VOD service providers and regulation in the European Union: an audiovisual diversity approach

Abstract

A firm step in order to impose a quota for the catalogues of video-on-demand service providers has been given by the EU through the amendment of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive in 2018. This paper aims to analyse the potential implications of this change, in relation to the way the promotion of European works has been implemented so far, since some comments can be made in light of this revision. It will be argued that more interesting than the obligation to comply with a quota, defined by the geographical origin of audiovisual works, is the idea of making VOD service providers part of every national audiovisual production and financing system via direct or indirect financial contributions. It is concluded that indirect obligations could offer a wider room for manoeuvre to better help focus public policy decisions.

The curation of European Netflix catalogues on social media: The key role of transnational and local cultural traits

“…However, the reach of Netflix is not global, with no service in China, Syria, Crimea and North Korea, and 'is predicated on access to high-speed broadband, a functional computer, electricity and money to regularly pay subscriptions, further limiting its scope to the global elites' (Jenner, 2018: 190). Furthermore, the streaming service still needs to operate within a national media ecology, with regulatory laws and licensing agreements restricting access to local markets, thus making catalogues specific to each country (García Leiva and Albornoz, 2020;Lobato, 2019). Taking this into account, Netflix becomes framed as a transnational player, which affects and connects to different local, national, regional and global aspects of the television industry (Straubhaar et al, 2019;Jenner, 2018).…”

Global online platforms, COVID-19, and culture: The global pandemic, an accelerator towards which direction?

“…Besides, in May 2018, regarding the German case, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) has rejected the lawsuit from Netflix following a complaint about the payment of a fee to the Federal Film Board. According to the ECJ, due to the fact that the Californian VOD platform's content is available in Germany, Netflix is obliged to contribute to the national film fund (Albornoz and Leiva, 2020).…”

Netflix Originals in Spain: Challenging diversity

“…With this background, the most decisive step towards intervening in the configuration of the catalogues of SVOD services was taken by the EU: the 2018 reformulated Audiovisual Media Service Directive, which is being transposed into national legal systems, imposes the obligation for VOD catalogues to contain a minimum of 30% content of European origin. In addition, the directive established the need for European titles to have prominence within the services (García Leiva and Albornoz, 2021).…”