Slashdot Mirror
EU To Move Ahead With Cultural Quotas For Streaming Services (techcrunch.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from TechCrunch: The European Union is set to move ahead with a plan to enforce pan-European quotas on streaming services like Amazon Prime Video and Netflix to support production of locally produced film and video content. Roberto Viola, the European Commission's directorate general of communication, networks, content and technology told Variety that the new rules are on track to be approved in December. The proposals will require that streaming services give over at least 30% of their on-demand catalogues to original productions made in each EU country where a service is provided (individual EU Member States could choose to set the content bar even higher, at 40%).
Streaming services will also have to ensure visibility and prominence for local content -- so no burying the 'European third' in a dingy corner of the site where no one will find it, let alone stream it. The EU lawmakers' intention is to stand up for cultural diversity against the might of Hollywood and the flattening power of platforms -- in the latter case by making platforms invest in local content production rather than just doing the easy thing of fencing yet more Marvel superhero movies.
Streaming services will also have to ensure visibility and prominence for local content -- so no burying the 'European third' in a dingy corner of the site where no one will find it, let alone stream it. The EU lawmakers' intention is to stand up for cultural diversity against the might of Hollywood and the flattening power of platforms -- in the latter case by making platforms invest in local content production rather than just doing the easy thing of fencing yet more Marvel superhero movies.
I can sympathize with the goal - a pure, global free market does tend to mean that a handful of global content producers (i.e. Hollywood) will crush any kind of regional cultural diversity with their economies of scale.
But the obvious way to comply is to just add a lot of very cheap, low quality, locally produced filler. That's probably not what they're going for..
necessity is the mother of invention. Doctor Who was fantastic and made on a shoe string. The Michael Bay Transformers movies are $100+ million a pop and some of the worst drivel I've ever seen. I'd like to see some small local talent get a shot. They're likely to be constrained in ways that a big production is not, and those constraints will make them more interesting.
It's like a garden full of Dandelions. They look nice and all but they're still weeds and they'll crowd out the rest of your followers.
Hi! I make Firefox Plug-ins. Check 'em out @ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/youtube-mp3-podcaster/
Guess Crunchyroll's going to get kicked out of the EU. They're over 90% Japanese.