{"id":777437,"date":"2026-05-06T14:26:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/777437\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T14:26:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T14:26:15","slug":"paramounts-5-pleads-with-uk-government-to-cut-tax-break-threshold","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/777437\/","title":{"rendered":"Paramount’s 5 Pleads With UK Government To Cut Tax Break Threshold"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n\tParamount<\/a> has two asks for British authorities: Approve the Warner Bros. Discovery<\/a> mega-merger and slash UK tax break thresholds.<\/p>\n

\n\tThe latter request was on the agenda at the Creative Cities Convention<\/a> in Liverpool on Wednesday, where Paul Testar, a drama commissioner at Paramount-owned network 5<\/a>, appealed to the government to reform high-end TV tax incentives.<\/p>\n

\n\t5 has gone from commissioning 12 hours of drama in 2019 to more than 100 hours in 2026, but the network produces many of its series overseas in locations like Malta and Lithuania, where it can access tax breaks that are more competitive than those on home soil.<\/p>\n

\n\tTestar told Creative Cities delegates that \u201ctens of millions of business\u201d could return to the UK if the tax break, which pays out around 25% for shows costing more than \u00a31M ($1.36M) per hour, was halved to \u00a3500,000. <\/p>\n

\n\tHe added that this was part of 5\u2019s plans to continue growing its drama slate, which includess Yorkshire-produced hit All Creatures Great and Small<\/a>. \u201cIt has become harder to make drama generally, but we have found a way to grow every year, and we\u2019re continuing to do so,\u201d Testar explained.<\/p>\n

\n\tTestar\u2019s intervention is not the first time a 5 executive has commented on tax breaks, and the network\u2019s position enjoys broad support across the British scripted community. The UK government has so far declined to heed the call of the industry, however. The 2025 budget delivered nothing in terms of tax credit demands<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n\tMeanwhile, Paramount executives will be closely watching how the UK\u2019s antitrust authority handles its \u00a0$110 billion merger<\/a>\u00a0with Warner Bros<\/a>. Discovery. The Competition and Markets Authority sought comments<\/a> from interested parties last month \u2014 a first step towards commencing a deeper examination of a deal that will reshape the global media landscape.<\/p>\n

\n\tParamount Skydance<\/a>\u00a0CEO\u00a0David Ellison visited the UK earlier this year<\/a>\u00a0as part of a charm offensive of European regulators. He met with UK culture secretary Lisa Nandy, as well as prominent European creatives.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Paramount has two asks for British authorities: Approve the Warner Bros. Discovery mega-merger and slash UK tax break…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":777438,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[30],"tags":[31923,261878,318442,171,15329,173,67,132,68,27281],"class_list":{"0":"post-777437","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-31923","9":"tag-all-creatures-great-and-small","10":"tag-creative-cities-convention","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-paramount","13":"tag-tv","14":"tag-united-states","15":"tag-unitedstates","16":"tag-us","17":"tag-warner-bros-discovery"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116528099235346989","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777437","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777437"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777437\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777438"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777437"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777437"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777437"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}