Annexes to COM(2020)784 - Europe’s Media in the Digital Decade: An Action Plan to Support Recovery and Transformation - Main contents
Please note
This page contains a limited version of this dossier in the EU Monitor.
| dossier | COM(2020)784 - Europe’s Media in the Digital Decade: An Action Plan to Support Recovery and Transformation. |
|---|---|
| document | COM(2020)784  |
| date | December 3, 2020 |
The Commission has already initiated a number of actions throughout 2020. Flexibility measures for the Cultural and Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility16 have been introduced, notably an increase of the guarantee coverage up to 90% for individual SMEs and a guarantee cap up to 25% for financial intermediaries, together with credit holidays. Support to the network of European cinemas will be increased by 5 million euros in the first quarter of 2021.
14 This will be done taking into account the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD): https://www.un.org/development/desa/disabilities/convention-on-the-rights-of-persons-with-disabilities.html
15 Further, to facilitate support to the press, and enhance the transparency and predictability of State aid control in this sector, the Commission has made and will regularly update an online repository (https://ec.europa.eu/competition/sectors/media/sa_decisions_to_media.pdf) containing relevant case practice. Regularly updated information on aid granted by Member States is also accessible in the transparency register. Importantly, to enable Member States to support businesses in the context of the covid-19 outbreak, on 13 October 2020, the European Commission has decided to prolong and extend the scope of the State aid Temporary Framework adopted on 19 March 2020. Aid granted under the Temporary Framework may be cumulated with aid under de minimis Regulations (Commission Regulations (EU) No 1407/2013, No 1408/2013, No 717/2014, and No 360/2012.), which is exempt from the notification obligation, provided the provisions and cumulation rules of those Regulations are respected.[SA.59106 (2020/N) Compensation scheme for the Danish media sector related to COVID-19 – Denmark; SA.57530 (2020/N) – COVID-19-Aid scheme for audio-visual production companies – Luxembourg; State Aid SA.58801 (2020/N) – Italy COVID-19: Aid to small book publishers and State Aid; SA.58847 (2020/N) – Italy COVID-19: Aid to music.]
16 https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/creative-europe/cross-sector/guarantee-facility_en
European Structural and Investment Funds17 have the potential to play an important role in supporting the media sector. This is also already eligible for support under the two packages of the “Coronavirus Response Investment Initiative”, which redirects existing cohesion funds to crisis response measures, such as providing working capital to SMEs18.
Additional cohesion funding is also made available through REACT-EU 19, where the culture sector is recognised as a priority and support will be focused on short-time work schemes and the self-employed, as well as support to SMEs. .
The temporary Support to mitigate Unemployment Risks in an Emergency (SURE) is also an important instrument available for Member States that need to mobilise significant financial means to fight the negative economic and social consequences of the coronavirus outbreak on their
territory20.
The Recovery and Resilience Facility is a major opportunity for Member States to invest in the twin digital and green transitions and strengthen the resilience of our industry. Each National Recovery and Resilience Plan will earmark a minimum level of 20% of expenditure for digital. Measures to boost the production and distribution of digital content, such as digital media, will count towards this target.
Under the recovery and resilience plans and in compliance with State aid rules, national reforms and investments can also contribute to strengthening European news media and audiovisual digital capacities, including through multi-country projects, such as co-productions of European content, EU media data space infrastructure, or equity investment to foster European audiovisual production or distribution (see Action 2 below).
In this context, as outlined in the Commission’s Annual Sustainable Growth Strategy 2021, Member States should pay attention to sectors that play a key role for our democracies, “especially the media sector where support should be provided in a way that respects and promotes media freedom and pluralism”, also initiating sharing among the Member States best practice of public support mechanisms 21.
ACTION 1 -Easier access to EU support
K A new interactive tool guiding media companies through the various support instruments
For: all EU media companies, regardless of their field of activity (audiovisual, news media etc.) and size
The Commission will work to ensure that media companies can access EU support opportunities from all instruments and programmes available. Therefore, it will develop –
17 https://ec. europa. eu/regional p o licy/e n/f u n d i n g/
18 https://ec. europa. eu/regional p o licy/e n/n e wsro o m /co ro n av ir us -resp o nse/
19 https://ec. europa. eu/co m m issi o n/presscorn er/d etail/en/I P_20_21 40
20 https://ec.europa.eu/info/business-economy-euro/economic-and-fiscal-policy-coordination/financial-assistance-eu/funding-mechanisms-and-facilities/sure en
21 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/en/TXT/?qid=1600708827568&uri=CELEX:52020DC0575
in close coordination with the single EU gateway to EU funding opportunities22 – a new interactive tool, tailor-made for the media sector. This will offer guidance on how to apply for relevant EU support, in the context of the 2021-2027 Multiannual Financial Framework, but also through national recovery and resilience plans.
