The Media Act 2024 (Commencement No. 3) Regulations 2025

The Secretary of State makes these Regulations in exercise of the powers conferred by subsections (3)(a) and (c), and (4) of section 55 of the Media Act 2024¹.

Citation and interpretation 1.

(1) These Regulations may be cited as the Media Act 2024 (Commencement No. 3) Regulations 2025.

(2) In these Regulations, “the 2024 Act” means the Media Act 2024.

Provisions of the 2024 Act coming into force on 1st October 2025 2.

The following provisions of the 2024 Act come into force on 1st October 2025—

(a) subsections (8) and (9) of section 8 (quotas: independent productions), so far as not already in force;

(b) section 30 (C4C’s duties in relation to commissioning programmes), so far as not already in force.

Provisions of the 2024 Act coming into force on 1st January 2026 3.

The following provisions of the 2024 Act come into force on 1st January 2026—

(a) section 1 (reports on the fulfilment of the public service remit), so far as not already in force;

(b) section 2 (OFCOM reports: wider review and reporting obligations);

(c) section 3 (public service remits of licensed providers), so far as not already in force;

(d) section 4 (statements of programme policy), so far as not already in force;

(e) section 5 (changes of programme policy), so far as not already in force;

(f) section 6 (enforcement of public service remits);

(g) section 7 (power to amend public service remit for television in the United Kingdom);

(h) section 8 (quotas: independent productions), so far as not already in force;

(i) section 9 (quotas: original productions), so far as not already in force;

(j) section 10 (power to create additional quotas for qualifying audiovisual content);

(k) section 11 (quotas: meaning of “qualifying audiovisual content” etc), so far as not already in force;

(l) section 12 (quotas: further provision about their fulfilment), so far as not already in force;

(m) section 13 (quotas: independent productions: commissioning code), so far as not already in force;

(n) section 14 (regional programme-making: Channels 3, 4 and 5), so far as not already in force;

(o) section 15 (networking arrangements for Channel 3), so far as not already in force;

(p) section 17 (quotas: the BBC and S4C), so far as not already in force;

(q) section 19 (amount of financial penalties: qualifying revenue), so far as not already in force;

(r) section 32 (S4C’s powers and public service remit);

(s) Schedule 1 (quotas: the BBC and S4C), so far as not already in force;

(t) paragraph 23 of Schedule 2 (part 1: further amendments), so far as not already in force;

(u) paragraphs 25, 26, 32(2), 36(2), 58, 59, 60(2) and 61(b) and (c) of Schedule 2;

(v) Schedule 4 (Chapter 2 of Part 3: minor and consequential amendments), so far as not already in force, and except—

(i) sub-paragraph (b) of paragraph 23; and

(ii) paragraphs 53 and 54.

Explanatory Note (This note is not part of the Regulations)

These Regulations bring into force provisions of Parts 1 and 3 of the Media Act 2024 (c. 15) (“the Act”). This is the third set of commencement regulations made under the Act.

Sub-paragraph (a) of Regulation 2 brings into force subsections (8) and (9) of section 8 of the Act, which relate to the Secretary of State’s power to make provision concerning independent productions quotas. Sub-paragraph (b) brings into force section 30 of the Act, which updates the commissioning duties of Channel 4.

Sub-paragraphs (a) to (q) of Regulation 3 bring into force provisions in Part 1 of the Act that update the regulatory framework for the public service broadcasters (the BBC, S4C, and Channels 3, 4 and 5), so far as they were not already brought into force by the Media Act 2024 (Commencement No. 1) Regulations 2024 (S.I. 2024/858).

Sub-paragraph (r) of Regulation 3 brings into force section 32 of the Act, which makes provision to update the powers and public service remit of S4C (the Welsh public service broadcaster) in line with the framework described above.

Sub-paragraphs (s) to (v) of Regulation 3 bring into force Schedule 2 to the Act (in part), and the remaining parts of Schedules 1 and 4. This gives effect to the provisions in Parts 1 and 3 of the Act to which they relate.

An impact assessment has not been published for these Regulations, as they have no impact on the cost to business, the public or voluntary sectors independent of the provisions these Regulations bring into force. A full impact assessment has been published in relation to the Act and copies can be obtained from the UK Parliament website at https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3505/publications or from the Department for Culture, Media and Sport at 100 Parliament Street, London, SW1A 2BQ, United Kingdom.