The Department for Culture, Media & Sport has issued a policy statement setting out the Government’s thinking on the prominence for public service broadcaster TV apps and their content on connected devices.The new prominence framework for TV platforms is defined as the user interface of any service which:
- (a) enables users to select and access PSB TV apps, or between programmes provided by those apps;
- (b) is provided by means of the internet; and
- (c) is provided in connection with ‘internet television equipment’.
Under the framework the Secretary of State will maintain a list of what’s defined as “internet television equipment”. The internet television equipment will be able to add and remove equipment from the list as well as being able to amend the definition to take account of future changes in technology.Between October and December 2023, the DCMS ran an engagement exercise with the industry. All but one stakeholder supported the specification of smart TVs, set-top boxes and streaming sticks as internet television equipment. While PSBs proposed the definition of internet television equipment should encompass a wider range of devices to ensure the legislation was sufficiently future proofed, platforms were generally supportive of the approach to excluding devices where watching TV was not a main function.From the data provided, the devices used primarily to watch TV online are smart TVs, set-top boxes and streaming sticks. The TV set remains the most-used device for watching video content, accounting for 84% of total in-home video viewing in 2023, with viewing of PSB content (including on all PSB channels and on-demand services) accounting for 39% of all video viewing. Ofcom survey data, published earlier this year, showed that three quarters of respondents lived in households with a smart TV (76% compared to 67% in 2022).No respondents challenged the DCMS suggestion that watching TV, including PSB content, is a primary function of smart TVs, set-top boxes and streaming sticks. Indeed, many respondents suggested that these devices are used by a high proportion of UK households as their main way of consuming TV.Out of the remit of the framework, for now at least, are mobile phones and games consoles because TV viewing is not seen as their primary purpose.According to Barb data provided by a respondent from our engagement between July and September 2023, smart TVs accounted for 40% of total minutes viewed to PSB content online, followed by set-top boxes (25%) and streaming sticks (17%).
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