The tool will bundle all relevant EU funding opportunities for audiovisual media, and those for news media. In just a few clicks, any European media company – regardless of the size and the focus – will be directed, depending on the features and needs of the company, to the most appropriate source of EU support. The companies will also be able to access information on the various calls, and on the opportunities for assistance in the application process.
This will build on existing tools and the experience of the Enterprise Europe Network23, which provides support and guidance to companies, including in the media and audiovisual sectors.
ACTION 2 — MEDIA INVEST aimed at boosting investment in the audiovisual industry
K A dedicated equity investment platform to foster European audio-visual
productions and distribution strategies >* Developi ng an investment pipeline through capacity building for investors and
investment readiness for companies
For: EU audiovisual
production and distribution companies
The European audiovisual industry is characterised by a large number of highly innovative and creative independent production and distribution companies with a high growth potential. They often however lack the financial strength to compete on a European and global level. At the same time, European investors remain largely unaware of the potential of those companies. They often associate investments in such ventures with high risks due to lack of track record of successful productions and to assets being mainly intangible in character.
A significant contribution to increasing access to lending has been made through the Cultural and Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility24. This type of support will be continued through InvestEU.
However, there is also a gap in equity financing for audiovisual, as well as other creative sectors, estimated at 399-648 million euros per year25. That is why a new initiative to support equity finance is needed to boost an independent audiovisual production capability in Europe, able to create quality works for the international market coming from all parts of Europe. European companies must have access to the financial means
22 https://ec.europa.eu/info/funding-tenders/opportunities/portal/screen/home
23 https://een.ec.europa.eu/
24 https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/creative-europe/cross-sector/guarantee-facility_en
25 Ex-ante evaluation of new financial instruments for SMEs, mid-caps and organisations from the cultural and creative sectors, SQW, 2019
to become more autonomous and exploit the intellectual property of the content they produce.
The Commission will support the setup of a dedicated investment platform, kick-started by funds coming, inter alia, from Creative Europe MEDIA and InvestEU. It will aim at mobilising private investors and will be open to collaboration with national promotional institutions and industry associations. It will support audiovisual ventures that could produce high-end works for the European and international markets, coordinating rights exploitation and distribution across territories.
The investment platform will help audiovisual companies to scale up to the international level, so that they can take higher risks, develop structured collaborations with distributors or other media outlets, and manage and exploit their catalogues. In turn, by strengthening the companies’ own funds, the latter can invest in bigger productions that will have greater chances of reaching wider audiences and box-office.
The target is to leverage investments of 400 million euros over a 7-year period, thus making a significant contribution to addressing the gap in equity financing26. It might also, under certain conditions, be combined with Member State Recovery and Resilience
Plans financed through Next Generation EU27.
The investment platform will be complemented with capacity building activities for investors aimed at increasing their knowledge of global production and distribution markets and their associated risks, and providing them with market intelligence. An Investor Conference will be held in 2021 to gather and mobilise the investor community.
In addition, building on the experience of the Cultural and Creative Sector Guarantee Facility, investment readiness actions will be offered to audiovisual companies interested in this type of investment. These will receive tailor-made guidance adapted to their business strategy to attract investors and identify the most promising projects.
AC TION 3 - NEWS : an in itiative to bundle actions and su pport for the news media sector
K Better access to finance, through loans and a pilot equity initiative
>* Capacity building among investors and media
r Support for news media to work on collaborative transformation
> A European News Media Forum
For: European news media com panies, journali sts, and related organi sati ons
26 There is a gap in equity financing for audiovisual, as well as other creative sectors, estimated at 399-648 million euros per year. Source: Ex-ante evaluation of new financial instruments for SMEs, mid-caps and organisations from the cultural and creative sectors, SQW, 2019
27 In line with Commission proposal for a Regulation establishing a Recovery and Resilience Facility COM(2020) 408 final. Article 8 provides that support under the Recovery and Resilience Facility shall be additional to the support provided under other Union funds and programmes. Article 22 provides that the Commission and the Member States shall ensure effective coordination between the RRF and other Union programmes.
News media are an economic sector as well as a public good. It requires time, stability
and resources for news media outlets to produce independent, trustworthy content. This
includes the need for increased capacity for media to analyse and reflect scientific
information on major societal issues, such as health and climate change. However, over
the last few years, the news media sector has been facing continuous change because of
evolving revenue models and the digital shift. Facing monetisation difficulties, in some
cases, media outlets – in particular at the local and regional level – have had to close
down, potentially exposing small markets to ‘news deserts’. There has also been a
decline in media outlets sending staff correspondents abroad, which can have a
detrimental effect on in-depth analysis and professional reporting. The COVID-19 crisis
might accelerate these trends, while at the same time European citizens are relying on
news media more than ever before, as reflected by growing readership and audience numbers28.
