Why does the platform want media liability rather than general liability?

Because the claim they are worried about is not somebody falling over. It is a copyright holder, a person who says they were defamed, or somebody claiming the idea was theirs, and general liability excludes infringement in your published material by design. The platform is about to distribute your content under its own name, so it wants the policy that answers claims about content, and it wants to be named on it.

My channel has years of episodes. Are the old ones covered?

Only back to the retroactive date on the policy, and that is the single most important number on it. A new policy with today’s retroactive date covers nothing you have already published, which on an established channel is most of what could generate a claim. Prior acts coverage is what pushes that date backwards, it is negotiated at placement rather than afterwards, and it is priced on what is in the back catalog. Raise it before you buy rather than at renewal.

Can I buy this after I sign the deal?

You can, and it is a worse position. Before signature the limits are a negotiation and you can tell the platform what is achievable. After signature they are an obligation with a delivery date attached, and if the limit turns out to be unavailable at any sensible price you are in breach rather than in discussion. Nothing about the policy is faster because the contract is signed.

What if I am a vendor to a large company rather than a channel?

The mechanism is the same and the numbers are often larger. A vendor agreement names its schedule of required coverage, frequently general liability, cyber, professional or media liability, sometimes an umbrella over the top, and it wants a certificate with the company named as an additional insured before work starts. Send the schedule rather than describing it, because the exact wording decides whether an endorsement is needed or whether you already comply.

Does my LLC or my personal channel need to be the named insured?

Whichever one signed the agreement, and they need to match. A certificate naming a company that is not party to the contract satisfies nobody, and it is a common reason a certificate is bounced back days before delivery. If the channel operates through an entity, that entity is the named insured; if it does not, this is a good moment to ask whether it should.

A signed agreement and a laptop on a desk in low evening light

What insurance does a streaming platform require before it licenses my channel?

Media liability at a limit the platform sets, with a retroactive date that reaches back to when your content was made, and usually general liability alongside it with the platform named as an additional insured. Larger deals add an umbrella. Tubi asks for $1,000,000 of general liability, $5,000,000 of media liability and a $5,000,000 umbrella before it takes a channel. The annual social media policy an online carrier sells does not satisfy any of it, because it was never written for delivery to a distributor.

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Paste the insurance section of the agreement. We will tell you what it actually requires, what it costs to meet, and which parts are worth pushing back on.

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The detail

Media liability, also sold as producer’s errors and omissions, responds to copyright and trademark infringement, defamation, invasion of privacy and misappropriation of ideas arising out of published content.
Producer’s E&O coverage forms
General liability excludes personal and advertising injury arising out of infringement of copyright, patent, trademark or trade secret in your published material, which is the exclusion that makes a separate media policy necessary.
ISO CGL form CG 00 01, personal and advertising injury exclusions
Media liability is written on a claims-made basis, so the retroactive date decides whether an episode that already exists is covered at all.
Producer’s E&O coverage forms
Tubi requires $1,000,000 general liability, $5,000,000 media liability and a $5,000,000 umbrella from a channel before licensing it, a requirement we have placed against more than once.
Distribution agreements placed by this agency, 2026

What this means for you

Send us the clause before you sign, not after.The insurance section of a distribution agreement is the specification. It names the limits, whether the policy has to be occurrence or claims-made, who has to be named as an additional insured, and how long the coverage must be maintained after delivery. Everything about the price and the availability follows from those four lines, and they are negotiable far more often before signature than after.
The retroactive date is the part that catches people.Media liability is claims-made, which means it answers claims made while the policy is in force, about content published after the retroactive date. A channel with eight years of episodes and a policy bought last month has a retroactive date of last month, and the video that draws the complaint is almost always one that already exists. Ask for prior acts back to the start of the channel and expect the underwriter to ask what is in the back catalog.
A social media policy is not a media liability policy.The annual product an online carrier sells a creator is general liability with a content endorsement bolted on. It is inexpensive and it is not what a distributor is asking for. When the delivery schedule says media liability at five million dollars, the certificate has to show media liability at five million dollars, and a legal department reads the certificate rather than the brochure.
Cyber and media are different policies answering different claims.Vendor agreements increasingly ask for both, and they are not interchangeable. Cyber answers a breach of the data you hold and the costs of responding to it. Media answers what you published. A contract naming both wants both, and a broker who quotes one against a requirement for two has left you non-compliant on a deal you have already signed.
Corporate vendor requirements work the same way, with bigger numbers.A studio, a game publisher or a large brand engaging you as a vendor runs the same playbook: a schedule of limits, additional insured status, sometimes a waiver of subrogation, and a certificate before the first invoice is paid. The exposure is identical to a distribution deal even though nobody calls it delivery. Read the schedule the same way.
Getting it in place is days, not weeks, but it is not instant.Media underwriters want to see what you publish, which is the one exhibit you already have. Expect questions about the back catalog, about clearances and music licensing, and about whether anyone has complained before. A channel that answers those quickly moves quickly.

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Need this handled?

Reading about it and having it handled are different jobs, and the second one is ours. We place the accounts other brokers decline — claims history, a cancellation, an unusual operation, a business nobody wants to underwrite twice — and we will tell you when the policy you already have is the right one. Tell us the situation and a licensed human replies the same business day.