EU report calls for changes to VOD licensing

Brussels-based consultancy Kea has called for wide-ranging changes to the way video-on-demand operators work in order to promote the distribution of European content on digital services. The report, Multi-Territory Licensing of Audiovisual Works in the European Union, was compiled for the European Commission. It calls on VOD service providers to streamline the licensing process for rights and the rights clearance process, which it says favours the large Hollywood studios. Rights owners in Europe are also struggling to retain digital rights as broadcasters look to take them as part of a deal for the TV window.

“The audiovisual sector is in an important phase of transition,” the report notes. “Most individual European audiovisual companies may in the future be in a weak negotiating position when they wish to access VOD platforms on beneficial terms, and would therefore benefit from collective approaches to facilitating rights licensing.”