The Commission will launch a ‘NEWS’ initiative to bundle actions and support to the news media sector. This initiative will look holistically at the challenges facing the news media industry and provide a coherent response, bringing together different funding instruments under a common banner. This will increase the coherence, visibility, and impact of actions supported under different funding streams, while fully respecting the independence of the media.
The Commission will facilitate better access to finance by stimulating loans as well as equity finance:
- For news media in search of liquidity, access to loans will be facilitated thanks to the backing of the InvestEU guarantee, building on the experience with the Cultural and Creative Sectors Guarantee Facility and the European Fund for Strategic Investments.
- For news media requiring investment, the Commission will aim to establish an equity-based pilot through InvestEU that can support inter alia the news media sector in innovative ways, co-investing with funds coming from philanthropists, foundations, and other private partners.
These actions will be complemented by capacity-building services that aim to increase the knowledge of the European news media market among investors as well as media and support investment readiness among European media outlets, in particular local media. This will create dialogue and engagement with potential investors and facilitate investment.
Furthermore, dedicated support will be provided in the form of grants under the cross-sectoral strand of Creative Europe for collaborative news media partnerships. Grants will support the testing of new business models, in particular, local media, assisting media in developing their business and editorial standards, promoting collaborative and crossborder journalism, training and mobility of professionals , and sharing of best practices. Networking among the selected projects will be facilitated to maximise impact.
The Commission will engage in regular exchanges with the industry to work towards a news media innovation agenda that can help the sector thrive in the digital economy and
28https://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/index.cfm/Survey/getSurveyDetail/instruments/STA
NDARD/surveyKy/2262
society. To this end, the Commission will establish a European News Media Forum to engage with stakeholders, including media regulatory authorities, representatives of journalists, self-regulatory bodies (media/press councils), civil society, and international organisations.
3. Transform
The objective of this section is to encourage the long-term resilience and competiveness of Europe’s media industry, accompanying in particular the twin digital and green transitions. This is also important to support the crucial role of the sector in meeting societal needs and fostering European values.
As for many industrial sectors, data technology is at the centre of the transformation of the media sector.29 In particular, audience data in fields in which Europe’s global competitors are well positioned – such as personalised content development and promotion –allows for new business models based on a more direct relationship with the customers30. A key example is advertising, where the Internet overtook TV as the main channel in 2015 and has steadily consolidated its lead since then. In 2018, Internet advertising totalled over 50 billion euros, whilst TV advertising reached less than 40 billion euros31.
At the same time, the availability of consumer data continues to increase in step with the use of smart phones. The proportion of readers accessing news from smartphones has risen from 39% in 2014 to 48% in 2020. This offers new opportunities for creating, promoting, and distributing content in formats that are tailored to readers’ needs.
In this context, the respect for data protection32 is essential to strengthen individuals' fundamental rights in the digital age and facilitate business by clarifying rules for companies and public bodies in the digital single market.
The emerging area of immersive content is also a sector whose potential is largely unexplored, and where synergies could be built between the media sector and other key European industries.
Europe’s media sector must not lag behind in the green transition. Therefore, in line with the European Green Deal33 objectives – reaching climate-neutrality by 2050, decoupling economic growth from resource use, restoring biodiversity, and cutting pollution – actions will be established to reduce the environmental impact of the sector.
ACTION 4 Unleashing innovation through a European media data space and encouraging new business models
>* Create a media data space to support media companies in sharing data and developi ng innovative solutions
29 https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CELEX:52020DC0066&from=EN
30 https://reutersinstitute.politics.ox.ac.uk/sites/default/files/2020-06/DNR_2020_FINAL.pdf.
31 European Audiovisual Observatory
32 https://ec.europa.eu/info/law/law-topic/data-protection/data-protection-eu_en
33 https://ec.europa.eu/info/strategy/priorities-2019-2024/european-green-deal_en
> European Media Outlook: a report
to analyse media trends
For: European publishers, broadcasters, radios, advertising companies, media SMEs, technology providers, content and tech start-ups, content creators, producers, distributors
In order to become more innovative and competitive European media companies should be empowered to make better decisions and deploy more advanced solutions based on insights gleaned from data. The Commission proposes to bring this about by fostering the creation of a European “media data space”. This initiative builds on the European Data Strategy34 and will be carried out in full respect of data protection legislation.
