Mariya Gabriel – Photo EC
(BRUSSELS) – From 1 April 2018 onwards, Europeans will be able to access the online content that they have subscribed to at home, wherever they are in the EU, EU institutions made clear in a joint statement Tuesday.
The aim of the Regulation, which comes into force in all EU Member States, is to ensure that Europeans who buy or subscribe to films, sports broadcasts, music, e-books and games in their home Member State are able to access this content when they travel or stay temporarily in another EU country.
While the rules will apply to paid-for services, providers of free content are also able to opt in.
Benefits for providers of online content are that they will no longer have to acquire licences for other territories where their subscribers are travelling to.
The new rules are a response to new behaviours and habits amongst users of new technologies. Consumer spending on video subscription services rose by 113% per year between 2010 and 2014, and the number of users by 56% between 2014 and 2015.
It is also estimated that at least 29 million people, or 5.7% of consumers in the EU, could make use of cross-border portability, and many more in the future up to 72 million people by 2020.
The joint statement, presented by EU Commissioner Mariya Gabriel, says: “Reaching an agreement on portability is a great result of close collaboration between the EU institutions and European companies and stakeholders; and we have full confidence that broadcasters and platforms will take this as an opportunity to enhance the user experience. Today we have taken another concrete step towards building a true Digital Single Market and a united European digital society, accessible for all our citizens and profitable for our businesses.”
The removal of boundaries preventing Europeans from travelling with digital media and content subscriptions follows effective abolition of roaming charges for mobile phones, seen as a major success for EU efforts on the digital market.
Portability of online content services - background guide
