This morning, the Commission has held a high-level roundtable aimed at setting the ambition for the upcoming stakeholder dialogue on improving the access to and availability of audiovisual content across EU Member States.
EU Commissioner for Internal Market, Thierry Breton, said:
“We have a large offer of television channels and online services in the EU, and a very high number of films and TV series produced every year. But these works do not travel well within our Single Market. Consumers, producers, distributors, broadcasters, video on demand platforms and other interested parties – we are bringing everyone around the table to make audiovisual content more widely available across the EU and help the industry to reach broader audiences, all while safeguarding creativity and production.”
The roundtable focused on gathering first ideas on how to foster the circulation of audiovisual works across the EU, thus ensuring that European consumers can access a wider variety of content.
Following this first discussion, and as announced in the Media and Audiovisual Action Plan, the Commission will organise several meetings with EU-level associations representing the different voices of the AV sector, as well as consumers. The dialogue, which will kick-start in November, should help identify innovative solutions to make films, TV series and programmes more widely available across the Member States and to facilitate consumers’ access to a broader variety of audiovisual content. This initiative is part of a broader effort to support the recovery and transformation of the media and audiovisual sector, both through and beyond the crisis.