Data spaces can change the way in which creators, producers, and distributors collaborate. They host relevant media data such as content, audience data and content meta-data as well as other types of data on users’ behaviours that might be useful to create content better tailored to consumer needs and distribute it more efficiently.
The media data space initiative, financed through the Horizon Europe and Digital Europe Programmes (DEP), will support press publishers, broadcasters, other media companies and technology providers in the creation of a data space dedicated to media applications. DEP will help the deployment of the data infrastructure and define a data interoperability strategy. In line with the European Data Strategy and the new horizontal data governance initiative35, it will also integrate state-of the art tools and services needed for the management and processing of the data, define the conditions for sharing and using the data, including IP, data protection privacy, and competition rules. The initiative will be set out taking into account the inputs of the broad stakeholder community.
The data infrastructure should be available to both public service media and commercial media operators, whether large or small, start-ups or established players. For example, several EU news publishers could pool together, in a pro-competitive manner and in respect of data protection rules, their content and customer data to produce news targeting their own national audiences, with the relevant content automatically translated into their own languages. The data space could also provide valuable insight to services aiming at increasing the findability of media content (news and entertainment content) across borders, as well as facilitating access to computing resources for creative SMEs. Furthermore, it could allow for exploitation of synergies with datasets produced by other creative industries (e.g., data spaces for cultural heritage) and industrial sectors (e.g., retail, automotive).
In addition, Horizon Europe will support innovative applications and technologies in the media domain. Investments in modular and open-source infrastructure media components could facilitate the emergence of new business models and their uptake by traditional and new media, thereby improving citizens’ access to broadly sourced information.
In order to enhance its knowledge base and inform future policy initiatives, the European Commission will procure a report, the ‘Media Industry Outlook’ every two years. This will explore media trends – from technology advances to emerging production and
34 https://ec. europa. eu/in f o/strateg y/p r io r ities-2019-2024/eu ro p e-f it-d i g ital-a g e/eu ro p ea n-d ata-strateg y en
35 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip 20 2102
consumption patterns – and analyse their potential impact in the European media market and business models.
ACTION 5 - Fostering a European Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) industrial coalition
r VR/AR industry coalition to sti mulate cooperation across industry sectors and ensure European leadership
> Launch a VR Media Lab on projects for new ways of
storytelling and interacting
For: European Virtual and Augmented Reality companies and professionals and industries using VR/AR applications
Immersive technologies and high-quality content allow creating new applications and use cases as well as new ways of engaging with audiences. Immersive technologies create more appealing and immersive experiences in different domains such as media, entertainment, culture, healthcare, design, architecture, manufacturing, education, tourism, fashion, training or retail shopping.
By 2030, Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) have the potential to add about 1,3 trillion euros to the global economy, up from 39 billion euros in 201936.
While most of the big players are currently in Asia and the US, Europe also has great potential to become market leader in this technology37. EU research funds have supported more than 450 projects dedicated to VR and AR, for a total of over 1 billion euros since the 1990s.
Europe has a distinct competitive advantage when it comes to content thanks to its large cultural diversity: leading cultural players such as the ARTE, the Venice Film Festival, and the Centre National du Cinema are actively exploring and supporting the potential of VR. Europe also has highly skilled workers capable of 3D modelling and creating computer-generated (CG) content for the gaming industry and VR animation.
Building on Europe’s creativity and strong research base, VR/AR content, technical solution and applications have the potential to trigger innovations in other industrial sectors, such as manufacturing industries, by improving product development and processes. Besides, they play an important role in driving the transformation of the tourism sector and helping creative industries such as fashion or architecture, to develop new business models, make production more efficient by reducing waste, and enhance costumers’ experience.
However, the European VR/AR sector suffers from fragmentation across sectors, players, and applications. The Commission therefore proposes to launch a VR/AR Coalition to stimulate cooperation and cross-fertilisation across sectors and ensure European leadership in this crucial, growing market. The VR/AR Coalition would provide a platform for synergies, by fostering joint actions and commitments.
36 https://www.pwccn.co m/en/tmt/economic-i mpact-of-vr-ar.pdf
37 https://ec.europa.eu/futurium/en/system/files/ged/vr ecosystem eu report 0.pdf
The Coalition will be based on a broad, cross-sectorial approach involving industries, technology providers and creatives. The Coalition would reflect this diversity of skills and consist of prominent players of the various sectors, ranging from content production and distribution, to the availability of technology, as well as innovation and business development. It would include members representing national or regional VR/AR associations, various industry representatives that could benefit from the wider use of VR/AR technologies for content creation and use.
