The New Audiovisual Media Services Directive and the Promotion of European Works by On-Demand Media Service Providers

The 2018 revision to the Audiovisual Media Services Directive has reshaped the framework regulating European quotas for on-demand services in light of the significant development of the video on demand market. Considering the asymmetries between linear and on demand services, The European legislature had several options before it, and eventually opted to afford considerable scope for the same regulatory framework as applies to the former to be extended to latter. The newly drafted Article 13 of the AVMS Directive requires Member States to ensure that providers of on-demand services secure at least 30% of their catalogue for European works and afford them prominence. Such provision also notes that where a Member State requires financial contributions of AVMS providers (both linear and on-demand), such financial contributions may also be required of providers from other Member States which are targeting audiences in that Member State. The authors thoroughly discuss the implications deriving from the new Article 13 and the issues that Member States will be confronted with in the implementation of the new legal framework.