‘Wolf Hall' Director: Why a U.K. Streaming Levy Isn't a Tariff (Guest Column)

Yahoo

21-04-2025

On April 15, The Hollywood Reporter published an article, citing observers, that asserted that a U.K. streamers' tax, long advocated by programme-makers in Britain and recently endorsed by a U.K. parliamentary committee, will never in fact come to pass. It would be seen as a tariff by the White House and, with a wider trade deal in the offing, the U.K. government would never risk annoying its long-time ally in that way. This argument would be compelling were it not for one caveat. The streamers' levy is not a tariff.
In 2023, I shot The Mirror and the Light for Masterpiece and the BBC, completing the work we began a decade before on Wolf Hall – winner of a Golden Globe, several BAFTAs and 8 Emmy nominations. If we were to attempt to make The Mirror and the Light in 2025, we would not succeed. Mr Bates vs The Post Office, which altered the national debate in the U.K. on a key issue, has left its makers significantly in debt. The producer has said there would be no point trying to develop it for ITV now — because the public service broadcasters can no longer afford to produce high-end drama in the U.K. Attracted by our tax breaks, the streamers now make multiple drama series in Britain. With their deep pockets, they have driven up production costs across the board in our industry, pricing our own, home-grown broadcasters out of their own market.
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PSB high-end drama production fell by 25 percent last year, to its lowest level since 2019. The parliamentary committee believes a streamers' levy would reverse this, providing a production fund which would turn contraction into growth and allow the BBC, ITV and Channel 4 back into the game. Except that no one thinks the U.K. government will be brave enough to poke the Trump tiger.
If a U.S. manufacturer attempts to sell its goods in China, it currently attracts a 125 percent tariff. That money goes straight to the Chinese government. It goes without saying that the U.S. importer can't claim any of that money back to offset the cost of manufacture. But a Netflix or Amazon or Disney+ would be able to claim a contribution towards its production costs from the proposed 5 percent levy fund — on one condition, that the programme is a co-production with a U.K. public service broadcaster.
When the streamers first appeared in the U.K., they were eager to co-produce. Over time, that appetite has dwindled almost to nothing. As is well known, the streamers want to own the whole IP, contributing to the funding woes of the BBC, ITV and C4. The levy fund would also re-invigorate the co-production market. To access the new pot of money, the streamers would need to work with the local broadcasters, making it a win-win. A new pot of production finance, and a chance for the PSBs to once again collaborate creatively with the planet's leading producers.
The streamers are perhaps the ultimate manifestation of a free market in television. They have made some extraordinary, mould-breaking programmes — turning high-end TV drama into the medium of choice for 'A-List' talent, partially usurping the feature film and breaking the unhealthy, snobbish divide been theatrical and television filmmaking. But an unintended consequence of this explosion of creativity has been the 'elbowing aside' of the U.K.'s public service broadcasters, which make programmes that wouldn't necessarily appeal to the streamers' international audience. These broadcasters represent a 100-year tradition of programme-making in the U.K., a tradition the British audience will not thank us for jettisoning.
The 5 percent levy would address this market failure at a stroke. It would force the streamers to still further up their game as they are once again required to compete with broadcasters such as the BBC, ITV and C4. And it isn't a tariff – as the streamers' themselves could claim their own funds back when in co-production with a local broadcasters. No other solution put forward adequately addresses the acute problem faced right now in high-end TV in the U.K., most now accept that. The only real question remaining is whether the U.K. government will have the guts to implement it.
Writer/Director Peter Kosminsky is a veteran of public service broadcasting in the U.K. — a winner of seven BAFTA Awards, a Peabody and a Golden Globe.
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