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A LEVY ON streaming services such as Netflix and Amazon Prime should be introduced to fund independent Irish productions, a Dáil committee has recommended.
The move has been welcomed by Screen Producers Ireland (SPI), who say it could a raise a minimum of €23 million in additional funding for the creation of original Irish content.
The report by the Oireachtas Committee on Media also recommends the creation of an Online Safety Commissioner post, with powers to police and regulate harmful content on social media platforms.
Committee chair, Fianna Fail TD Niamh Smyth, said the new legislation would “place Ireland among the first countries in the world to provide systemic regulation of online platforms”.
SPI CEO Susan Kirby said: “The Oireachtas Media Committee has shown strong, cross-party support today for the Irish independent production sector by not only recommending a new content levy on online media services, but also clearly stating that it should only be accessed by the Irish independent production sector.
This levy, which would be no extra cost to the exchequer, has been identified by (economic consultants) Indecon that it could raise a minimum of €23 million in additional funding for the creation of original Irish content.
Kirby said the SPI was grateful to the committee for “taking our concerns into consideration” ahead of the development of the report, adding that they looked forward to “further engagement” with them over the coming months as the legislation is debated in the Oireachtas.
“SPI’s focus now is the introduction of the content levy without delay so that new funding possibilities for Irish producers to create original Irish content for Irish, and international audiences, happen,” she said.
The committee has recommended the measure not be introduced until its viability can be researched and reviewed by the Media Commission.
The recommendations were made in the Pre-Legislative Scrutiny of the General Scheme of the Online Safety and Media Regulation Bill 2020, published today.
Smyth said: “We call for an individual complaints mechanism to be established for designated online platforms, for an Online Safety Commissioner to be explicitly included in the legislation, for designated online platforms to be required to provide data for public interest research, and for children’s navigation of online spaces to be protected so as not to render them vulnerable to data profiling or to harmful advertisements.
“At the forefront of the Committee’s approach to this pre-legislative scrutiny process was the Irish citizen.
“Our 33 recommendations champion effective and robust measures to deliver an optimal regulatory framework for the online environment and overarching mediascape insofar as these fall within the scope of the Bill.”
The Bill would also require social media platforms provide a quarterly report to the Media Commission on their complaints handling.
It would introduce a minimum age requirement for children to create accounts on designated online services and introduce a ban on advertising to children online, with junk food, advertising, alcohol and gambling specifically outlined.
Disinformation and financial harm, including online gambling, would be designated as “harmful content” under the Bill.
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Reduce the TV licence accordingly, then no problem.
@Philip Cooper: Absolutely spot on! What the hell are they doing with the TV license? That’s exactly what it’s supposed to be for, not covering RTEs losses
@Philip Cooper: Only one way I can see this going though, an increase to the TV licence. Price of everything else has shot up, might as well add this to the list. Sigh.
@Local Ore: we all know what they are doing with the licence fee. It’s to pay overrated TV hosts.
@Dave Barrett: with no actual talent
@Dave Barrett: because if we don’t pay them far more than their worth they’ll be snatched by the BBC……………….allegedly
@Gary Carr: good
The government call it a levy, we call it a tax
Another tax for something no one wants. I already pay a TV license for rte which i NEVER watch. This is basically stealing…they want to charge for something they didnt create and dont distribute or sell.
@Stephen Nix: we can be lucky that it’s not like in germany where the tv license is basically a mandatory “tax” regardless if you don’t own a tv, radio, smart phone, pc. You have to pay it no matter what. Here is easy, dump your tv, sign a form and no license anymore.
“This levy, which would be no extra cost to the exchequer”
Why would a levy cost the exchequer anything? We know who it’s going to cost
@Аня Владимировна: I found that line funny as well. They have absolutely lost the plot.
NETFLIX and their peers already pay to acquire and produce content. If the Screen Producers Ireland (SPI) produce something worth buying, then it will sell, or is the levy to pay for content that nobody wants to watch?
@Jules: People will watch what they like and ignore what they don’t, whether that be sports or movies, which is what they’re doing. Exploiting this, lets call it what it is, taxing it, in order to fund that which is already funded by the TV license is not going to improve Irish content.
If this tax was attempted it would be guaranteed to anger both the companies involved and the Irish public, who see many of those employed by RTÉ as having over inflated egos their salaries struggle to keep up with. The loser in such a ‘skirmish’ will not be several large companies worth billions each, it’ll be RTÉ, so bring it on.
No need for a levy. If there is enough quality out there then it will be commissioned. Unfortunately, the vast majority of Irish produced small screen media is terribly sub par. I would baulk at the thoughts of paying a levy to help fund things like Fair City, Bachelors Walk, Red Rock, Dancing with the Stars, Ireland’s fittest family etc etc.
Bear in mind, this will be on top of the proposed household media charge which will replace the TV license.
Look at how South Korea developed itself into a net exporter of media and music for an example of how this can be done with entrepreneurship, strategic planning and positive policy and not just by milking taxpayers for free money.
@Lee King Buckett: well said
Now the government wants to put up the price of my netflix sub, sound..
Another few hundred mill for the top brass at rte? I’d rather we didn’t fund them more than they already are.
So another tax for the rest of us to pay along with the tv licence. The tv and film industry is booming in this country at the moment so there is plenty of work to be had even if it’s not “Irish” content. If there was a demand for a project then funding would be obtained from pitching to investors in the industry.
