Question to the Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport:

To ask the Secretary of State for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, pursuant to the Answer of 29 January 2018 to Question 124468, what progress the Government is making on ensuring that existing broadcasting licence arrangements with the EU continue during the implementation period.

It is in the interests of both the UK and the European Union to agree the precise terms of the implementation period as quickly as possible, in order to provide vital certainty to businesses, including those in the broadcasting sector.

As the Secretary of State for Exiting the European Union has recently stated, we are confident that there is a broad agreement between the UK and the EU positions on the implementation period, and that we will come to an agreement by March. We expect that this should be based on the existing structure of EU rules and regulations, during which the UK and the EU would continue to have access to one another’s markets on current terms. This would indeed cover the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) which governs the pan-EU broadcasting legislation and allows the UK-based broadcasting licensees to broadcast into the EU.