Brussels, 15/07/2011 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament's education and culture committee held a public hearing on 13 July on the European single market in the digital age. The debate started by pointing out that Europe urgently needs to complete the single market in broadcasting and film by striking a balance between allowing everyone to access content and providing suitable financial compensation for authors.
Committee chair Doris Pack (EPP, Germany) stressed the particular importance of digitisation for the preservation, protection and availability of European cultural heritage. She said that the new types of services, such as on-demand or catch-up TV, offer new potential and opportunities, but also raise new challenges for the EU. “We must create a genuine digital, cultural market” so that audiovisual works can flow across borders to the benefit of all European citizens, she explained. Giacomo Mazzone from the European Broadcasting Union spoke about the digitisation challenges facing broadcasting. He said the industry should not be governed by the market alone because social cohesion, high quality, accessibility and education are also key, and this is where European public service broadcasters play a key role. With the increase in non-linear viewing (such as video downloads), copyright has to be established by new means, such as collective licensing or the European digital passport, he added. Vice-President of Nokia, Erkki Ormala, said that the digital industry was the fastest growing industry in the world, yet in the EU, the lack of a digital single market meant that industry lost a lot of money. He said the issue should be at the top of the EU agenda to stop the EU becoming even more dependent on US distributors (only four of the 50 most visited websites in the world are European). He said there were technologies that could register every single download and take copyright payment for them, but this is prohibited under current legislation. The founder of Europa Cinemas, Claude-Eric Poiroux, said that the digitisation of films was key for better access, distribution and promotion of audiovisual works. Pointing out the need to introduce costly digital equipment and set a single EU digital standard, he stressed the disadvantaged situation of small cinemas and independent producers, calling for European support: “Otherwise, several hundred cinemas will disappear. We have no time to waste.” General Secretary of the Spanish audiovisual producers, rights management association (EGEDA), José Antonio Suarez Lozano, described the role of royalties' collection societies in the distribution of films in the digital era, focusing on the example of orphan works.
During the debates, Helga Trüpel (Greens/EFA, Germany) and Petra Kammerevert (S&D, Germany) called for the right balance to be struck between wide access to digital content and fair remuneration for authors. Jean-Marie Cavada (EPP, France) highlighted the importance of independent financing so that all types of programmes could be accessed through all technical means. Ivo Belet (EPP, Belgium) pointed out that Europe is not the same as the US, so the dual private and public broadcasting system in Europe needs to be preserved. (I.L./transl.fl)