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No levy on streaming services yet – minister

The Government has approved changes to draft legislation on broadcasting that include a requirement for ministerial consent before the introduction of any levy on services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime.

The proposed levy, to be imposed by the media regulator Coimisiún na Meán (CnaM), was to have helped fund home-produced content.

Patrick O’Donovan (Minister for Arts, Media, Communications, Culture and Sport) said, however, that he had “no intention” of directing or allowing “until such a time as I am satisfied that such a levy will not impose an undue burden".

Independent sector

The revised general scheme of the Broadcasting (Amendment) Bill approved today (10 April) includes other changes to draft legislation first published before the general election last year.

Under the proposals, RTÉ will be required by law to spend at least 25% of its public funding on content commissioned from the independent production sector.

CnaM will be allowed to increase this percentage, with ministerial agreement, in the context of three-year reviews of the adequacy of public funding.

The bill would also exclude RTÉ and TG4 from applying for direct public funding under a media fund for public-service broadcasting. The department says that this is because they are already receiving public funding to fulfil their statutory public-service objectives.

Codes extended

The revised bill will also extend media codes, duties, and rules to all content published by RTÉ and TG4 – including website content and podcasts.

“As more and more of us move beyond traditional TV and radio, the content RTÉ and TG4 publish by way of podcasts, on their website, and streamed content must be held to the same high standards as that broadcast through linear channels,” said Minister O’Donovan.

In other changes, RTÉ and TG4 will be required to submit their performance commitments to CnaM in draft form for the years 2026 and 2027.

The two broadcasters will also have to publish an anonymised list of employee benefits and contractor remuneration.