Posted in: Movies, Netflix, Netflix, streaming, TV | Tagged: amazon, disney plus, england, hulu, max, netflix, prime video, uk

Netflix May Pull Content from UK; Challenges Media Bill, Penalties

To avoid penalties should a new Media Bill pass UK Parliament, reports are Netflix may start pulling films & shows in the UK.

If you're a Netflix subscriber in the UK, then you might just be facing a lot fewer options to choose from in the near future. With a Media Bill under consideration in Parliament, the passage would see streaming services being policed by media regulator Ofcom in the same manner as it does traditional broadcast networks. In dollars and cents? What that means is that Ofcom could fine Netflix, Amazon's Prime Video, Max, Disney+, and other streamers for not adhering to those standards – up to £250,000 ($310,000) for carrying harmful content that does not adhere to a level of impartiality. Needless to say, the streaming services have been punching back – including Netflix.

Responding to the measure in a submission to the UK Parliament's Culture, Media & Sport Committee, Netflix made the most obvious argument. When it comes to content libraries, there is no comparison between… say… Netflix and BBC One. The new regulation would require streamers to be on 24/7 watch over their ever-growing libraries, pulling content that may have only had a brief life on the streaming service. "The range and variety of Netflix's content, generally considered a strength of our offering in terms of maximising choice for British viewers, could equally become a potential source of risk from a compliance perspective if it fell within Ofcom's remit," Netflix argued in its submission (a point that Disney+ and others have also made in previous submissions to the committee). "Without considerably greater clarity around the scope and application of these provisions, it would inevitably be easier to remove content pre-emptively from our UK catalogue than risk an onerous compliance burden and potential liability," the response continued, making the streamer's case for preemptively pulling films & shows.

Another key argument being made by the streaming services is that they are a choice, in that viewers actively log onto a streaming service and actively look for programming content. But with broadcast networks, it's much easier for a view to come across programming they consider to be harmful. Then there's the matter of what's referred to as "complaint tourism," in which streaming services in the UK could be penalized for complaints lodged with Ofcom from outside of the UK. And there's the point that Netflix UK's head of policy, Benjamin King, made back in April that such harsh "impartiality" rules could have a devastating impact on documentaries being made available to British audiences.

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