The Coalition would present, by end 2021, a strategic paper setting out a) the extent to which VR/AR are deployed in the media sector; b) objectives for optimum deployment of VR/AR in the media sector to be reached by 2026; c) concrete commitments on how the industry will contribute to meet these objectives.
A VR Media Lab will also be launched to support creative cooperation on projects for new ways of storytelling and interacting, through virtual and augmented reality. It will enable joint work and mutual learning between people representing a range of professional groups (journalists, filmmakers, game designers, programmers, researchers). The funded projects will focus on content for entertainment, culture and news, as well as virtual reality applications in other industries, such as tourism, and fields such as education.
AC TION 6 - Towards a c li m ate- n e utra l audiovisual sector
K A structured exchange of best practice with the industry and (su b)nati on al and audiovisual funds
For: European audiovisual companies and professionals
The environmental impact of the media sector is significant. Unlike many other industries in Europe, the CO2 emissions of this industry in Europe are on a continuous rise also because of the constant increase in media consumption, particularly through streaming platforms.
In the audiovisual sector, estimates range from 35 MtCO2e (metric tons of carbon dioxide equivalent) for a TV series episode to 1000 MtCO2e for a feature film38. One European feature film on average producers 192 Tonnes of CO2. Large international (co) productions could have a much bigger impact of up to several thousand tonnes of CO2.
In line with the EU objective of climate-neutrality by 2050, the Commission will collaborate closely with the industry and (sub)national film and audiovisual funds with the objective of sharing existing best practices39 and agree on common tools and green standards. Online streaming platforms – whose share of carbon footprint is growing given the rise in consumption – will also be invited to put forward their ideas and initiatives.
38 Greening the European Audiovisual Industry – The Best Strategies and their costs (to be published in 2021)
39 One of the relevant sources of good practices and a platform for cooperation will be the European Climate Pact to be launched by the European Commission in December 2020
film
The Commission will be working on a best practice guide for green production and provision of services. The approach will be gradual, with the aim of raising awareness and nudging the industry to start to implement more sustainable solutions. It will complement the Commission actions in the Digital Strategy40 on making infrastructure such as data centres and telecommunication networks climate neutral, energy efficient and sustainable.
4. Enable and empower
Europeans should be the protagonists of the Digital Decade. Recent European legislation – such as the revised AVMSD and the Copyright reform – contributes to ensuring an enhanced responsibility of all media actors, including online platforms, for the protection of vulnerable groups of media users, particularly minors. It also reinforces the rights of Europe’s creators.
Building on this solid regulatory environment, this section sets out initiatives to enable European media companies and talents thrive in European and global markets. These initiatives take into account the need for citizens to be able to find and choose diverse quality content online and be able to navigate smoothly and effectively within the modern media environment.
Whilst specific attention will be devoted to Europe’s youth, Europeans from all backgrounds and generations – including the elderly – will be empowered to be active and critical users of media content.
>* Launch a dialogue with the audiovisual industry in order to agree on concrete steps to improve the access to and availability of audiovisual content across borders in the EU
For: the audiovisual industry (producers, broadcasters, video-on-demand services, distributors, etc.), consumers organisations, and other interested parties, such as national film funds
With the COVID-19 crisis, the online use of audiovisual services at home has increased exponentially together with the willingness of households to invest in home entertainment technologies41. The crisis creates an opportunity for industry to reach a broader audience online.
The recent Content Portability Regulation42 allows European
40 https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/content/european-digital-strategy
41 According to the Pwc Report “Global Entertainment & Media Outlook 2020-2024”, as a result of the COVID 19 crisis, SVOD revenue is expected to overtake box office in 2020 and is projected to surge away in the coming five years, reaching more than twice the size of box office in 2024. At the same time, the worldwide turnover of streaming services has increased by 26% in 2020.
42 Regulation (EU) 2017/1128 of the European Parliament and of the Council of 14 June 2017 on crossborder portability of online content services in the internal market.
ACTION 7 – Towards a broader availability of audiovisual content across the EU
citizens to travel with the content that they have bought or subscribed to across the EU and has already provided practical benefits43.
When it comes to availability of audiovisual content online, there is significant potential for increase: the Report on the review of the Geoblocking Regulation44 shows important differences among the audiovisual catalogues across Member States On average, only 14% of films are available on the video-on-demand services of all Member States45.
A recent Eurobarometer survey indicates that over a third of Internet users are interested in accessing audiovisual content across borders46. These findings are confirmed by the latest data from the European Audiovisual Observatory, according to which EU films are made available on average in not more than three EU27 countries on video on demand platforms47. This represents a trove of unexploited potential and diversity to be enjoyed by Europeans.
