of high-end national television productions made in the United Kingdom and 25% of expenses.

Calls for greater help come after the director of Wolf Hall Peter Kosminsky told BBC News last month that industry was in crisisAnd that public service diffusers, including BBC and ITV, could no longer afford to make a high -end British drama.

The arrival of streamers on the British market “increased the price of everything,” Kosminsky said BBC Radio 4 Thursday, to the point where public service broadcasters “could no longer afford to do their programs, so we need a new pot of money”.

He underlined how 17 other European countries imposed a similar sample “so that the broadcasters of the public service can stay in the game”.

Speaking on the same program, the former BBC controller Peter Fincham, replied by saying that he did not agree.

“I think it looks a bit like a price – to use a more fashionable word – and makes it a form of protectionism.”

A spokesperson for the Culture Media and Sports Department (DCMS) said: “We recognize the challenges facing our brilliant film and television industry and work with it thanks to our industrial strategy to consider what must be done to unlock growth and develop the skills pipeline.

“We thank the committee for its report to which we are responding in due time.”

The report also noted The introduction of tax alternatives For independent British films, and for cinematographic and televised studios in England, it was not a “miracle solution” to solve many problems facing British producers.

In addition to providing higher support and resources for British television production staff, the report also suggested that legislators should consider reducing VAT on film tickets and doing more to meet the challenges posed by AI.

Paul W Fleming, secretary general of equity, who represents British artists, said that the government should “take into account the call” for the license of creative works in all cases where they are used to form models of artificial intelligence.

“AI is illegally built by stealing the works of members of equity,” he said.

Large technological companies “must be held to count,” he added, “brought to the table and made to pay the creators of what they should”.

The intermediary committee has recommended that the Government and the British Film Institute (BFI) should launch a national awareness campaign, highlighting the employment opportunities offered by cinema and high -end television, and “the range of skills that the industry needs”.

He underlined how the industry “benefits a lot of flexibility offered by an independent predominance workforce” and, therefore, should be done to “support the freelancers when they are without work”; as the introduction of a minimum hourly wage or guaranteed basic income.

The head of the Benctu industry union, Philippa Childs, said: “We welcome this appropriate and incisive report of the committee which identifies many of the urgent challenges to which industry and workforce.”

She added: “It is essential that the industry does not become too biased towards the big banners, which risks the homogenization of the content and the loss of a large part of the unique and distinctive production of the United Kingdom.”