In a decision rendered on 21 October 2015, the Court of Justice of the European Union, in Case C-347/14 New Media Online has confirmed that a compilation of short form videos provided by an online publisher may fall under the scope of the Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS) Directive.

The Court held that one of the main purposes of the Directive was to apply the same rules to actors exercising the same type of editorial control and thus to achieve a level playing-field on the audiovisual media services market. It found that an online newspaper providing audiovisual material which is independent of the journalistic activity of the publisher may be subject to regulation under the AVMS Directive.

“We welcome this judgment as a move towards a more level playing field on the Internet. The level of consumer protection and regulation should be the same, irrespective of who is providing the audiovisual media content.” said Ingrid Deltenre, the EBU’s Director General. “This judgment also shows the way forward for the forthcoming revision of the AVMS Directive.”

In its reply to the Commission consultation on the review of the AVMS Directive, the EBU has argued in favour of a robust and future-proof European regulatory framework with equivalent and effective rules for all audiovisual services irrespective of the platform used.

Moreover, platforms are playing an ever more important role in the audiovisual value chain; the way they structure their services guides viewers and influences their choices. The EBU believes that effectively fulfilling the Directive’s objectives requires a complementary set of rules for operators of significant audiovisual platforms that are aggregating or selecting audiovisual content or providing a user interface. These rules should include among others safeguards for the findability of public value content.

A detailed analysis of the case is available here.

The judgment is available here.