The audiovisual industry should be able to benefit from Europe as its native market and take advantage of the new consumption trends by making more works available online in the different Member States.
In order to accompany the audiovisual industry in this transformation, the Commission intends to launch a dialogue with the sector. This dialogue will contribute to agreeing on concrete steps to improve access to and availability of audiovisual content across borders, as a follow-up to the Geoblocking Regulation review. This would allow the industry to scale up and reach new audiences, and benefit European citizens by giving them a wider choice.
The dialogue will gather representatives from the audiovisual industry (producers broadcasters, video-on-demand services, distributors etc.), consumers organisations and other interested parties, such as national film funds, and will take place in the course of 2021. Possible specific targets to increase the circulation of audiovisual works across the EU and ways to achieve them could be defined in the dialogue.
The Commission, will monitor the progress in the achievement of the specific targets in cooperation with the audiovisual sector and decide on the follow-up, assessing various options, including legislative intervention.
43 Europeans who travel often confirm the importance of the rules for their journeys. Nearly half (49%) of Europeans who have a free of charge or paid subscription for online content services and have travelled in the EU have tried to access it when visiting another EU country. 2019 Eurobarometer 477a “Accessing content online and cross-border portability of online content services - survey on cross-border portability”.
44 Report from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions on the first short-term review of the Geo-blocking Regulation. Available at: https://ec.europa.eu/digital-single-market/en/news/commission-publishes-its-short-term-review-geo-blocking-regulation
45 There are significant differences by country, as for example, viewers in Greece have access only to 1.3% of the films available online in the EU, while those in Germany have access to 43.1%. Source: Commission staff working document on the first short-term review of the Geo-blocking Regulation.
46 Flash Eurobarometer 477b, 2019
47 European Audiovisual Observatory, Report “Film and TV content in VOD catalogues 2020 Edition”
At the same time, cinemas should remain cultural venues offering enhanced opportunities for social interaction. To this end, the Commission will explore, through Creative Europe MEDIA, ways to encourage cinemas to enhance further the experience of cinemagoers.
> New mentoring programmes for Europe’s media talents
K MEDIA boot-camps providing hands-on intensive training for young media
professionals >* Campaign on diversity in front & behind the camera
> MEDIA market gateway to scout Europe’s most promising start-ups active in the
media sector and help them thrive > Creative Innovation Labs open to start-ups and scale-ups
For: European audiovisual professionals, innovative European media companies (from the audiovisual sector and beyond)
Talents in the media industry, regardless of the sector and of where they are located in Europe, are at the core of its competitiveness.
However, some professions are still perceived as inaccessible by groups in society. This is illustrated, for example, by the under-representation of women in decision-making positions in the audiovisual industry48.
The Commission will mainstream the mentoring practices that have been emerging as highly successful in the training projects supported in the last years for the audiovisual sector through Creative Europe MEDIA49. Such mentoring programmes will develop in diverse formats, exploiting all the creative and business opportunities offered by digital technologies.
In addition, a communication campaign will be launched to foster diversity not only in front of but also behind the camera, in order to improve diversified representations and add new ideas, stories, and voices. The campaign will underpin the Commission’s Communication ‘A Union of equality: EU anti-racism action plan 2020-2025’50, as well as the EU Strategy for LGBTIQ equality51, and the EU Roma strategic framework for equality, inclusion and participation52.
Highlighting inspiring role models is an essential step in promoting access to these professions through a greater diversity of profiles. The campaign will thus aim to
48 According to the EU Gender Equality Strategy 2020-2025, the Commission will continue supporting projects promoting gender equality under Creative Europe, including under Music Moves Europe, and will present a gender equality strategy in the audio-visual industry as part of the next MEDIA sub-programme, including financial support, structured dialogue, mentoring and training for women film-makers, producers and screenwriters.
49 https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/creative-europe/actions/media/training_en
50 https://ec.europa.eu/info/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/combatting-discrimination/racism-and-xenophobia/eu-anti-racism-action-plan-2020-2025_en
51 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_2068
52 https://ec.europa.eu/info/policies/justice-and-fundamental-rights/combatting-discrimination/roma-eu/roma-equality-inclusion-and-participation-eu_en
ACTION 8 – Fostering European media talents
spotlight European professionals, in order to promote a wide range of professions and encourage women and disadvantaged groups in society, such as people with disabilities or people with a minority racial or ethnic background to consider these careers.
Furthermore, skills development initiatives under Creative Europe will be reinforced by the organisation of intensive training courses (MEDIA boot-camps), where young media talents from across Europe can gain practical experience in areas such as innovative storytellers, new business models, new post-production technologies, along with skills to deliver accessible content.
