EU lawmakers will push audiovisual sector towards geo-blocking – Heaven32

EU lawmakers are examining whether current rules to limit the practice of geo-blocking across the bloc should be extended to cover access to streaming audiovisual content.

Access to services such as Netflix it tends to be restricted to EU member states, meaning that Europeans may be barred from accessing libraries of content offered elsewhere in the region. So if you try to use your subscription from Netflix to access the service after moving to another Member State, or if you want to access the inventory offered by Netflix in other parts of Europe, the answer is usually a big no, as we have seen reported before.

This undermines the central concept of the EU’s single market (and the digital single market, also known as the ultimate goal of frictionless e-commerce that rules such as those limiting geo-blocking are supposed to satisfy).

The Commission is aware of the current problems linked to online access to audiovisual content. in one review

of the two-year geo-blocking regulation released today, he says he will start discussions with the audiovisual industry on ways to improve consumers’ access to such copyrighted content across the block.

He says the planned discussions will feed into his upcoming Media and Audiovisual Action Plan, which aims to help European market players grow and reach new audiences. However, he has not yet committed to take specific action. It remains to be seen whether the impulse produces something more nuanced than another “no”. (The fact that the film industry blocks the flow of digital content is, after all, this is not a new story

.)

“Increased access and circulation of audiovisual content will benefit growing cross-border demand, including in border regions and with linguistic minorities”, suggests the Commission in a Press release in your review of the current rules.

He points out that on average, a European consumer only has access to 14% of films available online in all the Member States (EU-27), with “ significant variations ” by country (such as viewers in Greece who only have access to 1.3% of films available online in the EU, compared to 43.1% in Germany).

Their review also highlights the growing demand (especially for younger age groups) to access audiovisual content offered in other Member States, noting that it almost doubled between 2015 and 2019 (by 5% at 9%).

“NAIL Eurobarometer 2019 confirmed that there is an interest in access to audiovisual content offered in different Member States, ”he adds.

In the case of other types of copyrighted content, such as music, e-books and video games, the Commission seems less convinced of the need for regulatory reform.

“The report concludes that a greater extension of the scope would not necessarily bring substantial benefits to consumers in terms of choice of content, as the catalogs offered are quite homogeneous (in many cases beyond 90% ) between Member States, “he wrote. , also underline the “potential impacts” on the price of these services in the Member States (which may vary).

After 18 months of application of the current geo-blocking regulation (in force since December 2018), the Commission’s report welcomes the progress made in reducing certain obstacles, declaring that there has been “a significant reduction barriers caused by localization requirements, from 26.9% to 14% on approximately 9,000 websites surveyed ”.

“These restrictions prevent users from trying to register on foreign websites due to a postal address in another Member State, and this is important because registration is a key step in the purchasing process in line, ”he said.

“ A further decrease in the restrictions that users face when attempting to access cross-border websites (e.g. users have been denied access or are automatically redirected), the rest being residual (only the 0.2% of websites blocked access) ”.

He also attributes the increase in the number of purchases of cross-border deliveries to regulation, arguing that the increased access to cross-border websites provided by regulation has led to an increase of 1.6% in the EU27 compared to 2015 , adding that a third of the websites surveyed offered cross-border delivery.