The European Commission adopted an amended directive to the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) on Wednesday, May 25 2016 aiming to maintain the golden mean between consumer protection and competitiveness within the cultural diversity of content. This amendment follows numerous board discussions and detailed investigation into the European On-demand Audiovisual Markets. The objectives of the proposed amendments of The AVMSD are aimed at meeting the fast developing digital market trends and the swift transition between traditional TV and online consumption. According to a study conducted by the European Audiovisual Observatory, (SMART2015-0036) published last March, the younger audience is increasingly reluctant to spend time in front of the TV and prefer to watch online videos on a regular basis, including prepaid services as SVOD.
Although the average length of videos has shortened there is an increase in the number of viewed videos per capita. This is not hard to believe considering that Facebook has become one of the key players in terms of time spent per video, after YouTube.”The way we watch TV or videos may have changed, but our values don’t. With these new rules, we will uphold media pluralism, the independence of audiovisual regulators and will make sure incitement to hatred will have no room on video-sharing platforms. We also want to ensure a level-playing field, responsible behaviour, trust and fairness in the online platforms environment, our today’s Communication sets out our vision for that.” – said Günther H. Oettinger, Commissioner for the Digital Economy and Society in a recent press release.
The AVMSD governs the right of access to content and information while ensuring customers’ protection. The goal is to ensure that viewers are not overwhelmed by US imports by having an available minimum of fixed European content catalogs as well as contribution to EU productions. The more local the better. The directive promises half of the broadcasters’ content to be European and one fifth from SVOD catalogs to have EU roots.
Does this mean that in Spain, for example viewers will be watching a German movie dubbed in Spanish? In this instance, it is important to note that certain markets such as Spain traditionally do not accept subtitled content. Moreover, accurate translation into a local language encompasses a number of cultural and environmental factors that need to be adhered to. Some audiences may prefer to hear its own native language, while others may appreciate the original voice-over along with a switch between subtitles. Whatever the choice, it is a matter of personal viewer preference. All considered, there is no doubt that the multicultural Europe has a wealth of riches to offer its habitants.
Currently France, for example, has set a higher content quota for European productions of 60 percent from catalogues and twelve percent of investments back to local works for its SVOD companies. Although France is a desirable market, the higher quota and stricter regulations have led giants like Netflix to look for cooler climates and settle in the Nordics. Up to now Netflix and Amazon fulfil the content quota, giving 21% from their catalogues to European works. But the investment of streaming services toward European productions remain extremely low at about 1% against 20% for traditional broadcasters.
The EC aims to tackle this issue by introducing the country of origin principle proposed within the amended directive. This will allow Member States to impose online companies to comply with their regulatory systems and contribute to the productions of European creations even if these companies are based outside the country in question, but have targeted its audience. Netflix is unconvinced whether the new measures will lead to a sustainable business model stating in response: “Rigid numerical quotas risk suffocating the market for on-demand audiovisual media services. An obligation to carry content to meet a numerical quota may cause new players to struggle to achieve a sustainable business model.” The streaming giant’s first European 100% original series ‘Marseille’ was not quite appreciated in France, according to Variety. The full article can be read here.
The directive also advocates non-discrimination, child protection and advertising policies and applies to both traditional television broadcasting and on-demand and video sharing audiovisual media services.
The new proposal stipulates that video-sharing platforms such as YouTube should impose stricter age barriers for minors in order to protect them from harmful content, encouraging regulations on content descriptors and notifications.
So far it all looks utopic. Once adopted by the European Commission, the legislative proposal is then sent to the European Parliament and to the Council, as such the final result is still a bit of a blur. In any case, we can expect some interesting developments over the next few months.
