EC OKs 'One-Stop' License For Simulcasts On Internet

The European Commission has cleared an unprecedented agreement that will offer broadcasters a "one-stop" license for simulcasting on the Internet. The system, approved yesterday, is expected to open up competition within Europe. Proposed by the IFPI in late 2000 (Bulletin, Sept. 12, 2000), it is the first such Internet licensing system to receive EC approval.

Under the new rules, broadcasters can obtain a single license from one collecting agency to cover Internet broadcasts in those countries covered by the agreement. This replaces a system wherein broadcasters were required to secure a license from each national copyright administration and collection society--a costly and time-consuming process. So far, societies across most of the 18-nation European Economic Area (EEA) have signed up for the pact; however, those in Spain and France have not. The agreement also includes societies from Central and Eastern Europe, Asia, South America, Australia, and New Zealand.

Competition Commissioner Mario Monti says the creation of a "legitimate marketplace" for simulcasting will benefit consumers and rights-holders. In a statement, the EC says the initiative "will allow for competition between EEA societies to grant these new multi-territorial licenses, thereby contributing to the completion of a European single market."
Jay Berman, chairman/CEO of the IFPI, says the system was devised to "help the legitimate market for simulcasting to develop" and to "make it easier for broadcasters to obtain licenses." Berman had hinted to delegates during a recent JPMorgan meeting in London that the simulcast licensing plan was on the verge of receiving regulatory clearance (Bulletin, Sept. 26).

The collecting societies also aim to increase transparency regarding the fees charged for copyright licenses. A set of proposals will be presented to regulators by the end of 2003, aimed at separating the copyright royalty from the fee meant to cover the licensing administration costs of each society.

The European Digital Media Assn. (EDiMA) welcomes Brussels' approval as recognition that there was previously no internal market in Europe for digital distribution. "We would hope that the decision ... is only a steppingstone to a true internal market for digital distribution licensing," says EDiMA president Simon Bazalgette.