Available to All, Produced by Few: The Economic and Cultural Impact of Europe's Digital Single Market Strategy within the Audiovisual Industry

Abstract

Currently, Europeans traveling abroad confront frustrations when trying to access their subscriptions to internet streaming services such as Netflix or Amazon Prime. Often, their attempts to access a movie or show are met with a message stating something along the lines of, “We are sorry. This content is not available in your country or territory.” In the vernacular of the audiovisual industry, their content is being “geoblocked” in that nation. This is due to the European Union’s regulatory framework of territorial exclusivity through which producers of audiovisual content finance and distribute their shows. Territorial exclusivity entails selling exclusive broadcast rights for audiovisual content to specific broadcasters and online platforms on a territory-by-territory or country-by-country basis. However, this may all be changing soon for the European Union. In May 2015, the European Commission announced its plan for a Digital Single Market (DSM), a multifaceted proposal aiming to tear down regulatory and geoblocking walls between the European Union’s Member States and move to a single, pan-European online market. This Note explores the potential financial and cultural implications of this DSM strategy specifically in the film and television industries, both within the European Union and the United States. The benefits of a pan-European territory for audiovisual content distribution rights will be immediately clear to consumers. Cross-border portability and availability of subscriptions, movies, and shows will likely be applauded. However, this Note suggests the potential costs of such unification effort, although less immediately evident, may be substantial. As the costs of production and distribution increase to a pan-European scale, cultural diversity within the European Union and the ability of smaller nations’ audiovisual industry players to compete will be severally hampered. Throughout the growth and development of the European Union, there has been a struggle between concerns for harmonization and unification amongst the Member States and concerns for preserving unique cultural identities and diversity between them. The DSM is a microcosm of this balancing act, the latest chapter of an ongoing tension to define what lengths the EU should go in unifying its Members. The European Commission’s ultimate determination of how to enact the DSM will signal how they currently prioritize these competing considerations.