Creative Europe MEDIA will also join forces with other initiatives – such as the Innovation Radar53, Startup Europe54 and the Media Motor Europe55 CSA – to scout Europe’s most promising start-ups active in the media environment. To that end, a call for expression of interest targeting the creative and media tech communities will be launched under Startup Europe to map out promising ventures.
Creative Europe MEDIA will also provide a breeding ground for those companies and help them thrive in a rapidly changing audiovisual sector. Such companies could benefit from a strengthened access to market support from Creative Europe MEDIA through a so-called “MEDIA Market Gateway”. This will involve active preparation, including coaching and mentoring on market trends and positioning, business plans, commercialisation strategies, to make the most of a combined physical/virtual presence in the most important global media markets (Berlinale, Cannes, Venice, GamesCom, VR Days etc.) under the European label.
Start-ups and scale-ups will have the possibility to participate in the Creative Innovation Labs, a new initiative under the cross-sectorial strand of Creative Europe. This will bring together media and other creative sectors (e.g., music, publishing) and experiment with data, virtual and augmented reality and other technologies to develop new content, new business models, new skills, to promote diversity inclusion, and sustainability and to boost audience engagement.
It is important to note that innovative media start-ups and SMEs will also be able to apply for Horizon Europe support under the European Innovation Council56 and the
European Institute of Innovation and Technology57.
ACTION 9 - Empowering citizens
K Practical application of the new media literacy obligations of the AVMSD
(media literacy toolbox and guidelines to Member States) K Support the creation of alternative media content aggregation services
For: European citizens, in particular younger people;
video-sharing platforms
53 https://www.innoradar.eu/
54 https://startupeuropeclub.eu/
55 https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/871552
56 See EIC pilot: https://ec.europa.eu/research/eic/index.cfm
57 https://eit.europa.eu/
Media literacy is critical to empower citizens in today’s media environment and it should be supported across various programmes and initiatives, as outlined in the European Democracy Action Plan. This underlines the importance of media literacy in combating disinformation and promotes cooperation in this regard.
Media literacy includes all technical, cognitive, social, civic and creative capacities that allow citizens to access the media, to have a critical understanding of it and to interact with it. Media literacy is also critical to empower consumers to take informed decisions and to support them in embracing a more sustainable and environmentally friendly consumption. Media literacy should be integrated in school curricula to enable children to use media services responsibly and to be better equipped to face the threats of online violence and disinformation.
The revised AVMSD has set out specific measures to help improve citizens’ media literacy skills. The Directive provides that Member States should promote and take measures for the development of media literacy skills (and report on such measures to the Commission, on the basis of the Commission’s guidelines defining the scope of such reports); and that video-sharing platforms should put in place effective media literacy measures and tools and raise users' awareness of those measures and tools.
The effective implementation of these AVMSD provisions is of key importance for further development of media literacy skills and to improve the accessibility of content across Member States. Therefore, to ensure practical application of the new obligations, especially in the online sphere, the Commission, together with the European Group of Audiovisual Regulators (ERGA) and other experts, as well as and in dialogue with videosharing platforms, will develop a toolbox to improve users’ awareness, improve their critical skills and choices and to help users reach a greater variety of media content available on video sharing platforms.
This initiative is expected to be particularly beneficial for younger users, who should be fully involved in its development. For this reason, the Commission will set-up an ad hoc sounding board composed of students and young journalists to test and promote the toolbox. The board will be gender-balanced, inclusive, and diverse. Such an approach will make sure that the toolbox addresses effectively the needs of younger users and further empowers them in the online environment, including tackling stereotypes built on gender, culture, religion or sexual preferences. Implementation of the toolbox will also be part of AVMSD media literacy reports, the scope of which will be determined via Commission guidelines to be issued in 2021.
As part of these actions, the Commission will also scale up its efforts within the next edition of the European media literacy week, with a view to make it even more impactful and inclusive. In this context, the Commission will explore potential further cooperation with relevant international organisations.
The proposed actions will be fully aligned and complementary to the objectives of the Digital Education Action Plan 2021-202758, which will aim to make education even more responsive to helping learners to develop the ability to critically approach, filter and assess information, notably to identify disinformation and to manage overload of information as well as develop financial literacy59.
58 https://ec.europa.eu/education/education-in-the-eu/digital-education-action-plan_en
59 The importance of media literacy was also underlined in the 2020 Skills Agenda for Europe, which envisaged that the Commission, together with Member States, will work on new priorities for the European
The Horizon Europe programme will also contribute to improve citizens' political participation by fostering critical digital literacy, and access to pluralistic media content.
