EU Wants iPlayer Access Extended Across Europe

The Digital Single Market Aims to Make Copyrighted Works Available Across Europe.

With the self-imposed deadline for implementing the Digital Single Market (DSM) approaching, the EU Commission has set out some specific aims that it would like to achieve by the end of 2016. The BBC reports that EU officials are proponents of the DSM because they believe that a boost in the use of online goods will in turn help the EU’s economy.

Some of the main aims that the EU Commission has included are:

1. ending geo-blocking (for cross-border purchases and using media);
2. an enquiry into role of search engines, apps and social media in the DSM;
3. an investigation into Google’s dominance of the internet and whether it was permissible for them to promote their own products for sale over others; and
4. making it easier for businesses to calculate VAT.

The BBC itself will even investigate whether it would be possible to make their programs currently available through their iPlayer platform accessible to a wider audience without infringing upon copyrights.

The concern with the implementation of the DSM is that the over-arching goals of increasing freedoms and consistency while limiting infringement is that it will be difficult to strike a balance between these interests which can often be competing.

To read the article in full go here.