Media Regulation

CMS is at the forefront of developments in the media regulatory space. Our team can be seen regularly at industry events speaking on new developments – as can be seen from our extensive coverage of the UK’s draft Media Bill – alongside advising clients on new service launches, M&A and emerging business models, such as FAST channels. 

Our media regulatory practice covers all aspects of the media industry including providing advice on broadcast licensing, regulation of on demand services, OFCOM Code compliance, advertising regulation, listed events, consumer laws for subscription services and the impact of new regulatory developments.   

CMS has created a Media Bill (cms.law) web tracker which provides insights on the Government’s draft Media Bill and follows the draft Bill’s passage through Parliament. 

Some of the trends we see include:

• Additional regulation of VOD service providers: As the popularity of VOD services has grown, so have the calls for greater regulation of them. With the publication of the draft Media Bill, we expect to see increased regulation of the largest VOD services that are received within the UK. This trend of increasing platform regulation can be seen at EU level as well, perhaps even more starkly.  
• Governments seeking to keep pace with technological developments: The fast pace of change in this sector is an ever-present challenge for regulators. As well as rapid SVOD growth, the last few years have seen social media services become less social and more entertainment focused and we have also seen the development of AVOD and FAST channels. Operators are often grappling with outdated regulation, whilst governments and regulators are asking themselves where and what regulatory changes are needed. 
• Convergence and globalisation of services: As OTT services have been chasing subscriber growth, more and more have launched across the globe. New market entrants need to understand local regulatory requirements, such as rules on licensing, content requirements and advertising. We see local regulators keeping a close eye on new services, often considering further rules and possibly levies on international services being received in their markets.  

Highlights of our recent experience:

• Comcast on its successful £30 bn bid to takeover Sky Plc, Europe’s largest media take over. A team across multiple CMS territories advised on the specialist media, telecoms and gambling regulatory aspects of the deal as well as on anti-trust in certain markets.
• For a number of clients with respect to the impact of the draft Media Bill on their businesses. As part of our continued advice to clients, we have provided written submissions to the DCMS committee to assist it with its impact assessments. We have also represented clients in providing oral submissions.
• Many of the major Hollywood studios and sports OTT services on the launch of their direct-to-consumer offerings in multiple territories throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia. This involves advising on a host of consumer law, data protection, content regulation and licensing issues. We have an expert international team who work on these matters across our international footprint. 
• We regularly provide advice to a range of media companies including PSBs, platforms and channels as they navigate complex media rules, for example:
  • compliance with listed events regimes across Europe;
  • content advertising compliance;
  • broadcast code compliance; and
  • registrations and changes to Ofcom licences.