U.K. Streaming Levy Officially Rejected by Government: 'We Support a Mixed Ecology'
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.
More from The Hollywood Reporter
Spike Lee's 'Highest 2 Lowest' to Kick Off Opening Weekend of Martha's Vineyard African American Film Festival
BBC Deemed Bob Vylan "High Risk" Before Glastonbury Set, Moves Staff Off Live Events Team
Italian Film Chief Resigns Amid Probe Into Tax Credit for U.S. Producer Now Accused of Double Murder
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.'
'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 THR when 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.
Best of The Hollywood Reporter
From 'Party in the U.S.A.' to 'Born in the U.S.A.': 20 of America's Most Patriotic (and Un-Patriotic) Musical Offerings
Most Anticipated Concert Tours of 2025: Beyoncé, Billie Eilish, Kendrick Lamar & SZA, Sabrina Carpenter and More
Hollywood's Most Notable Deaths of 2025
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
27 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Strong Content Portfolio Aids DIS Prospects: What's the Path Ahead?
Disney DIS generates a substantial portion of its revenues from the Entertainment segment (45.2% in second-quarter fiscal 2025), which includes Linear Networks (22.7% of Entertainment revenues), Direct-to-Consumer (57.3%), and Content sales/Licensing and other (20%) ('DTC') business, which offers Disney+ and Hulu, has been prolific in driving Disney's prospects, thanks to a strong content portfolio. At the end of the fiscal second quarter, Disney+ had 126 million subscribers, while Hulu reported 54.7 million has been unrelenting in its efforts to expand its content portfolio globally. Its exciting pipeline includes Miley Cyrus: Something Beautiful, Lilo & Stitch, Pixar's Elio, Marvel's The Fantastic Four: First Steps, Freakier Friday, Zootopia 2 and strategy to scale the DTC business by offering Disney+ and Hulu drives user experience. Its initiatives to improve the user interface through enhanced personalisation and customization features are noteworthy. The company's plan to increase investments in local content outside the United States is another major growth is set to launch 'ESPN,' expanding its DTC service. The new platform will streamline access to every live event and studio show across ESPN's network and ESPN+ content. It will also provide an opportunity to bundle the service with Disney+ and Hulu's streaming services, thereby creating a major new revenue stream. Disney wrestles with Netflix NFLX and Comcast CMCSA in the streaming is benefiting from a growing subscriber base, fueled by a robust portfolio of localized and foreign-language content, and healthy engagement, with about two hours of viewing per member per day, indicating strong member retention. NFLX's advertising tier now accounts for more than 55% of new sign-ups in available markets. The 2025 content slate, with returning hit shows like Squid Game, Wednesday and Stranger Things, holds streaming business, led by Peacock, is benefiting from a content strategy that centers around a wide mix of programming. This includes NBCUniversal originals, next-day NBC and Bravo shows, Pay-One movies like Wicked, and a strong lineup of live sports — all aimed at appealing to a broad audience and driving consistent streaming engagement across different user groups. DIS shares have appreciated 11.4% in the year-to-date period, underperforming both the Zacks Consumer Discretionary sector's return of 12.9% and the Zacks Media Conglomerates industry's appreciation of 14.0%. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research From a valuation standpoint, DIS stock is currently trading at a trailing 12-month Price/Earnings ratio of 21.60X compared with the industry's 24.40X. DIS has a Value Score of B. Image Source: Zacks Investment Research The Zacks Consensus Estimate for Disney's 2025 earnings is pegged at $5.78 per share, up by a couple of cents over the past 7 days. This indicates a 16.3% increase from the figure reported in the year-ago quarter. The Walt Disney Company price-consensus-chart | The Walt Disney Company Quote DIS currently carries a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy). You can see the complete list of today's Zacks #1 Rank (Strong Buy) stocks here. Want the latest recommendations from Zacks Investment Research? Today, you can download 7 Best Stocks for the Next 30 Days. Click to get this free report Comcast Corporation (CMCSA) : Free Stock Analysis Report Netflix, Inc. (NFLX) : Free Stock Analysis Report The Walt Disney Company (DIS) : Free Stock Analysis Report This article originally published on Zacks Investment Research ( Zacks Investment Research Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
Geek Tyrant
an hour ago
- Geek Tyrant
Ronda Rousey Biopic Finds Its Director in EUPHORIA's Augustine Frizzell — GeekTyrant
Netflix has officially tapped Euphoria pilot director Augustine Frizzell to helm the long-developing Ronda Rousey biopic, and it's shaping up to be a knockout behind the scenes already. The film is based on Rousey's bestselling memoirs My Fight/Your Fight and Our Fight , which she co-wrote with her sister Maria Burns Ortiz. Chernin Entertainment is producing, and Deadline reports that Frizzell, who is a fan of Rousey and no stranger to combat sports, was the clear choice after an impressive pitch. 'Frizzell had read both memoirs before she got the call to meet on it and knew right away this job needed to be hers,' sources say. Turns out, Frizzell not only respects Rousey's story, she actively trains in Muay Thai herself. What makes this project even more intriguing is how Rousey's own journey into storytelling set it all in motion. While working with WME's story group to study screenwriting structure, Rousey reportedly read dozens of scripts… then sat down and wrote her own in just seven days. Her agents were stunned. According to Deadline: 'The script was soon taken to market, with Chernin moving fast to land a meeting and come on as producers.' There was a clear priority to bring on a female director for the project, and after meeting with several candidates, Frizzell quickly rose to the top. The collaboration seems like a perfect fit. Frizzell has Netflix ties already, having recently directed half the episodes of The Boroughs , the upcoming series produced by the Duffer Brothers ( Stranger Things ). This biopic has been a long time coming. Originally set up at Paramount in 2015 following the release of My Fight/Your Fight, the rights eventually lapsed due to studio shakeups. Netflix ultimately picked it up, with exec Michelle Evans, reportedly a longtime Rousey fan, championing the project internally. Now, the film will draw not just from Rousey's first memoir but also Our Fight , which dives deeper into some of the most personal and difficult chapters of her life. That includes her crushing loss to Holly Holm, her mental health struggles, early signs of head trauma before MMA, and the complexities of her relationship with coach Edmond Tarverdyan. This is shaping up to be an interesting project.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
