For as long as most British viewers have been streaming, a programme on BBC One and the same programme on a streaming service have lived under different rulebooks. The Broadcasting Code, with its rules on harm, offence, fairness and impartial news, applied to the channel. The streaming service answered to a far lighter set of rules. The Media Act 2024 is closing that gap, and the last big pieces are due within months: Ofcom has said it will publish its final content standards code and accessibility code for the largest streamers this winter.
Here is where the process stands, what has already changed, and what UK viewers should expect next.
Who counts as Tier 1
The Media Act creates a new category of “Tier 1” on-demand services, the ones that will be regulated most like television. On 24 February, the Department for Culture, Media and Sport confirmed the threshold: services with “more than 500,000 average monthly users in the UK.” The government estimates that captures more than 20 of the most popular services used by UK audiences, and named Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, ITVX and Channel 4 as examples.
The government set 1 April 2026 as the date designation took effect. It also kept the threshold under review, and the Culture Secretary can add services or change the definition later.
Two exclusions matter. Users who reach a service through a video-sharing platform do not count towards the threshold, and individual channels on those platforms are exempt (unless a commercial public service broadcaster is using one for its public service remit). BBC iPlayer is also outside Tier 1 for now, because it already sits under the Broadcasting Code through the BBC’s Framework Agreement, which the government expects to update.
In announcing the threshold, Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy said: “We know that the way audiences watch TV has fundamentally changed.”
The content code: closer to the Broadcasting Code
Ofcom published its draft Tier 1 Standards Code for consultation on 14 May, and the consultation closed on 7 August. The draft covers the familiar ground of broadcast regulation: protecting under-18s, harm and offence, crime, disorder, hatred and abuse, religion, due impartiality and due accuracy, elections and referendums, and fairness and privacy. Ofcom also asked for views on how it should investigate possible breaches.
For viewers, the practical change is a complaints route. The government says viewers will be able to complain to Ofcom about a Tier 1 service, and Ofcom will be able to investigate and act. The maximum fine per breach for on-demand services will be £250,000 or 5% of qualifying revenue, according to the government.
There is a lead time. The government’s designation statement says the standards code takes effect one year after Ofcom publishes it, so a code published this winter would bite from winter 2027.
The accessibility code: subtitles, audio description, signing
The second code is the one most likely to change what appears on screen. Ofcom’s draft Tier 1 Accessibility Code, also published on 14 May with a consultation that closed on 7 August, sets quotas for subtitles, audio description and signing, measured as a share of each service’s programme hours and applied separately on each platform a service runs on.
The government has set the end point: after four years, at least 80% of a Tier 1 catalogue subtitled, 10% audio described and 5% signed. Ofcom’s draft builds up in yearly steps, starting at 20% subtitled and 2.5% audio described after the first year, and reaching 40% and 5% after two. The clock starts from the code’s publication for most services. Ofcom corrected the draft’s interim signing figures on 15 July.
The draft also asks services to label clearly which programmes have access services, to promote them, and to report to Ofcom each year on quality and usability. Services can ask for exemptions on grounds such as cost or technical difficulty.
Prominence: finding public service TV on smart TVs
A separate strand of the Act concerns the public service broadcasters’ own apps. Ofcom has recommended which connected TV platforms should be designated, and in January it consulted on a code of practice for how those platforms must give prominence to designated public service players, and make accessible programmes easier to find. Ofcom named BBC iPlayer, ITVX, Channel 4’s streaming service, My5, the STV player and S4C Clic as the kinds of services in scope, and has said it will publish its final prominence code and guidance later this year.
What comes next
According to Ofcom’s 2026 roadmap, the winter is when the content standards code and the accessibility code move from draft to final, each with a formal statement. Its roadmap also lists a consultation on Ofcom’s approach to charging fees under the new regimes. None of this changes what viewers see overnight: the content rules start a year after publication, and accessibility quotas phase in over four years.
What it means for you
- From next winter, if a programme on Netflix, Prime Video, Disney+, ITVX or Channel 4 seems harmful, unfair or inaccurate, viewers should be able to complain to Ofcom, as they can about broadcast TV today.
- Expect subtitles, audio description and signed programmes to spread across the big streamers year by year, with clearer labelling of what is available.
- BBC iPlayer stays under the existing Broadcasting Code, so nothing changes there for now.
- Smart TV home screens should, over time, give public service apps like ITVX and Channel 4’s service more prominent placement.
Sources
- DCMS: UK's video-on-demand services to have enhanced Ofcom regulation, 24 Feb 2026
- DCMS: Statement on designation of Tier 1 video-on-demand services, 24 Feb 2026
- Ofcom: Update on implementing the Media Act, updated 25 Feb 2026
- Ofcom: The Media Act, update on our progress, 25 Feb 2026
- Ofcom: Consultation, Tier 1 Standards Code, 14 May 2026
- Ofcom: Consultation, Tier 1 Accessibility Code, 14 May 2026 (updated 15 Jul 2026)
- Ofcom: Draft Tier 1 Accessibility Code (PDF)
- Ofcom: Prominence and accessibility on connected TV platforms, consultation, Jan 2026
Before you go
