Business lobby groups from Germany, the Netherlands, Denmark,
Hungary, Luxembourg and Switzerland have drawn up a 'Common
European Business Position' on the issue for the European
Parliament.
A European Parliament meeting today will discuss changes to the
Television Without Frontiers (TVWF) Directive which could extend
television regulation to audio-visual content on the internet.
"TVWF as drafted would shoehorn digital content providers into
rules designed for traditional broadcasters, undermining
high-value, high-tech economic growth when it should be stimulating
it," said a statement from business representative group the
CBI.
"If they approve this, MEPs and EU ministers risk shooting
themselves in the foot by undermining the goal of promoting an
'open and competitive digital economy' under the European
Commission's i2010 programme," said CBI deputy director-general
John Cridland. "There is little in this Directive to help Europe's
businesses compete in the fast-moving, highly competitive world of
interactive digital services, broadcasting and advertising. Future
European jobs are on the line."
The European Commission has proposed extending the scope of the
Directive to emerging media such as internet audio and video and 3G
mobile phone multimedia services, which are becoming more like
television services.
The business lobby groups argue that this extension of
regulation will simply drive jobs in the sector outside Europe.
Cridland said: "The internet is subject to the full force of
globalisation like no other industry or sector and Brussels must
adopt a more flexible, innovative and pro-growth approach or
companies will shift marketing spend to non-European countries.
The paper produced for the Parliament recommends giving
self-regulation a chance before legislating for the new media.
There has been much recent evidence that television and computer
based services are becoming more similar. In the UK a new household
gadget was introduced which took television and sent it to PCs and
other digital devices around the home.
Called the Slingbox, the machine plugs into a cable or satellite
TV connection and allows a PC or laptop in the same house to tune
in to the signal. The device will be launched around Europe during
the course of the year.
Another indication of the blurring of lines between screen and
computer media industries was the announcement yesterday that
Disney would allow some of its films to be downloaded over the
internet for a fee and reproduced in certain controlled ways.
Users' requirements to reproduce the films for personal viewing has
traditionally been a barrier to digital distribution.
