TV Without Frontiers Update

Since we are one of the few U.S.-based sites to seem to care about the European TV Without Frontiers Directive in the first place, I would be remiss if I didn't note a big development that happened while I was on vacation.

The British communications regulatory arm, Ofcom, finally succeeded in its long quest to convince key ministers that forcing countries to regulate online broadcasting wouldn't be a wise thing.  ZDNet noted way back on November 15...

Ofcom says it has successfully argued that video downloads should not be regulated by EU regulators, but that industry and the public should self regulate. It believed the vagueness of the original proposals would have forced it to regulate all visual media, from television companies to many thousands of individual video blogs. The regulations have instead been extended to cover on-demand content that "looks and feels like a traditional TV service", said Ofcom on Tuesday....

...While the regulator said it recognised that under-regulation could expose children and the vulnerable to inappropriate content, it was concerned that over-regulation would stifle competition. It called for a flexible approach to regulation, including self-regulation by media providers, and consumer regulation through parental control.

While a very positive step, indeed, the directive still has a bit more time to change form again.  It will be reviewed by the European Parliament next week, according to Intellectual Property Watch.

UPDATE:  See the instructive comment below on "why we shouldn't get carried away" with this development -- especially its very valid point on defining "TV-like" services.

Comments

[John Middleton]

Frankly I wouldn't get too carried away. There has been a compromise to stick the online (non-linear) regulation to 'TV-like' services; the key will now be what the definition of tv-like is in the final text - clearly it is impossible to define in a watertight manner what really is a qualitative judgement so the Directive is still going to have a major impact.

There is also the fact that to get the compromise, there is a high likelihood that the country of origin principle that is the foundation of the original Directive could be weakened to push the eventual Directive through. There is still also the fact that any 'tv-like' online service will still have to comply with the regulation on advertising and product placement that previously they may not have had to comply with...however it is still a major improvement over what was on the table before :)