'People are paying enough' - Minister casts doubt on proposed 'Netflix levy'

Proposals to introduce a so-called 'Netflix levy' are set to be blocked by the Minister for Arts, Culture, Communications, Media and Sport.

Minister Media Patrick O’Donovan, who was appointed to the role in January, has confirmed he is to bring a memo to cabinet that will seek to block the plan which has been proposed by Coimisiún na Meán.

Speaking at the weekend, Mr O'Donovan said he believes members of the public are already paying enough to watch entertainment.

“I’m bringing a memo to Government and I await the outcome of discussions with my colleagues around the cabinet table, so I won’t be saying much,” told RTÉ’s The Week In Politics programme.

“I think people that are paying for entertainment, whether it’s the RTE television licence or whether it’s the subscription to Netflix or Disney, quite frankly, are paying enough. I don’t see any reason to put a levy on them at the moment and charge them any more, to be quite honest about it," he said.

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The minister said his memo to cabinet would address a “lacuna” in the law which allows the media regulator to move ahead with its plan without the minister’s approval.

“I’m going to redress that by way of the Broadcasting Bill. People, as I say, are paying enough at the moment, and we are putting €725 into RTÉ directly from the Exchequer, directly from taxpayers, to keep the doors open,” he added.

“People are being asked to pay their television licence, which has gone through a slump, but thankfully, has recovered. I think that that’s sufficient for terrestrial television, and people who can afford to pay for streaming services are doing so by choice, and I don’t see why I would impose a levy on top of those people, considering that it would, I believe, inevitably wind up being raised and raised substantially."

Mr O'Donovan expressed a concern that the imposition of any new levy would result in many people being unable to afford to watch entertainment in their own homes.

“They’re paying enough, as it is. They’re paying tax, it’s keeping RTÉ open. They’re paying their television licence, and they’re paying their subscription fee.”