Legal filings, a public media levy, and must-carry obligations

UK: BBC asks Florida court to dismiss Trump legal action

In a new development to the ongoing legal standoff between the UK public broadcaster and the US president, the BBC will argue that the court should dismiss the legal action. President Trump filed the $5 billion lawsuit in December 2025, over an edit made in a documentary on the 6 January (2021) Capitol riots. At the time, the BBC apologised for the edit but said it would fight the action.

The BBC filed court papers on Monday in the Florida court where the defamation claim was made. The BBC disputes assertions that the clip was defamatory, and they will argue that the programme was not available to watch in Florida. If the motion to dismiss the case is unsuccessful, a trial date is likely to occur in 2027. 

Notwithstanding the legal action, the saga has been consequential for the BBC, resulting in the resignations of both the director general and the CEO of news. Additionally, the chair of the board, Samir Shah, said there would be a re-organisation of the committee which handles editorial complaints, which had come under fire for its part in the controversy. The Chair of the Board and the Head of News will no longer sit on the committee, but will be replaced by two non-executive board members. 

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Ghana: Public media levy to replace licence fee? 

The Ghana Broadcasting Corporation (GBC) could soon be funded via a public media levy, according to the President, John Dramani Mahama. At a visit to the GBC headquarters, Mahama said that the Cabinet is currently deliberating what could replace the existing licence fee. “Our thinking is going in the same direction to amend that law to make it a public media levy of some sort,” Mahama said, and added that GBC and the National Media Commission would be consulted on any alternative funding mechanism. Specific details around how the levy would work are not yet clear. 

Reaction to the announcement was somewhat positive. One political representative from the same party as Mahama said it would allow GBC to operate sustainably, while an opinion piece in Modern Ghana said it “offers a rare opportunity to revitalise the Ghana Broadcasting Corporation and secure the future of independent, inclusive and development-driven public service broadcasting.” GBC has been under economic pressure for years, and has often appealed for more support to help it provide its services.  

Also during the visit, GBC’s CEO, Amin Alhassan, urged the President to help the public broadcaster to resolve the millions it owes in legacy electricity bills, accrued when other government agencies used to share resources with GBC. “Currently, we have paid GH¢5 million, but we still have an outstanding debt of GH¢13.6 million. We are appealing for the government to take care of this legacy debt,” Alhassan said. 

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Ireland: Minister signals end to RTÉ’s government funding allocation

The media minister Patrick O’Donovan has rejected a renewal of RTÉ’s ring-fenced funding allocation, urging the public broadcaster to focus on increasing its commercial turnover instead. 

The existing funding model was introduced in July 2024, when RTÉ was close to insolvency following a collapse in TV licence income after revelations concerning undisclosed payments made to Late Show presenter Ryan Tubridy, although payments were already in decline. Under the ring-fenced arrangement, €725 million was agreed over a three-year period, including government intervention to support RTÉ’s income. 

However, due to expire in 2027, the funding model was described as “not a sustainable model” by O’Donovan in an interview with the Irish Examiner, with licence fee income falling by €29 million in the last year alone. Despite stressing that there was also no scope for Irish taxpayers to subsidise the broadcaster under its current model, a Department of Communications working group is currently underway to establish a framework on reshaping how RTÉ is funded by the  taxpayer. 

O’Donovan suggested several areas of improvement for the broadcaster to modernise its operations to increase commercial revenue, including embracing innovation and the private sector to reduce programming base costs. He also said RTÉ must significantly lower their permanent headcount, with a voluntary redundancy programme already underway aimed at cutting staff numbers by 400 over the next four years. 

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India: Prominence, “major reforms”, and D2M technology

The Indian government will write to television manufacturers, asking them to ensure that the streaming service of India’s state broadcaster, Prasar Bharati, is pre-installed on all devices. WAVES was launched in 2024, and in its first six months, was downloaded two million times, according to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB). 

Ensuring streaming services are available on smart TVs has become a major priority for broadcasters globally. However, even if such apps are available, that does not ensure prominence. Instead, prominence is predominantly given to the global streaming platforms with financial muscle, such as Netflix, Disney+ or Amazon Prime. This has led to the creation of prominence regulation for Smart TVs in Australia, the EU, and the UK. While such regulation is not on the table yet for India, ensuring WAVES is available on Smart TVs marks the beginning of this journey. 

2026 has been pitched as a year of “major reforms” for Prasar Bharati, according to broadcasting minister Ashwini Vaishnaw, which has already seen recent significant overhauls thanks to close government oversight. Vaishnaw’s comment came at the launch of ‘Creator’s Corner’ – a new programme which will air daily on the Doordarshan news channel (part of Prasar Bharati), featuring content produced by independent creators. Wider reforms are expected to drive Prasar Bharati towards new technologies and new audiences, and there is also expected to be a restructure of the MIB as well. 

Meanwhile, Prasar Bharati has been scolded after it conducted direct-to-mobile broadcasting tests. The technology uses terrestrial TV airwaves to deliver live broadcasting to mobile phones, bypassing the internet. “The process falls short of the transparent, consultative and technology-neutral framework as envisaged by the government,” COAI, the group which represents the telecoms industry, said in a statement. COAI said the testing of such technology can have an impact on spectrum usage. 

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