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Old 19-04-2015, 12:36
Magnum Benno
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Completely missed this story when it happened.

From the Daily Telegraph: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/n...ital-plan.html
TV and music firms rage at EU digital plan

By Christopher Williams
7:00PM GMT 28 Mar 2015
European Union rules to implement a single market in digital media would allow anyone in the continent to buy online services from another country

Britain's creative industries are under threat from EU plans to impose a digital single market that will put an end to the way they sell films, television or music in individual European countries.

Rights holders and distributors typically charge different rates for downloads and streaming services depending on demand in each nation. They vary the timing of releases to maximise their returns.

But now Brussels officials are to introduce rules that will mean all European citizens will be able to buy online services from any country.

At present providers block foreign internet addresses, which, as well as complying with the current copyright system, means they are able to tailor their services and pricing for different national markets.

In a speech last week, however, Ardrus Ansip, the European Commissioner in charge of digital single market plans, said he would seek to outlaw such “geo-blocking”.

The Estonian now faces a growing backlash from the British media industry, which has also been angered by the UK Government’s support for the plan.

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Alice Enders, an economist at Enders Analysis, said: “This is empire building. It’s a long-standing ambition of the European Commission to take control of copyright, but there is just no real evidence of cross-border demand. Who is this for? It’s a disaster.

“Britain has a very mature and well developed media market where companies can make a good return compared with most other European countries.”

It is understood that the BBC is also monitoring the development of the digital single market proposals with concern. It blocks overseas viewers from accessing the iPlayer partly to make sure it can commercially exploit its programmes abroad and partly to avoid protests from licence fee payers who might resent paying to entertain other nations.

Mr Ansip and his supporters argue that insisting services are available everywhere in the EU will lead to more choice for consumers and better opportunities for new digital media business to grow quickly.

Vince Cable, the Business Secretary, irritated senior figures in the creative sector earlier this year by claiming that the EU’s plans would boost the UK and eurozone economies by more than £260bn a year. While the Government is willing to battle Brussels for Britain’s banking sector, it seemed to “sell us down the river”, said one music industry chief.

This weekend a government spokesman appeared to back away from stopping media companies from approaching different countries with tailored offers.

He said: “People who pay to use digital services should be able to use them wherever they travel in the EU – so someone with UK subscription to a video streaming service shouldn’t be blocked from using it when on holiday in Spain.

“But this does not mean that people outside the UK should be able to access the iPlayer or other on-demand services for free.
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Old 19-04-2015, 18:10
oilman
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Is this the same EU that reneged on eliminating roaming charges between EU countries?
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Old 20-04-2015, 11:34
noise747
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It needs to happen. I already get content from other countries, like Netflix in the USA, but I have to pay extra to do so.
As much as I destest the EU, I do agree with this.
It will certainly upset Sky.
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Old 20-04-2015, 12:06
SteveMcK
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I
It will certainly upset Sky.
Not half as much as it will upset Sky customers when the prices go up to cover Sky's extra costs, if they have to buy pan-EU rights for every programme from their US suppliers! Those suppliers are used to getting paid on a per-country basis, they aren't going to idly sit back and let Sky pay only for UK rights and then broadcast to France, Spain, etc. as well.
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Old 20-04-2015, 12:12
moox
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Not half as much as it will upset Sky customers when the prices go up to cover Sky's extra costs, if they have to buy pan-EU rights for every programme from their US suppliers! Those suppliers are used to getting paid on a per-country basis, they aren't going to idly sit back and let Sky pay only for UK rights and then broadcast to France, Spain, etc. as well.
That could go either way - Sky and other broadcasters could say "we're not paying more, take it or leave it" - the content companies may find it hard to say no to markets like the UK

I think the biggest problem will be for the BBC, who may get forced to allow EU access to iPlayer

(assuming that the lobbyists don't get the idea shot down, whether it made sense or not)
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Old 20-04-2015, 12:33
oilman
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To be honest - we in UK probably get generally the best of digital content in EU anyway (my comments are based mainly on Netflix). When I go into Europe, I find Netflix in Europe is generally (not exclusively though) trailing behind UK e.g. we may have series 3 of something, and they only have series 1 or 2).

So opening up EU market does not give us a lot unless you like/need non-English content.

On the plus side, sometimes they have access to US series we don't get which leads me to suspect the EU countries get it cheaper as English is not their main language (I have no evidence to support this is true but I would be surprised if I am not right).

If I am right, and EU open up markets, then I suspect then Netflix would withdraw such cheap deals and we would all lose.

Of course if EU and USA could agree to a single digital market .......
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Old 20-04-2015, 16:42
noise747
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Not half as much as it will upset Sky customers when the prices go up to cover Sky's extra costs, if they have to buy pan-EU rights for every programme from their US suppliers! Those suppliers are used to getting paid on a per-country basis, they aren't going to idly sit back and let Sky pay only for UK rights and then broadcast to France, Spain, etc. as well.
We do not know how it will work out to be honest. But why should I not be able to watch content from another country?
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Old 20-04-2015, 16:52
Nigel Goodwin
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We do not know how it will work out to be honest. But why should I not be able to watch content from another country?
Because the broadcaster doesn't pay the rights for you to watch it - but there's certainly no guarantee that this scheme will actually happen, it's been defeated every time it's been proposed before.
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Old 20-04-2015, 17:50
Clusterbombed
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On the plus side, sometimes they have access to US series we don't get which leads me to suspect the EU countries get it cheaper as English is not their main language (I have no evidence to support this is true but I would be surprised if I am not right).
There's a book called 'Why Do They Hate Us?' written in the aftermath of 9/11, which looked at American attitudes to the world and attitudes towards America.

One of the chapters talked about culture and stuck with me. They used The Simpsons as an example. Fox spends a small fortune for an episode, and mostly makes it's money back in advertising. The next payment level down is Sky and other English speaking countries. The next level after that doesn't pay as much as Sky, and includes other EU countries and wealthier countries like Japan.

By the time you get down to the payment layer of countries like Bangladesh, Fox has made so much money that the rights can be sold for as little as $1000 an episode, which is far less than these countries would spend making half an hour of local TV. Hence, American TV dominates global cultural output and people in poor countries see very little home-grown output.

That's not an exact, and is completely off-topic!

To go back on-topic, I would expect the politicians to start running scared of the broadcasters and kill this idea.
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