U.K. Government Proposes Changes to Media Merger Laws “for the Digital Age”

U.K. culture secretary Lisa Nandy on Wednesday unveiled plans to broaden the scope of U.K. media merger laws, updating them “for the digital age to reflect modern news consumption habits and better protect media freedom and plurality.” The current regulatory regime only covers television, radio and print publications.

The changes would allow for “greater scrutiny in the public interest” of deals that include the purchase of U.K. online news publications and news magazines “that might adversely impact accurate reporting, freedom of expression and media plurality.”

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Currently, the media mergers regime set out in the Enterprise Act 2002 allows the Culture Secretary to “intervene in mergers and acquisitions of broadcasters (defined as services which require a license under the Broadcasting Act 1996), as well as U.K. daily and Sunday print newspapers, and local periodical newspapers, which mainly circulate in the U.K.,” the Labour Party government highlighted.

Nandy has launched a consultation seeking views on expanding the scope of the regulatory, saying: “Since the media mergers regime came into force more than 20 years ago, our laws haven’t kept pace with technology and evolving news consumption habits. As people increasingly get their news online, we need a regime that is future-proof. That’s why I’m proposing further reforms to protect the availability of accurate, high-quality news from a variety of sources, ensuring media freedom continues to be upheld.”

She said the update would also cover deals involving companies that own online news publications that are “connected with the U.K., for example online-only news providers, such as HuffPost or The Independent, or the online arms of print publications.”

The proposed changes would not apply retrospectively to historic transactions.

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