Conor Pope: No. We already pay a licence fee, which makes a nonsense of the Netflix levy idea
If only there was an equitable way to get people to pay for the cornucopia of content cooked up by RTÉ, Virgin Media TV and all the independent companies making important, illuminating, entertaining and – let’s be brutally honest – sometimes dull or vacuous programmes for our viewing pleasure.
Maybe we should consider some class of charge that could be collected annually from the almost two million households benefiting to a greater or lesser extent from the admirable work done by the multitude of operators in the indigenous creation space. Oh, hang on. There already is such a charge. The TV licence fee makes a nonsense of the notion of a Netflix levy and is the reason such a levy must be resisted, at least for now.
That’s not to say we should be unsympathetic to the cries of help from independent television and film makers. We should be very sympathetic. These are the toughest of times for them. Television and film, for all its veneer of glitz and glamour, has never been an easy space to make a buck. It is populated by talented, hard-working people driven mostly by passion and not profit.
But if times have always been hard, they’ve never been as hard as they are now. The model that sustained the sector for generations has been shattered by the plethora of streaming services exerting unthinkable dominance, hoovering cash out of local markets and giving little back – if you don’t count manifesting a golden age for television as giving something back. And then there are the dodgy boxes, hiding in the shadows promising a world of entertainment for less than the cost of a clear conscience.
Diarmaid Ferriter: Forget an apple for the teacher. What they really need is a Valium
Rosie O’Donnell on her new life in Dublin: ‘I see reflections of myself in this country everywhere I look’
The reality of life at ‘just’ 1.5 degrees of warming
Analysis: This is a shocker of an opinion poll for Fine Gael
The steamers’ might is behind the EU audiovisual media services directive which allows countries levy platforms to support content creation. France and Spain are charging streamers between 2 and 4 per cent. If Ireland followed suit, about €30 million or so might be raised annually. But here’s the thing. The money raised by a Netflix levy would be less than the money raised by more efficiently collecting the €160 licence fee we’re supposed to pay, the one hundreds of thousands of Irish consumers simply ignore. Their excuses stretch longer than a Fair City plot line but while you might have been rightly irritated by how much RTÉ spent on flip flops or quiet cash for cars you don’t get a pass when it comes to the law. Many don’t pay because they know the chances of being caught are slight – only a tiny percentage are actively pursued in any given year.
Those who support the idea of streamers being taxed and the revenue used to support the independent television sector are undoubtedly well intentioned. It is only right, too, that streaming giants pay their fair share. But the question of who ultimately pays this levy is up in the air.
A cynic might be forgiven for believing any such charge will simply be passed on to consumers. That would mean ultimately funding the independent broadcasting sector on the double to compensate for the hundreds of thousands who – for one reason or another – don’t pay their fair share. So rather than imposing a new levy and making more than one million households pay twice, the State might first consider policing the current levy more rigorously. It could, for instance, give the job to Revenue, the most effective and efficient – if not always the most beloved – arm of the State when it comes to collecting money owed.
And once everyone is paying their share, make Netflix, Amazon, Disney, Apple and the rest pay their share too, which can be divvied up among all those who need support.
[ Why I stopped paying my TV licence fee: ‘The whole model is broken’Opens in new window ]
Conor Pope is consumer affairs correspondent and Pricewatch editor
Larry Bass: Yes. A Netflix levy should not cost the consumer
The rhetoric surrounding the “Netflix levy” wrongly spins a narrative that the industry wants to force Irish subscribers to pay more for something they enjoy. However, this is not what I – either as a consumer or as an employer – wish to do. On the contrary, rather than piling more costs on to subscribers, we should be questioning why Irish subscribers already pay one of the highest premiums for subscriptions in the EU.
Streamers have repeatedly raised their subscription charges without giving back in a commensurate way to indigenous production in Ireland. For example, in March 2025, Netflix increased its subscription rates, adding a 20 per cent increase of €2 on to its basic plan, which now costs €10.99, and a 15 per cent increase of €3 on its most expensive premium plan, which now costs €23.99. For context, this top-tier plan cost just €12 in 2014. Who in Ireland is tasked with regulating costs of streamers who take all of this revenue from consumers and out of the country?
Netflix’s revenue in 2024 was €39 billion. The proposed Irish levy of between 3 per cent and 5 per cent of their Irish revenues would amount to less than .04 per cent of Netflix global revenue. The levy should not add more costs to the consumers, rather it ought to be deducted from the profits that Netflix and other streamers are already making from Irish subscribers.
The levy offers an opportunity for international streamers to invest in original Irish stories at a time when Irish screen storytelling is enjoying widespread success. Ultimately, it could even fund shows for Netflix.
The term “Netflix levy” also unfairly singles out Netflix. Accounts filed with Companies House in the UK for Sky reveal the revenues of the Irish branch totalled £510m in 2023 and £531m in 2022. What about Amazon Prime Video, Apple TV+, HayU and Paramount+? Could a levy on these subscription-based services help keep the film and television sector sustainable and creating Irish content? If so, the levy should be taken from subscription service providers’ existing rates, rather than out of the pockets of Irish consumers.
There is a missed opportunity here. Minster for Media Patrick O’Donovan has been very strident in his position in relation to the levy, saying he had “no intention of directing or allowing” a content production levy “until such a time as I am satisfied that such a levy will not impose an undue burden”. There is surely a broader economic conversation to be had, but O’Donovan made the statement without any public or industry consultation. At a time when key pillars in the Irish economy such as the pharmaceutical sector face an uncertain future, should we not be safeguarding other sectors? Where is the appetite to claw back revenues leaving the State?
Screen Producers Ireland, the representative body for the industry, will be meeting O’Donovan soon to discuss the levy and to consider the report from Coimisiún na Meán. I hope the Minister will hear how hard it is for Irish companies to compete in an English-language world with very little access to funds for high-quality Irish content.
O’Donovan has published legislation changing how the levy could be introduced. However, the other 16 European countries that have introduced similar schemes have not seen a reciprocal increase in subscription rates. The time may be right for a full overview of pricing strategies of international streaming services operating in Ireland vis-a-vis other EU countries.
By reviewing pricing structures with a view to imposing the levy on streamers’ existing profits, and preventing them from increasing costs, we not only leave money in Irish consumers’ pockets, we would also help to finance the sector to put more Irish content on screen for viewers – with no cost to the State.
Larry Bass is founder and chief executive of Shinawil
