The EU would be harming itself by seeking to reduce the “disproportionate” amount of British content on European television but the government is powerless to stop it, the UK’s Brexit minister, Lord Frost, has said. The Guardian revealed on Monday that the privileges that come with UK film and TV content being defined as “European” are under threat, with the risk of a major loss of the international sales used to finance some of Britain’s most popular programmes. An internal EU paper, obtained by the Guardian, revealed a concern among the 27 member states that allowing UK content to be counted as part of a protected quota of European content was a hindrance to the promotion of the union’s “cultural diversity”. He claimed that any attempt by Brussels to take UK content out of the protected quotas would be to the detriment of European TV viewers. Frost said: “In terms of EU policy there’s a long way to go yet on this.

Source: The Guardian June 22, 2021 13:07 UTC