Also if we are now financing these projects do we get a share in any profits these productions make or decide on the salaries some in this field decide to pay themselves?
errrrr why ?
Get up the yard you bleedin chancers
Am hello you charge us a levy….. it’s called a tv licence…… how many of us actually watch main stream TV as like the days of old? Yet we still pay a TV Licence……. Even by this governments standards…… this is a bit Irish!!
Great…… succession. V fair city
Ear to the ground V sopranos
Maura & dathi V the wire
yes RTÉ content is worth saving alright
We need an arethedailatitagain.com site
@Derek Power: we don’t need a web site to tell us. They are always at it! They never stop. Shower of bankers.
Why are we paying TV licence in the first place when most programs are sponsored by some big organisation. The government and rte want it everyway and bleed people dry with various stealth taxes/charges or levies
The journal wouldn’t allow me to comment against rte that’s a strange one
It’s already subsidised & we get nothing but garbage on it the news might as well be a government YouTube channel when we can get a picture. Saorview is dreadful we can’t get Virgin Media if the aerial is slanted to get RTÉ & can’t get RTÉ if we have it set to pick up Virgin. We Have freesat, Disney, Prime, Netflix & Apple TV all crystal clear but the one we pay the most for we can’t actually received. RTÉ on demand even makes you watch all the poxy adverts & if you come back to something the day after you have to watch all the adverts again you can’t fast forward past them. C4 from the UK is the model RTÉ should be aiming for just that network alone produces better content than the whole of RTÉ can come up with, rant over!
@Joe Thorpe: Joe u were on about Disney,can I ask are you with Sky,I’m with them,the entertainment package we have lost some channels since Brexit,I rang Sky about it,especially Sky Atlantic,because I was seeing shows been advertised but not shown here,I don’t know whether this was the truth or not,but the guy I was talking too,told me that they are not allowed show certain programmers in Ireland unless the pay a certain amount to the media body of Ireland and then they can show them,I’m just wondering do u know if it’s true.
Gov already charges a levy / tax on Netflix – they add 23% to the subscription price. VAT.
RTE bigwigs need to have their vastly overpaid salaries kept intact come hell or high water it seems..
Would ye ever FOCK OFF. If RTE stopped paying some of it’s useless presenters exhorbitant salaries they wouldn’t be continuously whinging & looking for more money every bloody year. The mismanagement is staggering and they shouldn’t get an extra cent. Just because they can’t manage their budgets properly the rest of us should pay a levy on other services (that have nothing to do with RTE). Take a hike
Maybe RTE should get its act together first. Their app is a total disgrace, advertising that’s the only thing works on it. We all had to go to the expense of a saoirview because RTE couldn’t just go freeview but made some deal with Sky at our expense. Maybe state broadcaster get your house in order so we don’t have to go looking for streaming sites that don’t bombard us with advertising.
This is an absolute joke, why in god’s name should those with subscriptions to Netflix or Amazon have to pay a levy, so that Independent Irish Productions can bring out Irish content. If I want to watch Irish programs (which I don’t) I would watch RTE, but I would much rather watch Netflix, Sky, BBC etc, and for all of those I already pay a subscription. This is yet another ridiculous example of our government deciding to tax us all to death so that we will buy Irish.
@The Firestarter: Would agree with everything you said but this wasn’t a government decision it was a dail committee with cross party representation.
Maximum salary should be capped in RTE. not one of the presenters in the place is worth over 100k a year. Seriously if Daithi o Sè wasn’t in RTE he’d be selling cabbages in a market somewhere. Tubridy on 400k? Not like he’s going to be snapped up by CNN in a hurry, unless they are looking for something long and pointy to hang their jackets on. They need to have a long look at their payroll, hire some new younger talent, preferably that aren’t related to the lepers in there past or present. And finally scrap Fair City, anyone who watches that should be neutered.
As long as it’s all independent productions and not going to an organisation funded by the TV license, then I have no problem with paying an additional €1-2 per month for this.
@Pat Doran: My Netflix and Disney + subs have already increase, to be honest I’m not willing to pay anymore “levies”.
@Jonathan McCoy: Then cancel if you don’t want to pay any more. Any increases added right now are by the content producers. Nothing to do with this suggested levy. Should be a thread about saving money over on Boards or Reddit if you’re interested.
@Pat Doran: I’d be more than happy to pay Netflix more money for the content they make. I’m most definitely not happy with the government decidong tax me for content the don’t make or have any ownership rights to.
A commission has taken place and a report has been made, in this report the stakeholders agreed that this commision was a nice little handy gray train and recomends creation of a levy to pay for some useless bureaucrats that can affect precisely f all. It was decided it was handy jobs for the boys and a nice little reward for proposing a new levy on the public.
This headline belongs on Waterford Whispers
This will just result in a price increase and at best we’ll get to watch fair city on Netflix.
Phrased another way, the “committee” wants censorship and more revenue for RTE propaganda…I feel like I’m living in Nazi Germany
Go and jump lads, this is just RTE looking to levy the streaming services cause if their piss poor content and overpaid “talent”.
Thank God they can’t put a Levi on all the illegal movie & tv show apps
Back to the torrents me thinks
The only way to tackle that is for everyone in the country to cancel their subscriptions in protest and force the multinational media companies to pressure the government in retracting such a tax…… Won’t happen though !
Pure greedy. Sicko Government love money
There is also a leaving town levy!!!!
No wonder the Netflix cards on Ali & wish are going so cheap by the month
Get to be fooked.
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