[A2k] Draft on audiovisual/consumer rights

Fri Jun 9 12:08:00 2006

Colleagues:  Just to kick off the discussion. I know I have left much out
and also need to address concerns, such as stated by French author rights
society SACD about concerns related to bypassing national rules ensuring
country to country film licensing (see trade story I post following this
draft).

Rights of Audiovisual Makers and Consumers in the Broadband Era

The growing availability of a multiplatform digital distribution systems,
such as the broadband Internet, Internet Protocol TV (IPTV), and mobile
services, provides an important opportunity for both audiovisual content
creators and consumers.  For example, media makers can now sell content
directly to consumers using broadband connections.  Consumers also have
the ability to view and acquire a diverse array of audiovisual content.

It is vital to ensure that both content makers and consumers have
unimpeded, but fair, access to communicate and engage in transactions with
each other.  Access to audiovisual content is essential to help ensure the
public can readily obtain diverse sources of information, including
cultural products.  To that end, we support the following rights:

Audiovisual makers should be able to directly sell/distribute their
products and services to all consumers, regardless of regional boundaries;
All broadband networks/ media service providers available to the public
should readily foster such communications and transactions;
Audiovisual makers should have access to the full range of distribution
modalities, including video on demand, switched video,  and mobile
networks;
Audiovisual makers should respect all appropriate laws and regulatory
regimes, including rules protecting privacy, advertising safeguards for
minors; and human rights.
Audiovisual makers should respect reasonable measures to ensure respect
for copyright (reflecting the role of fair use as well);
Audiovisual makers should have access to a universal and affordable system
of rights clearances;
Audiovisual makers should expect national governments and other
governmental bodies would provide financial support and other assistance
to aide the production and distribution of works;
Audiovisual makers should expect national governments and other
governmental bodies to facilitate agreements between themselves and access
providers, if needed;
Audiovisual makers should expect that networks would receive the necessary
investment to ensure state of the art, efficient, delivery of digital
content to users;
Audiovisual makers should expect government and network providers to help
ensure that digital distribution is equitably available and affordable,
including to rural and low-income consumers.

Consumers:
Have the right to directly contact and acquire the multimedia/audiovisual
content of their choice;
Their privacy should be protected and purchases protected by effective
consumer standards;
Consumer representatives must be included as a core constituency in any
deliberation involving government or government-sponsored entities related
to digital distribution (such as the recent European Charter related to
online film, etc);
 Consumers should expect that networks would receive the necessary
investment to ensure state of the art, efficient, delivery of digital
content to them;
Consumers should expect government and network providers to help ensure
that digital distribution is equitably available and affordable, including
to rural and low-income communities;
Consumers should expect to receive a culturally diverse array of content,
as well as access to networks promoting such diversity;

*****
Variety
Posted: Wed., May 24, 2006, 9:18am PT

TW back off Euro Charter
Congloms hold back on signing
By JOHN HOPEWELL

Tuesday's Europe Day was supposed to climax with Time Warner, France
Telecom, the BBC, Vivendi and EMI Music, among other companies, signing a
new European Charter for Film Online.

Except they didn't sign.

"Tueday, 16:30, Signature of the Charter of Film On Line," the Europa Day
press briefing ran.

But Time Warner et al. preferred the less committed form of merely
"endorsing" the European Charter, which is a more ambiguous backing.

Their reticence comes with sound reasoning. Signing the charter may have
had legal implications that the companies did not want to evoke. Also,
people didn't want to be too closely associated with a document that was
at least very vague, and some critics said vacuous.

So why did the companies come to Cannes to powwowabout the charter in the
first place?

Its large value, say analysts, is that it does at least get some big
companies (though not all: British Telecom did not attend the charter
endorsement) from the telco, ISP and content sector around the same table,
including even a lone but huge U.S. entity, Time Warner.

And telcos and Internet service providers are very keen to keep in with
the European Commission, which has other moves in the hopper.

These include a study of how to balance online consumer and content-owner
interests, and an upcoming Television Without Fronteirs directive that
could beat a big stick and allow individual states to force online players
to invest in the Web presence of European pics and TV shows.

That's one point of contention. Another is one of Media Commissioner
Viviane Reding's hobby horses: the need to distribute European movies
beyond the country they were produced in. One obvious distribution channel
is the Internet. Telcos would love to be able to sell films all over
Europe.

The Internet opens up the possibility of abandoning country-by-country
licensing systems for films. That is anathema to, for example, French
author rights society SACD.

"The basis for film policy in Europe is national. You cannot treat the
distribution of films as if you were selling cars," said SACD's Pascal
Rogard.

The charter might not have meant much, but the issue of online
distribution will run on, and on and on.