Abstract
This article analyzes the biggest Lithuanian and Estonian video-on-demand (VOD) platforms including Telia, their capabilities for fostering European film production and mass media in general. It is important to accentuate that non-linear TV and VOD services are attracting more and more users in Europe, and it is even considered that VOD could become a strong competitor for theatrical releases in film distribution, while, in the context of mass media, the growth of users might be associated with potential threats of propaganda, which still has its own distribution mechanisms within linear TV. However, the audiovisual content that is being supplied for the users of VOD platforms and TV is also regulated by the Audiovisual Media Service Directive (AVMSD). Without regulation, the users of VOD platforms and TV might face a limited choice of audiovisual content. Therefore, the Digital Single Market (DSM) strategy is aimed at creating a single market in Europe and eliminating the geo-blocking that limits user abilities to use VOD services during travel across borders while also establishing better access to digital goods and services at the same time. Looking from the perspective of the VOD platform, a DSM strategy might bring about a monopolization of VOD services in Europe; in that case, the little markets of the Baltic States would suffer. Another important issue that small media markets come across is related to the level of propaganda that is being transmitted from Russian TV channels that are registered in different EU countries. The article argues, and the research results show, that a DSM strategy and the elimination of geo-blocking do not eliminate the problem of fostering European audiovisual content that is and could be available to the users of VOD platforms in Lithuania and Estonia, and that these measures do not pay significant attention to EU’s consumer protection issues.
Highlights
Digital technologies such as computers, satellite TV, the internet and mobile phones began to transform the media world during the 1990s because they became more available and common
In order to critically assess the role of the biggest Lithuanian and Estonian VOD platforms in promoting European films, it is important to determine the following aspects: (1) the exact content that is available to the consumers of the VOD platforms in Lithuania and Estonia, (2) the phase of the VOD service development, (3) the situation of the legislation and (4) what new trends the Digital Single Market (DSM) strategy might bring for the VOD platforms in Lithuania and Estonia
As the present analysis showed, the European film production supply of the Telia VOD services in Lithuania and Estonia is 4 to 5 percent higher (Graphs 1 and 2) than the supply of Hollywood production
Summary
Digital technologies such as computers, satellite TV, the internet and mobile phones began to transform the media world during the 1990s because they became more available and common. While the interviews enabled researchers to obtain information they couldn’t have gained by observation alone,[21] descriptive statistics, in the context of communication research, allow us to summarize and describe the data.[22] In order to critically assess the role of the biggest Lithuanian and Estonian VOD platforms in promoting European films, it is important to determine the following aspects: (1) the exact content that is available to the consumers of the VOD platforms in Lithuania and Estonia, (2) the phase of the VOD service development, (3) the situation of the legislation and (4) what new trends the DSM strategy might bring for the VOD platforms in Lithuania and Estonia
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