Watch this space: a new strategic direction for UK media - green paper and public consultation

From:: Department for Culture, Media and Sport
Published: 23 June 2026

Summary

The government is consulting on measures to ensure our media, and television in particular, can continue to play its vitally important role in our society and our democracy.

This consultation closes at
11:59pm on 31 August 2026

Consultation description

At its best, our media provides the basis of a cohesive country and a healthy democracy. It provides a base of shared understanding and is this common ground on which a country is built. The Department for Culture, Media and Sport is consulting on a comprehensive set of proposals to ensure our media, and television in particular, can continue to play its vitally important role in our society and our democracy.

This includes:

interventions to support an informed society. For example, requiring social media to make trustworthy news providers, which could include national and local news publishers and broadcasters, easily discoverable.
measures to ensure audiences can continue to enjoy universal access to trusted and high quality television content. This includes setting out the next steps on our Future of TV Distribution Project.
how we can support our public service media providers, the BBC, ITV, Channel 4, Channel 5, STV and S4C, who sit at the heart of our domestic TV ecosystem, driving growth and inward investment

Following consultation, the government will develop final policy positions.

We encourage everyone with a view on these reforms to answer as many consultation questions as they feel comfortable with. Please respond via the online platform if you are able to. Using the online survey will assist our analysis of the responses, enabling more efficient and effective consideration of the issues raised. If you cannot use the online survey you can email or post your response to us. An Easy Read version of the consultation will also be available soon.

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