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The author of the OP article notes this as well, but seems hopeful that this is just one more step in creating a single digital market in Europe as well: > He

The author of the OP article notes this as well, but seems hopeful that this is just one more step in creating a single digital market in Europe as well: > He added; ”Agreements are now needed on our other proposals to modernise E.U. copyright rules and ensure a wider access to creative content across borders. I count on the European Parliament and Member States to make it happen.” > That looks like a reference to the overhaul of copyright announced mid-September which, at least in the European Commission proposal, would see the “country of origin” principle currently in place for cable and satellite programming extended to broadcasters’ online services. In other words, if a broadcaster is licensed to serve one jurisdiction in the E.U. with an online service, they would be authorized to serve that online service to all E.U. member states. Emphasis mine; that part looks interesting. If that happens, might that mean that Netflix can legally serve content licensed in Germany to customers in Belgium despite not having the redistribution rights for that country? That is, you can't license films or series for redistribution in just one EU country, you either license it for all or none. Makes sense given the scale of the EU.

usrusr 10y ago
Or it could mean that Netflix cannot cheaply licence a Portuguese show for Belgium, because they would have to effectively licence the whole regional block even though "everything except Portugal" would be orders of magnitude cheaper. The same thing happens with sports all the time, very expensive to license in the home market, cheap as packaging peanuts in foreign markets (and used in pretty much the same way, for filling up inconvenient voids). Previously, distributors had an incentive to popularize content across is home market boundary, with forced full region licensing this goes away. (Edit: "effectively licence the whole block". The whole "may refuse to do business, but must stream everywhere" thing seems awfully muddy, my take is that it would be entirely to the rights holder wether they would consider a licence for that "Irish residents only" an expensive EU wide license or a much cheaper Ireland only)
- Freak_NL 10y ago
  Certainly, there is that drawback, but on the whole Europeans (myself included) will benefit. In terms of content Netflix has very little that is desired exclusively in certain countries; most of its backlog is English films and series, and sports is not Netflix' expertise. For the customers this should be a welcome change; nothing is more annoying than a global digital services provider deciding for you that you cannot watch content X because you live in country Y. Let me choose if I want to watch Portuguese sitcoms instead of unilaterally deciding that all Dutch don't like those. While I do like Netflix' globally available original material, I also want a legal way to enjoy the long tail of film/television content. This kind of legislature helps.

usrusr 10y ago

Or it could mean that Netflix cannot cheaply licence a Portuguese show for Belgium, because they would have to effectively licence the whole regional block even though "everything except Portugal" would be orders of magnitude cheaper. The same thing happens with sports all the time, very expensive to license in the home market, cheap as packaging peanuts in foreign markets (and used in pretty much the same way, for filling up inconvenient voids). Previously, distributors had an incentive to popularize content across is home market boundary, with forced full region licensing this goes away. (Edit: "effectively licence the whole block". The whole "may refuse to do business, but must stream everywhere" thing seems awfully muddy, my take is that it would be entirely to the rights holder wether they would consider a licence for that "Irish residents only" an expensive EU wide license or a much cheaper Ireland only)

Freak_NL 10y ago
Certainly, there is that drawback, but on the whole Europeans (myself included) will benefit. In terms of content Netflix has very little that is desired exclusively in certain countries; most of its backlog is English films and series, and sports is not Netflix' expertise. For the customers this should be a welcome change; nothing is more annoying than a global digital services provider deciding for you that you cannot watch content X because you live in country Y. Let me choose if I want to watch Portuguese sitcoms instead of unilaterally deciding that all Dutch don't like those. While I do like Netflix' globally available original material, I also want a legal way to enjoy the long tail of film/television content. This kind of legislature helps.