Professor Gillian Doyle:

We have heard much discussion about the shift of attention of audiences to online and also the shift of advertising. That has been very damaging for public service media and for print media. This structural change appears to be ongoing. There will be more migration which means less money from advertising to support professional media content creation. We have heard that addressing this will require some combination of traditional media finding new revenue models, market solutions plus interventions.

Consideration is being given to subsidies for public service media and for public service content that is more platform-neutral and perhaps some form of redistribution of revenues from big tech companies to traditional media. This might be achieved voluntarily or through some form of collaboration and support schemes in which big tech companies might play a part, or, as the Deputy mentioned, through the imposition of a requirement for payments under copyright law for substantive use of content or through use of competition interventions. There is also the option of imposing targeted levies to support local production, as exists in France. We have looked at all these and our considerations are ongoing.