Britain is moving to place the largest streaming services under tighter Ofcom oversight, extending broadcast-style content rules to major on-demand platforms after years of lighter or uneven regulation. The change, announced Tuesday as part of the Media Act 2024 rollout, will apply to services with more than 500,000 UK users and is expected to capture Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+, ITVX and Channel 4’s streaming service.
The shift gives Ofcom power to take viewer complaints about covered platforms, investigate possible breaches and enforce sanctions, with financial penalties of up to £250,000 or 5% of qualifying UK revenue per breach. Ministers said the new standards code will mirror core protections already used for broadcasters, including rules on harmful or offensive material, privacy and fairness, plus due accuracy and due impartiality in news.
Officials framed the move as a response to audience behavior. Government statements, citing Ofcom’s Media Nations 2025 data, said 85% of adults use a video-on-demand service each month, compared with 67% who watch live TV, and two-thirds of households subscribe to at least one major streamer. Reuters reported the same figures as the government’s rationale for bringing streamers into closer alignment with broadcast rules.
A parallel accessibility package sets minimum targets for subtitles, audio description and signing on major services, with a four-year compliance window and interim targets after two years. Disability groups welcomed the move while pressing platforms to exceed the minimums. RNID said providers should move faster than the legal floor, and RNIB called the audio-description requirement a long-awaited step for blind and partially sighted viewers.
The policy also leaves room for debate. A government designation statement says the draft Tier 1 regulations are scheduled to be laid in March and take effect on 1 April 2026, while exempting individual channels on video-sharing platforms from the Tier 1 threshold on proportionality grounds. BBC iPlayer is also exempt for now under the BBC Framework Agreement, with a later shift planned. That carve-out structure is likely to shape industry arguments during Ofcom’s upcoming consultations on the new standards and accessibility codes.
