United Kingdom: Entry into force with grace period of Media Bill including new powers for Ofcom by House of Commons

On 24 May 2024, the Media Bill entered into force with a grace period until its full implementation by legislative instrument. The Bill amends the Communications Act 2003 by giving the Office of Communications (Ofcom) new powers to regulate "on-demand programme services". Furthermore, video-on-demand providers not currently regulated in the UK but who target and profit from UK audiences will also be brought under Ofcom's jurisdiction. The Bill allows public broadcast providers to make their programmes available on a wide range of services, including on-demand services. The Bill further empowers Ofcom to monitor the number of genres delivered to ensure a broad offering of genres. Under the Bill, Ofcom could also set quotas if it considers the delivered level of public service content on the linear services to be unsatisfactory.