Government to Regulate Online Streaming Platforms in UK

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On Wednesday, 23rd June 2021, the government of United Kingdom has announced the plans for subjecting the online streaming platforms for the strict regulations as a part of a wider shake-up of the media landscape of the United Kingdom, and under the proposals, the services of the online streaming platforms including Disney, Netflix, and Amazon Prime Video are going to be facing the same level of the regulation as the traditional broadcasters that has been including ITV, BBC and Sky.

Oliver Dowden, culture secretary of United Kingdom said, the review is going to be levelling the playing field between the services of the video-on-demand services and the broadcasters. The television channels in the United Kingdom will now have to follow a broadcasting code, which is set by the regulator known as the Office of Communications (Ofcom), that has been covering the areas like harmful content and the areas requiring impartiality in the news programmes.

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But on the other hand, the online platforms, along with the exception of the iPlayer service of BBC, will be facing lighter regulation, that is primarily limited to the protection of the children and prevention of the content that spreads hatred, and Apple TV and Netflix are regulated at all in the United Kingdom.

The reforms are also aiming at increasing the online prominence of the public service broadcasters for ensuring their program, that can be easily found and accessed easily on the smart TVs and various other devices, and Oliver Dowden also said, technology has been responsible in transforming the broadcasting in UK, but the rules, which are responsible in protecting the viewers and helping their traditional channels to compete are from a different analogue age.