The new proposal is called the Audiovisual Media Services (AVMS)
Directive and will replace the TV Without Frontiers Directive. It
will permit product placement as long as warnings are screened and
will extend TV regulation to audiovisual material on the internet
or on on-demand networks.
Though there is some regulation of on-demand services, the
regulatory burden is far lighter than it is on scheduled
services.
"Today, we have made a decisive step towards a true internal
market for audiovisual media services and to a more competitive
European audiovisual content industry," said Viviane Reding, EU
Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "This important
piece of modernising legislation brings Europe's audiovisual
policies into the 21st century, providing a welcome shot in the arm
to industry."
The new Directive has been the source of significant controversy
because of its extension of regulation of content beyond
traditional broadcast networks. Designed to cover new forms of
television delivery, the move prompted fears that Europe was
attempting to regulate podcasting and amateur internet content such
as videos posted to YouTube.
The European Commission, which drafted the original proposal and
a revised version, said that the regulations would only cover TV
services and not all audiovisual content posted on the
internet.
The original proposal was subjected to major alterations last
December at its first reading in Parliament and the Commission
produced a second version, a compromise text it hoped would be
acceptable to Parliament and the Council of Minsters.
The compromise text was accepted by a crucial Parliamentary
committee earlier this month. The Committee on Culture and
Education accepted the new text, and the Commission has now
announced that the proposal has been accepted by both Parliament
and Council.
Reding said that the new Directive was essential. "It promises
less regulation, better financing for European content and higher
visibility to Europe's key values, cultural diversity and the
protection of minors," she said.
The Commission said that it expects the Directive to come into
force by the end of 2007. Member states will have two years in
which to transpose it into national law, meaning that the new rules
will apply across Europe by the end of 2009.
