The GSMA has submitted its response to the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) consultation, the proposed EU-wide legislation regulating all audiovisual media, including both traditional TV broadcasts and on-demand services. The GSMA called for deregulation for the sake of EU competitiveness and further harmonisation.
The GSMA sees no need to include hosting platforms and intermediaries in the scope of the Directive, as they are covered by the e-Commerce Directive, and, to date, the increased convergence among services has not tested the relationship between these provisions. Looking at the geographical scope, however, the proposed Directive is not effective – non-EU services are not subject to the same high level of regulation as provided by European services that are covered by the AVMSD. The same goes for promoting European audio-visual content where stricter rules apply to many EU content providers.
The current quota system is not an effective way of promoting cultural diversity and European works. The GSMA, therefore, calls for provisions to provide fair conditions that ensure that European players do not face disadvantages compared with non-EU players.
However, GSMA members broadly endorsed one of the core principles of the AVMSD, the country of origin-principle, whereby audiovisual media service providers are subject to the regulations in their country of origin only and cannot be subject to regulation in the destination country. This principle is sound, even though the implementation can be unfair for services subject to a particularly strict or detailed national regulation. Further harmonisation across the EU is required to ensure the same rules apply to equivalent competing services.
Finally, the GSMA believes the existing must-carry regime needs to be reassessed as it has become outmoded in the increasingly global, digitised audio-visual market. Moreover, additional obligations on discoverability would be overly prescriptive. In the digital era, the consumer can choose between DTT, satellite, cable, IPTV or OTT services, and it is in every platform’s interest to offer the widest variety of content to attract as many customers as possible.
Having assessed all answers to this public consultation, the European Commission is likely to launch a proposal in mid-2016.