Ofcom Streaming Services to Face Broadcast‑Style Rules for Netflix, Prime Video and Disney+
The government is moving to bring the UK’s largest broadcasters and platforms under a single regulatory regime, requiring ofcom streaming services to meet broadcast‑style standards on content and accessibility. The change gives Ofcom new powers to accept viewer complaints, investigate platforms and enforce minimum accessibility targets that traditional broadcasters already follow.
Ofcom Streaming Services: Tier 1 designation and complaints powers
The forthcoming rules will automatically designate any video‑on‑demand platform with more than 500, 000 UK users as a "Tier 1" service, subjecting it to a new VoD standards code similar to the Broadcasting Code. That code will impose rules on accuracy and impartiality for news, protections against "harmful or offensive" material and particular safeguards for children. Ofcom will be able to accept viewer complaints and investigate streaming platforms, and where it finds breaches it will have the power to take action.
Accessibility code and Media Act 2024
Ministers are laying secondary legislation to implement the Media Act 2024 and will create a VoD accessibility code enforced by Ofcom. The government has said the code will set minimum requirements for subtitling, audio description and signing so that mainstream streaming services follow the same accessibility standards as licensed television channels. Ofcom will shortly open a public consultation on the new VoD accessibility code to invite views from the public and providers.
Catalog targets: 80% subtitled, 10% audio‑described, 5% signed
The accessibility code will require mainstream services to ensure at least 80% of their total catalogue is subtitled, 10% is audio‑described and 5% is signed. The largest mainstream services will have four years to meet those requirements, with interim targets after two years, although the government expects many services to meet the targets earlier. Officials framed these as minimum targets and said providers should go further where possible.
Platforms named and the iPlayer exception
The measures explicitly cover global streaming platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ and broadcaster video‑on‑demand services including ITVX and Channel 4. VoD services provided by the, including iPlayer, will continue to be regulated under the Broadcasting Code the Framework Agreement for now but will later be brought under the new VoD standards code. Video‑sharing platforms such as YouTube will not be captured by the new rules because they remain subject to the Online Safety Act 2023.
Audience shift, statistics and public consultation
Government ministers cited shifting viewing habits to justify the reform. A ratings body found live TV viewing declined from 60% to 45% of all viewing between 2022 and 2025, and that one third of audiences who turned on a TV set went first to streaming platforms or YouTube—the same share that chose traditional broadcasters; the remaining third was miscellaneous. The public consultation on the standards code and the accessibility code will allow members of the public and streaming services to set out their views on both sets of rules.
Who benefits and what the minister said
The accessibility targets were described as benefiting Britain’s estimated 18 million people who are deaf, have hearing loss or tinnitus and 350, 000 people who are blind or partially sighted, enabling them to access on‑demand content more fully. Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said the way audiences watch television has fundamentally changed and that the Media Act updates will strengthen protections for audiences, create a level playing field for industry and support the UK media sector’s growth.
What makes this notable is that platforms that were not regulated in the UK at all will now face the same baseline duties as licensed channels, closing a gap that ministers say posed a risk to disabled audiences who could face barriers accessing content. Ofcom will be empowered to police those duties in the same way it does for broadcasters.
The announcement arrives alongside other industry headlines that appeared in the wider media landscape, including references to a planned global reduction at Amazon of 16, 000 jobs, a headline about a non‑documentary involving Melania that might struggle at the box office, and listings of best and worst parcel delivery companies, and film festival acquisition news such as A Contracorriente boarding a thriller titled "Hour and Twenty. " While these items are separate from the regulatory changes, they form part of the contemporary media and commercial context in which the reforms will be implemented.
