On 15th August 2024, the Government issued “The Media Act 2024 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2024” (the “Regulations”), bringing into force certain provisions under the Media Act 2024 (the “Act”). Whilst the Act received Royal Assent in May prior to the General Election, the majority of its provisions were designed not to commence pending secondary legislation. The Regulations mark the first tranche of such secondary legislation to bring various provisions of the Act into force. These provisions became effective on 26th August.
Most of the Act’s commenced provisions cover the less glamorous and more functional agenda items (such as the removals of quotas for schools programmes on Channel 4, the dissembling of the public teletext service, and the implementation of the new S4C board). However, the Regulations did set the wheels in motion for some parts of the “bigger-ticket” initiatives, such as the new prominence framework and the VoD Tier 1 regime.
The new prominence framework has now been partially commenced, with the Government keeping back several of the key provisions such as the must-carry and must-offer obligations (which are in any event not real until the formal designation of the relevant PSB services and platforms which will be subject to must-carry and prominence obligations). Many of the remaining prominence-related rules did come into force on 26th August, including Ofcom’s new enforcement powers and powers to designate PSB on-demand services under the framework, but how these rules will ultimately work is still to be determined. This is because most of the principles and details of the new prominence framework have been placed in Ofcom’s remit to consult upon, before it makes recommendations to the Government. Ofcom is set to launch its first consultations on the new prominence rules later in the year.
The Regulations also brought the new Tier 1 services framework for non-UK VoD service providers into effect. Similar to the prominence framework, most of the principles and details on how the new Tier 1 Code will work (including which service providers will be caught by the rules) will be determined after Ofcom has completed its consultation (set to start in early 2025) and made recommendations to the Government, who will then release further Regulations specifying Tier 1 services. It is only then that we will know which of the big VoD players (other than the PSB players which are automatically included) will be subject to a new VoD code.
Whilst much of the operative core of the Act is therefore still to be crystalised (in consultation with industry and others), the Regulations mark the first step in the roadmap for the Government to implement the bulk of the Act’s provisions. A full list of the provisions brought into force can be found in Section 2(1) of the Regulations.
We are staying up to date on the Government’s and Ofcom’s implementations of various aspects of the Media Act. To get our updates and stay informed, make sure to follow our Media Act Tracker.
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