Industry Groups Agree to Cooperate to Make Content Available on Broadband

The workshop was the brainchild of ETNO Dir. Michael Bartholomew. While there’s no “hot issue” on tap at the moment, he told us, several things have happened over the last few months to make such a discussion feasible. Last Sept., the Dutch Presidency held a meeting on the future of information and communication technologies, one topic of which involved how to create anytime-anywhere media platforms. Telecom ministers adopted a resolution on content that will feed into the ongoing debate on Europe’s Lisbon strategy. The European Commission (EC) has a commissioner with responsibility for both telecom and audiovisual issues. The time is ripe, Bartholomew said, to move telcos’ discussions with content providers into new areas such as broadband/rich content.

Despite agreement on the need for IPR protection and interoperability, there are challenges ahead, Bartholomew said. Much more work is needed on IPR, particularly digital rights management systems, he said, adding that the market for broadband content is “still embryonic.” And many smaller telcos haven’t begun to deal with content and other issues, he said.

But the meeting’s message was the strong signal from telcos that IPR protection is important to the flow of content over their networks, Bartholomew said. The event was “special” because of the absence of the normally acrimonious debate between the 2 sides. Instead, Bartholomew joked, it “was all about peace and love.”

Industry, Regulatory Challenges Ahead

The ETNO forum marked the first time telcos and content holders met without prompting by a 3rd party such as the EC, said Patrice Chazerand, secy.-gen. of the Interactive Software Federation of Europe (ISFE). Representatives from the movie, music, software and interactive gaming industries commended ETNO for taking the initiative in holding the workshop, Chazerand said. Telcos know they need attractive content to jumpstart broadband takeup, and entertainment companies know broadband will provide better delivery of their products.

Broadband may be a luxury for the music and movie industries, but interactive software makers “were born digital” and depend heavily on it, Chazerand said. Like telcos, ISFE members spend large sums on R&D while music and movie companies pour money into talent, he said. At the same time, interactive software manufacturers also want strong IPR protection. The ISFE wants regulators to take a light approach regulating converging technologies, while at the same time enforcing copyright and IPR enforcement directives.

But it’s one thing for trade associations to outline a vision for their members to buy into, and it’s quite another for companies to “make convergence happen,” Chazerand said. The question is whether telcos and content industries can strike profit-sharing deals that recognize both the unique nature of content and the telecom sector’s huge investment in infrastructure, he said. Other stumbling blocks could be the “still uncharted” area of technology convergence and figuring out what consumers want, Chazerand said.

Independent European movie and music companies are more concerned about “accessing the services” than IPR, said Philippe Kern, secy.-gen. of the European Film Companies Alliance (EFCA) and the Independent Music Companies Alliance (IMPALA). His groups want new services to emerge in a competitive marketplace, so they're trying to make it easier for ISPs to access indie content, he said. ISPs now spend resources and energy buying content from major studios and record labels when they could have access to equally large catalogs of European independent movies and music.

EFCA and IMPALA want the EC to support efforts by the indie sector to create an independent licensing scheme, Kern said. They are also looking to regulators for strong enforcement of competition rules to prevent monopolies. The more players in the market, the better for indies, he said.

In a keynote speech, International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI) CEO John Kennedy pressed ISPs to create a code of conduct by which they would “respect the music and the music makers.” Such a code might say that ISPs: (1) Recognize that Internet copyright infringement causes serious economic damage. (2) Ask the recording industry to notify them when their customers are infringing copyright. (3) Will confirm they already have customer terms and conditions that bar subscribers from infringing. (4) Agree to enforce those provisions. (5) Work cooperatively and void court battles with the music industry.

Telcos and content owners said they will try to come up with joint recommendations to the EC. Any such recommendations from 2 seemingly irreconcilable communities will carry a great deal of weight, Chazerand said.

Regulators face a “tricky path,” said Ross Biggam, dir.-gen. of the Assn. of Commercial TV in Europe. No one wants to see new models of audiovisual media regulated to death, but fair competition is essential, he said. The EC is revising the TV without Frontiers directive and is considering moving from a TV to a content model regulation, Biggam said. That approach scares telcos and new media companies that fear over-regulation.

In addition to the groups noted, workshop participants included the Assn. Of Commercial TV in Europe, the European Cable Communications Assn., Eurocinema, MPA, the BBC, Belgacom, Bertelsmann, British Telecom, Deutsche Telekom, France Telecom, Invitel, ITV, KPN, Lattelecom, Mediaset, NBC Universal Home Entertainment, OTE (Hellenic Telecom), Portugal Telecom, Royal Philips Electronics, RTL, Sony Picture Entertainment, Swisscom, TDC, TDF, Telecom Italia, Telefonica, Telenor, TeliaSonera, The Walt Disney Co., Time Warner, Tiscali, UGC, Universal Music, UPC and Viaccess.