UK MPs call for streamer levy to boost film and high-end TV industry

In a new report, the Culture, Media and Sport (CMS) committee urged the government to step up the assistance it provides for British film and high-end television.

The report said it welcomed the Government’s stated ambition to make the UK the best place to make film and high-end television, but warns that there must be no complacency over its status as a global production hub and calls for a regular assessment of tax incentives to maintain investment from overseas. 

At the same time, the report recommends a series of measures to halt the decline of domestic production of culturally distinct British film and programmes.

It said the introduction last year of the Independent Film Tax Credit was a welcome first step for the film industry, but that the Government should go further, or producers will continue to struggle to develop and raise finance for films, and those that are made will not be seen by audiences. 

The Committee calls for a tax credit to support the distribution of lower-budget films, among other measures to support independent film. 

The Committee further warns that without urgent intervention, the problems seen in independent film will extend to the domestic high-end TV sector, where competition from high-budget overseas production is driving up costs, revenue models are changing due to the terms offered by streamers and commissioning budgets of public service broadcasters are being squeezed by a fall in the licence fee and drop in advertising revenue.  

It calls for enhanced tax incentives for domestic high-end TV, and for streamers, such as Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV+ and Disney+, to pay 5% of their UK subscriber revenue into a cultural fund to help finance drama with a specific interest to British audiences. 

The report also makes a range of recommendations on how to bolster skills and worker rights in the industry.

The report also says that the Government should require licensing of creative works in all cases where they are used to train AI models. 

Dame Caroline Dinenage MP, Chair of the CMS Committee, said: “Big box-office blockbusters made in Britain have showcased the UK’s world-class film and high-end television industry like never before. But the boom in inward investment of recent years now risks crowding out our many talented independent British producers. While streamers like Netflix and Amazon have proved a valuable addition for the industry and economy, unless the Government urgently intervenes to rebalance the playing field, for every ‘Adolescence’ adding to the national conversation, there will be countless distinctly British stories that never make it to our screens. 

“From independent production through to cinemas, all parts of our film and high-end TV sector, and the talented people that make it such a success, are going through a turbulent time. To neglect just one part puts the entire ecosystem at risk, so it’s therefore vital that the Government goes further and faster across the board to support an industry that is so important to both our economy and our soft power overseas,” she said.