Fit for the digital era - new audiovisual media rules

"With this negotiation result with the Member States, we have now finally established a fair, level playing field by adapting some important rules to internet media services which were formerly only applicable to traditional television", declared Sabine Verheyen MEP, the European Parliament’s lead negotiator on the reform of the EU legislation on Audiovisual Media Services. A political agreement between the European Parliament, the Council and the European Commission was successfully reached today.

Sabine Verheyen pointed out that the result is also great news for the European film sector and our European cultural diversity: video on demand platforms will have to assign 30% of their catalogue to European productions. This will give a boost to European creativity in the audiovisual sector.

The main goals were also to protect consumers against excessive advertising during peak viewing hours, but also to protect children and minors. These were the top priorities for the EPP Group during the trilogue, which lasted almost a year.

"I am happy to say that we have been successful in negotiating that a similar level of protection now also applies to internet media services, as it does to the classical broadcast media services. The transparency rules for advertising, especially on product placement and sponsorship, will now also apply to video-sharing platforms. This is a great achievement for the protection of consumers, especially children and minors. It was our main goal to protect our consumers against excessive advertising”, she continued.

"We have now made European media regulation fit for the digital era by applying similar rules to similar services, whether online or offline", she concluded.