On Wednesday the European Commission unveiled its 16 point roadmap to open up the EU market in the digital age. Two key measures outlined in the Digital Single Market Strategy (DSMS) would have a direct impact on the entertainment industry: the proposals to end ‘geo-blocking’ and to harmonise EU copyright laws to ease cross-border access.

By tearing down regulatory walls and moving from 28 national markets to a single one, the overall goal for the European Commission is to contribute €415 billion per year to the EU economy and to boost employment. In the audio-visual sector, ending geo-blocking  practices–whereby broadcasters for instance use geo-localisation to restrict access to online content – and reducing differences between national copyright regimes would not only ‘improve people’s access to cultural content online but also open ‘new opportunities for creators and the content industry’ stated the Commission. 

As a sign of its good intentions towards content creators and distributors, the Commission stressed that it would ‘respect the value of rights in the audio-visual sector’ and did not want to change the principal of territoriality. However industry bodies such as the International Federation of Film Distributors (FIAD) and Europa Distribution still voiced their concerns.

“As curators, promoters and investors, film distributors want to reach as big an audience as possible, on physical and on online services. We are very concerned by the possible tools the Commission has in mind,” said Christine Eloy, (pictured) General Manager of Europa Distribution. “It would be unworkable if a film is available on VOD in one European country, that all Europeans citizens outside this country could also have access to it. This would affect the media chronology and it could lead to a huge disruption of the market; less creation and smaller audiences for European films".

"Making borders permeable would affect the distributors' ability to release a film at the best moment to reach the local audience. It would drastically increase the risk of investment of buying and promoting the film. If the risk is higher and the revenues are lower, investments in production will decrease. In the end it is the circulation of films that will be at stake, and the result will be just the opposite of what the Commission wants,” noted Eloy.

The European Council will further discuss the DSMS during its next meeting on June 25-26.

For further information about the Digital Single Market Strategy click here.