A Marine Scientist on 'All the Sharks' Explains Why Kids Shouldn't Fear These Apex Predators
David Attenborough is now legendary for his dominance over various epic and educational nature documentaries. His narration has been instrumental in helping viewers become invested in wildlife and the ecosystems in which they live. And thanks to him, that style of nature show skyrocketed in popularity among families. But now entertainment is advocating for the cause of conservation and environmentalism in a new way: the reality competition show. In a new Netflix show called All the Sharks, premiering on July 4, 2025, ecologists, biologists, journalists, photographers, and other experts team up travel around the globe, photographing as many species of sharks as they can. The pair who captures 'all the sharks' wins $50,000 to donate to the charity of their choice. This daring, high stakes competition brings the wonder and awe that sharks inspire into the spotlight—but it also centers the scientists who study them. Ultimately, the goal is similar to one that Attenborough has long championed: Using a close-up view of nature to inspire viewers, and a new generation in particular, to protect and advocate for our planet and all its creatures. Here, Parents speaks to one of the scientists who competes on the show, Chris Malinowski, PhD, (who will start releasing some of the research he gathered while shooting on the Instagram account Instagram account @shark_docs) about why kids shouldn't fear, but appreciate sharks, his realistic experience diving with them, and his advice to kids who are interested in pursuing marine science. You know, I totally get it when kids are scared of sharks. I was that kid! My older brother and sister used to terrorize me by yelling "shark!" whenever I was swimming in our lake in Wisconsin. I'd panic and scramble out of the water as fast as I could. The truth is, sharks aren't out there plotting to get us. Most sharks are actually pretty small, less than 3 feet long, and they're absolutely crucial to keeping our ocean healthy. Sharks are basically a sign of a healthy ecosystem. When sharks aren't there, that's actually the scary part, because it usually means humans have impacted their populations through overfishing, pollution, or development. Think of sharks as the architects of marine ecosystems. Whether they're in shallow coastal waters, coral reefs, the open ocean, or the deep sea, they help to control entire food webs and keep fish populations balanced. They're also like living nutrient delivery trucks, migrating vast distances, and moving essential nutrients between different ocean habitats to keep ecosystems thriving. Healthy shark populations help maintain the ocean balance that produces much of the oxygen we breathe and supports the fisheries that feed billions of people worldwide. So, protecting sharks isn't just about ocean health; it's about keeping our entire planet in balance. Instead of teaching kids to fear sharks, I'd love to see us help them appreciate these incredible animals for what they really are: essential guardians that deserve our respect and protection. I think photographing sharks the way we did on the show really gets people engaged. We made it a priority to showcase the incredible variety of sharks and rays out there, not just the big, scary ones everyone expects. What I love about photographing sharks and rays in different regions around the world is that we get to show people the amazing range of species, some that people may not even guess are sharks. Most shark programming is conditioned to show the same big predatory species like great whites, which are incredible, don't get me wrong, but there are so many other fascinating species out there that never get the spotlight. When you see a wobbegong shark that looks like a carpet, or the tiny, camouflaged puffadder shyshark, it totally changes your perspective. And when people get excited about something, there's no doubt they start caring more about protecting it. Here's the thing people don't realize: When you're scuba diving, sharks are often the least of your concerns. The real challenges are the technical stuff: strong currents, low visibility, cold water, managing your air consumption, depth profiling, navigation. Those are the actual risks. The show had medical staff with us at all times, which made us a lot more comfortable in some of the diving situations we were in. Getting to observe sharks in their natural habitat? That's the incredible reward when everything goes as planned. The risk of being attacked is extremely low. We've all heard those statistics: You're more likely to be struck by lightning or hit by a falling coconut than attacked by a shark. With millions of people in the water every day swimming, surfing, diving, the International Shark Attack File only confirmed 47 unprovoked shark bites worldwide last year. That's pretty remarkable when you think about it. Most sharks just cruise right past you. Some might get close out of curiosity, the same way we're curious about things we don't see often, but they generally keep their distance. For me personally, I never feel afraid around sharks anymore. That probably comes from decades of experience. Of course, I've also learned to sense when a shark is acting strange and know when to get out of the water. But I've never lost that sense of excitement. Every shark encounter is different, and when I say this show gave me some of the most thrilling moments I've ever had in the water, that's no exaggeration. This is such an incredibly important time to get into conservation! When I started down this path more than 20 years ago, it was crucial then, but it's only become more urgent. My biggest advice? Learn as much as you can about the natural world and actually experience nature to gain that deep appreciation for it. I know this is getting harder with all the technological distractions and loss of natural spaces, but that's exactly why it's more important than ever. We're honestly at a tipping point with climate change and ocean health. But I don't want that to sound like doom and gloom—it's a call for action. This field is incredibly rewarding because you can make real change, even if it starts at the local level. For sharks specifically, unsustainable fishing practices are the biggest threat, combined with climate change effects and other human impacts like pollution and development. So managing our fisheries better and controlling overconsumption of endangered species is critical work that needs doing. Whatever career path kids choose, I encourage them to build conservation into their lives somehow. That's what we need to create a positive future, one where humans work with the natural world instead of just extracting from it. We have the power to have either a positive or negative impact, and right now, we get to choose which direction we go. Read the original article on Parents
