First Special Report - Draft Media Bill: Government Responses to the Committee’s Twelfth and Thirteenth Reports of Session 2022–23

This is the government's response, published 17 November 2023.

Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.

The Government welcomes the Committee's reports and says it has amended the Bill in response to a number of recommendations, while declining others, including changing the prominence descriptor from "appropriate" to "significant".

• On genres, the Government does not agree that reverting to a list of specific genre requirements is compatible with modernising the remit, but has amended the Bill to refer to an "appropriate range of genres". It accepts the second recommendation, on Ofcom recommending new content categories.
• On prominence, it has "decided not to change from 'appropriate' to 'significant'", citing flexibility across different user interfaces and operability concerns.
• On listed events, it has amended the Bill to allow Ofcom to draw up a list of 'relevant services' to close the streaming loophole. On digital rights, it is "considering this issue" and plans to set out more detail "in due course".
• On video-on-demand, it accepts the recommendation to lay a list of services before Parliament no fewer than 5 sitting days before designation, but continues with its tiered approach.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error