Today, over 600 representatives of the film, cinema and audiovisual sector in Europe released a joint statement on the upcoming vote in the European Parliament an Own-initiative Report on the EU Geo-blocking Regulation. The EBU joins these representatives throughout our sector to urge MEPs to reject parts of the report that calls for the inclusion of audiovisual services in the Geo-Blocking Regulation.

Vincent Sneed, Senior EU Policy Adviser, EBU said: “Public service media are funded nationally and have a national remit. They are not set up to invest 27 times to secure broadcast rights in every EU country. If audiovisual services are included in the Geo-blocking Regulation, it would threaten public service media’s ability to fulfil their mission: to offer highest quality content to the broadest possible national audience. It would lead to limited and less diverse media offers.”

Many of the EBU’s Members are able, with the existing regulations and market conditions, to offer many services across borders. Examples include co-production initiatives, a pan-European networked newsroom and the Eurovision News Exchange. There are also existing agreements on transmission and retransmission on a variety of platforms, from cable to IPTV, satellite and OTT operators. On top of this, 18 public service media organisations across Europe offer, or are in the course of offering, portability for their online services. These offers show the enthusiasm and goodwill that public service media have for reaching audiences across borders. But in order to preserve these well-functioning partnerships, territorial exclusivity must be maintained.

This report marks a dangerous shift in how the value of the cultural output of Europe is treated.

Read the statement to the right.