As the UK government looks to overhaul regulation of Netflix and Amazon Prime, executives from Netflix have said the streamer is already aiming to go “above and beyond” the framework set out in European law.
Speaking at the House of Lords inquiry on the future of public service broadcasting in the age of video on demand, Benjamin King, director, public policy UK at Netflix, said that there is already a regulatory framework set out in European law, which the company is subject to.
King told the inquiry Netflix is already motivated to go “above and beyond that,” pointing out that the streamer has submitted itself to some self-regulation, such as earlier this year striking a deal with the British Board of Film Classification.
There has been a call for Netflix to face similar regulation to public service broadcasters. “In many ways, what we do is materially different” from what traditional TV networks do,” King said.
He argued that as Netflix doesn’t air news, live shows or advertising, it is more of an entertainment company than a media company. “We have every incentive to hold ourselves to the highest levels of content standards, audience protection and so forth, because it is existentially important to our brand that our members have every confidence when they use our service,” King added.
