{"id":66095,"date":"2025-05-01T16:16:11","date_gmt":"2025-05-01T16:16:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/66095\/"},"modified":"2025-05-01T16:16:11","modified_gmt":"2025-05-01T16:16:11","slug":"u-k-culture-secretary-lisa-nandy-rejects-streamer-levy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/66095\/","title":{"rendered":"U.K. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy Rejects Streamer Levy"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tBritish Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy<\/a> has firmly rejected proposals for a levy on streaming platforms operating in the U.K., despite recent recommendations from a parliamentary committee<\/a> suggesting such a measure could help support the country\u2019s television drama sector.<\/p>\n

\n\tIn an exclusive interview with Variety at the inaugural World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES<\/a>) in Mumbai on Thursday, Nandy underlined the U.K. government\u2019s reluctance to impose additional financial burdens on streamers at a time when investment in British content is flourishing.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe\u2019re really excited about the prospect of attracting more investment into the U.K., particularly the big streamers have significantly increased the amount of content that they make in the United Kingdom,\u201d Nandy said. \u201cWe don\u2019t want to do anything to deter that investment. We want to make the U.K. the most attractive place in the world to invest.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNandy specifically highlighted the success of Netflix\u2019s recent hit series \u201cAdolescence\u201d as an example of the positive impact streamers are having on British content creation.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe would be very reluctant to introduce additional levies at a time when business is booming,\u201d she said. \u201cThe U.K. is open for business, and we\u2019re able to attract huge amounts of investment that help to create good jobs in every part of the country.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tA central focus of Nandy\u2019s visit to Mumbai was the upcoming India-U.K. cultural cooperation agreement, which she detailed during her keynote address. Nandy pointed to the film industry as a primary area for collaboration.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cOne of the things I was keen to focus on today was the film industry. The U.K. film industry is booming. We\u2019re attracting investment from all over\u2026 but so is obviously the Indian film industry. It\u2019s one of the greatest in the world, with huge reach, and we think there\u2019s amazing potential for us to do more together,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tNandy highlighted the U.K.\u2019s existing tax incentives, including the independent film tax credit that came into effect recently, which aims to address the year-on-year decline in British independent film production.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhile expressing confidence in the new tax credit, Nandy was clear that it represents just one part of a broader solution. \u201cWe don\u2019t think independent film tax credits are the silver bullet. There\u2019s no one solution, but there are lots of things that we can do to support the whole ecosystem,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tShe also addressed additional challenges facing independent filmmakers. \u201cThere are other issues as well, like the lack of studio space that\u2019s suitable for independent film companies. So we\u2019re working with Pinewood and others to make sure that there are more of those small to medium sized spaces available for independent companies to be able to make their films.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tNandy talked about the importance of technological innovation that would help the indie sector. \u201cTechnology is really going to democratize the film industry, because it makes it far easier and cheaper for smaller startups and indies to make high quality films and to compete with bigger studios,\u201d she explained.<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen it came to the current crisis in the U.K. TV drama sector, she acknowledged challenges while maintaining optimism about the industry\u2019s overall health.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI certainly acknowledge that there are challenges for the TV industry, and particularly for smaller, independent production companies,\u201d she said, citing the pandemic and the actors\u2019 and writers\u2019 strike in the U.S. as factors that have impacted commissioned work. \u201cIt\u2019s something we take really seriously.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tDespite these challenges, Nandy said that \u201cU.K. TV production is amongst the best in the world. It\u2019s not just programs like \u2018Adolescence.\u2019 We\u2019re really good at popular entertainment\u2026 shows like \u2018Gavin and Stacey,\u2019 \u2018Wallace and Gromit,\u2019 \u2018Derry Girls.\u2019 This isn\u2019t just a London story. This is a whole of the United Kingdom story.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRegarding the U.K.-India co-production treaty, which is now 20 years old, Nandy emphasized collaboration over competition as the way forward, especially with India now offering generous incentives such as 40% cash back up to $3.5 million.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhat we\u2019re keen to do is to take that to the next level through collaboration between Britain and India for our mutual benefit, so that we\u2019re not competing, we\u2019re collaborating in order to produce better quality content, much more creative content to our mutual benefit,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\n\tNandy concluded by pointing out the broader cultural exchange between the two countries, mentioning musical collaborations like Ed Sheeran\u2019s work with A.R. Rahman and noting that Mumbai was the biggest-selling date on Sheeran\u2019s global tour.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"British Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy has firmly rejected proposals for a levy on streaming platforms operating in the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":66096,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,4],"tags":[748,393,4884,3107,1144,712,16,15,1764,33672],"class_list":{"0":"post-66095","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-uk","8":"category-united-kingdom","9":"tag-britain","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-great-britain","12":"tag-lisa-nandy","13":"tag-northern-ireland","14":"tag-scotland","15":"tag-uk","16":"tag-united-kingdom","17":"tag-wales","18":"tag-waves"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114433476748058363","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66095","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=66095"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66095\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/66096"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=66095"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=66095"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=66095"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}