Quick Take: Streaming to face UK regulation

What could this mean for British screen entertainment?

It is widely known in the entertainment industry that if you want to make a product that will reach mainland Chinese audiences, say a blockbuster movie or television episode, then you had better be prepared to bend the knee. That’s to say a lot of re-writes, editing, and political approval.

Of course China is a javelins throw away in comparison to the UK when it comes to the freedom of exhibition, but that isn’t to say the recent news of proposed regulation on streaming is totally unworthy of worry. On the contrary, just like New Hollywood split from Classical Hollywood and DVD from VHS, streaming has become the new age format of storytelling. Its popularity comes primarily from two simple factors. 1) Its digital and therefore easily assessible and 2) Its internationally orientated. To stream is to receive imports of film and television from other countries and time periods. Its about the spreading of culture and opening viewers eyes to new ideas about what storytelling can be. That not everything worth watching is in English or colour. That styles can be experimented on in ways you never knew and result in exciting experiences. To streaming services, all creativity is fair game as long as there is an audience willing to pay for it. And for viewers everywhere, streaming is a private investment that promises to bring an endless supply of entertainment straight to your screen. So, what’s the problem exactly?

Money is exactly the point here. Or at least a big factor. No one is being forced to pay for each of the various highly successful services available at your pleasure (Netflix, Prime, Disney ). At the same time no one is being expected, nor can be pressured, to carry on consuming broadcast media. Its no secret that where broadcast is struggling streaming is thriving as an alternative source of content young people are willing to invest in, thus the motivations to make this push for regulation are anything but conspicuous.

According to Ministers, the move is to look at “measures to level the playing field so public service broadcasters can compete with international rivals“. Upon reading this statement I was immediately reminded of the scene in Sacha Baron Cohen’s Dictator (2012) where Aladeen competes in a race with a pistol.

Ofcom, the government approved media regulator at the heart of this matter, are the name responsible for overseeing that all standards of “decency” are met in broadcasting. They enforce rules you may be familiar with such as no nudity or expletives on TV before 9 o’clock – watershed. At which point inconvenienced children must go to bed, log onto their devices, and tick the “Yes, I have a TV license” box in order to carry on consuming.

Currently rules like this do not apply to video-on-demand, though how this could be put into place is not obvious. Services already display age ratings, and Disney for example created Star (a sister channel) especially for showcasing mature adult targeted content. Furthermore parents can create separate accounts and enable parental locks. Afterall, the argument you’ll find constantly thrown in the censorship and protection debate is that everything in the media is supposed to be safe for children. No brand wants to take the risk of being sued because a three year old was able to stumble upon the Saw franchise.

This country has a history of fearing media change and new forms of representation and escapism. Perhaps the most well known case in Britain is that of Mary Whitehouse. In the late 60s to her death in 1990, Whitehouse led a mothers campaign to call for a Christian friendly media industry, fearing that all the violence, sex, and vulgar language a programme could contain was promoting the acceptance of bad and immoral behaviour. Her petitions failed to hold any significant influence or impact, as channels multiplied and demographics split off to become more specific in taste. Therefore one single channel no longer needed to be safe for a broad audience, but could cater to separate ones. Remember the wacky and fringe reputation of BBC 3 before it went online? Exactly, no Antiques Roadshow there. Though the idea that content, however it is consumed and spread, should be moderated has always existed. Whether it be the MPAA in the US or the BBFC here, the censorship industry only exists because there are those who are fearful of a more diverse growing network of storytelling escaping their reach. Everyone’s idea of acceptability is going to be different, and that has always been the problem.

But putting children and cost aside, what of the creative impact?

For a company such as Netflix that started out in 2003 with the mission to promote and distribute all kinds of movies and boxsets, they have grown exponentially fast to become one of the key players in film and television making worldwide. They no longer rely on customers to buy rentals, but governments and studio partnerships to produce inhouse originals and boost economies. Originals that need set locations and production teams, actors and next generation filmmakers. I would bet good money that plans have been made to establish permanent bases of operations in the UK in order to tap directly into the much fought after resources we offer.

Netflix and Disney have both pledged huge sums of investment in productions set in the UK, a lifeline that couldn’t have been more needed for our arts and entertainment sector after the financial dwindling of Brexit and Covid. Could this regulating not be a shot in the foot for what is arguably one of the most prosperous industries in modern culture and art? And its not like the long existing partnerships between UK broadcasters and streaming brands have been fruitful and resulted in some of the most critically acclaimed entertainment. Oh no. Good Omens and Ripper Street (BBC & Amazon), the latter of which was resurrected by Amazon, or The End Of The F\**ing World* (Channel 4 & Netflix) have proven that great quality viewer popular programming can be made here, and that audiences are happy to watch where its available – that includes yes our broadcast channels.

Britbox alone, though a good idea to promote British entertainment and feed an already anglophile present craving in America, just won’t be enough to compete on a serious level of fan devotion. Its time we started rewarding the streaming industry for the potential and successes they see in UK production, and not bite the hand that feeds us Witcher, Enola Holmes, Sex Education and more.

[1105]