Denmark’s new streaming levy might have “unintended consequences,” claims a European video-on-demand physique.
Earlier this month, Denmark’s political events broadly agreed the idea of the ‘Cultural Contribution Act.’ This confirmed streaming reminiscent of Netflix and Viaplay could be topic to a fundamental levy fee of two% of their Danish revenues, with a 3% surplus making use of to those that do make investments lower than 5% of the native turnover on content material. That changed an preliminary plan to cost a flat 6% fee.
The money raised will go in the direction of financing new Danish movies and TV reveals by the Danish Film Institute and one other public physique.
The invoice will likely be introduced later this 12 months, however the European VOD Coalition warned that its members are “concerned about the unintended consequences of the Danish government’s revised Cultural Contribution Act.”
The Coalition represents the European pursuits of Disney, NBCUniversal, Netflix, Sky, Starz, Roku, Warner Bros Discovery and Viaplay amongst others.
“A levy will make it harder for streaming companies to deliver a compelling and attractive offering to Danish viewers in an already highly competitive media market,” its assertion added.
“We need a fair and proportionate regulatory regime that supports investment, rewards the risk for ambitious productions and incentivises partnerships.”
Denmark’s artistic neighborhood are broadly in settlement the nation’s wants a streaming levy to remain aggressive and make sure the likes of Netflix, Prime Video and Viaplay proceed to put money into native productions. The streamers have been accepting of a tax whereas not supporting it, however the actuality will solely turn out to be identified as soon as the regulation is in place.
“We believe that a streaming levy will harm Danish content creation, instead of strengthening the sector as intended,” Filippa Wallestam, Viaplay’s Group Chief Commercial Officer for the Nordics informed Deadline lately. “It will lead to fewer investments, increased uncertainty and reduced content diversity.”
Last 12 months, the nation skilled a dangerous streamer commissioning freeze after the Creative Denmark union, which represents administrators, actors and others, demanded a brand new countrywide framework for digital rights. Producers, who initially supported the union, later admitted “greed” had derailed the negotiations and it took a lot of the 12 months for the problem to be resolved. Netflix, TV2 and Viaplay, the important thing streamers concerned within the two, have now signed new contracts however commissioning is estimated to be down by as a lot as 50% total.