YouTube executive tells Edinburgh TV Festival the platform is “a friend, not a foe” to broadcasters

YouTube used a high-profile remarks session at the Edinburgh TV Festival on Wednesday to press a message to the television industry: the company says it is not an adversary to broadcasters. In the speech, delivered by Pedro Pina, YouTube’s vice president for EMEA, the video-sharing platform rejected the idea that it is acting as a destabilizing force aimed at toppling traditional TV.

Pina framed the remarks as an effort to explain how YouTube sees its role in the media ecosystem. He described YouTube as “a friend” rather than a “villain,” according to Deadline, and positioned the platform’s incentives as aligned with keeping audience demand and programming partnerships intact rather than undermining the business model of linear broadcasters.

The remarks also touched on policy. Pina took aim at what Deadline described as a United Kingdom government plan, indicating that YouTube views parts of the proposed approach as potentially misdirected in how it would treat video platforms and their relationship with the broader screen sector. The reporting did not provide additional specifics in the account summarized for this report, but it indicated the executive used the festival setting to argue for a more constructive understanding of the platform industry’s role.

The setting matters, in part because the Edinburgh TV Festival is an industry gathering where studios, broadcasters, platforms, and regulators are closely connected through dealmaking and public policy discussions. Against that backdrop, YouTube’s choice to deliver a message in a scripted remarks format suggests a deliberate attempt to counter the narrative that streaming platforms are primarily driven by conflict with traditional television.

The speech was delivered as the UK and wider Europe continue to debate how to regulate large online intermediaries, including questions about what obligations platforms should face and how those obligations affect creators, publishers, and consumer access. YouTube’s remarks placed the question of intent and industry impact at the center, with the company emphasizing that it does not see itself as seeking to overturn television, even as viewers and advertising increasingly shift toward online video.

For the television sector, the immediate impact is in the public framing of the relationship between streaming platforms and broadcasters. For policymakers, the executive’s comments at a major industry event underline that platform companies are actively contesting how regulators characterize their market role, and that those disputes are being carried into the venues where regulation, investment, and programming alliances intersect.

The next steps for both sides will likely be practical as well as rhetorical. Industry representatives and regulators typically translate high-profile remarks into ongoing negotiations over compliance expectations, partnership structures, and how audience reach and revenue are measured across competing video distribution channels. The festival speech does not by itself change any laws or rules, but it indicates YouTube’s stance as the UK’s planned regulatory approach continues to move through public and industry discussion.