Dr. Mark Carpenter:

Sky Group does not take a different position on content levies in different markets. While an investment obligation exists in Italy, we would have taken the exact same position in that country that we take in Ireland in our engagement. The same applies to the Germans. To be fair, it is not the case that Sky's approach or tack in Ireland is different from that in Italy or Germany. I agree that the regulatory circumstances are different but it is not that Sky is taking a different approach.

In fairness, many who are not here, including viewers and other platforms, might take a different view. It is not particularly surprising that someone who feels he or she would benefit from a content levy because of the type of business he or she has would be more in favour of one. Many of our viewers are paying the licence fee so there is potential for double taxation or additional charges as a result of a levy. It is not just a question of Sky as there are also Netflix, Amazon Prime, Disney+, etc. Individuals could find themselves having to pay on the double as a result of the content levy if they are paying for subscription services and the relevant companies are paying taxes. One is potentially creating circumstances in which people are paying on the double. That is not to say for a second that it is not a worthwhile goal of policymakers to have greater investment in Irish content. What we are saying is that we believe there are ways of doing this that are better than levies. It involves working with the companies investing in content to encourage them to do more so more Irish content will be created.