To complement these actions, the Commission will support research and innovation for advanced methods of search, discovery and aggregation, in order to facilitate the creation of independent alternative news aggregation services capable of offering a diverse set of accessible information sources.
The awareness of audiences – particularly young audiences – about European content will be raised in the context of the 30th anniversary of Creative Europe MEDIA in 2021. A campaign will be launched spreading the word to younger generations about the richness and diversity of European content by showcasing success stories, projects and talents supported by the programme.
market
>* Strengthen the cooperation framework among European media regulators within the European Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (E RGA)
For: European media regulators, European audiovisual media industry and market players
Establishing a true level playing field for all audiovisual media players and a fair environment for creators and those investing in content have been the central goals of the revised AVMSD and the modernised copyright framework.
For example, to ensure fair competition between broadcasters and video-on-demand platforms in promoting and investing in European content, the revised AVMSD requires the latter to ensure a 30% share of European works in their catalogues.
The effective and consistent implementation of the revised AVMSD and copyright rules at national level will be key in order to make sure that they deliver. At the same time, it will be crucial to ensure that the intangible assets of media players are protected through an effective enforcement of their IP rights.
As regards the revised AVMSD, Member States, and in particular their media regulators, must adequately monitor the correct application of the new rules, and enforce them where necessary60. This will require, in particular, the following:
Agenda for Adult Learning. This will aim to complement the renewed European cooperation framework in education and training and to support the achievement of United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal. 60 In addition to the new rules, Directive 2005/29/EC on unfair business-to-consumer commercial practices in the internal market (‘the UCPD’) applies to unfair commercial practices occurring in audiovisual media services, such as misleading and aggressive practices, to the extent that they are not covered by the provisions of the AVMS Directive. The Consumer Protection Cooperation (CPC) Network under Regulation (EU) 2017/2394 ensures enforcement of EU consumer law in case of intra-Union and Union– wide infringements.
ACTION 10 – Ensuring the functioning of the European media
• The consistent implementation of the share obligations for European content in on-demand catalogues (also based on the Guidelines recently issued by the Commission)61;
• The coherent application of the new rules on the prominence of European works, by issuing additional practical guidance, and encouraging common approaches on prominence of general interest content ;
• The effective enforcement of the new obligations for video-sharing platforms.
In this regard, the Commission will assess whether the cooperation within the Regulators Group for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA) needs to be reinforced in order to ensure that its format and scope contributes to effective functioning of the new media rules in practice and is able to address new challenges in the media markets. T o this end, the Commission will continue to take stock of best practices in cross-border cooperation,
closely monitoring the performance of the ERGA’s Memorandum of Understanding
(MoU), to be put in place by end of the year.
The MoU is a sectorial and voluntary cooperation mechanism, based on the unique expertise of the European media regulators. It will contain specific cooperation and information exchange mechanisms for the European media regulators in view of addressing practical issues and cross-border cases related to the implementation of the revised AVMS Directive that fall within their competences. This initiative, focusing in particular on the above-mentioned regulatory novelties of the revised AVMSD, will complement the horizontal governance system for online services to be established by the Digital Services Act. The Commission will, by end of 2021, assess the fun cti oning of the MoU and propose improvements, if necessary.
Furthermore, in cooperation with Member States, their Film Funds, and ERGA, and involving the on-demand platforms, the Commission will explore further ways of fostering more diversity in video-on-demand catalogues. In line with the goal of the AVMSD to encourage broadcasters to include an adequate share of co-produced European works or of European works of non-domestic origin in their services, the aim will be to agree on voluntary targets for increased presence of such works also in video-on-demand catalogues. T his will mutually reinforce the goal of Creative Europe MEDIA to boost presence of such works on all distribution platforms.
Ensuring the good functioning of the European media market also requires addressing piracy of copyright-protected content, which, despite a slight decline, remains a
61Guidelines pursuant to Article 13(7) of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive on the calculation of the share of European works in on-demand catalogues and on the definition of low audience and low turnover; https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/?uri=uriserv:OJ.C_.2020.223.01.0010.01.ENG&toc=OJ:C:2020:223:TOC
62 Article 7a of the revised AVMSD recognises that Member States may take measures to ensure the appropriate prominence of audiovisual media services of general interest, to meet objectives such as media pluralism, freedom of speech and cultural diversity. Regarding this provision, a specific subgroup of ERGA was set up in 2020 to facilitate a common understanding of its scope and potential regulatory approaches Member States can take in this area.
63. The
significant problem . The emergence of new infringing business models constitutes a serious threat for the industry64.
The Commission is committed to ensure a more effective enforcement of IP rights in the digital environment, as outlined in the IP Action Plan65. In particular, the Commission will engage in discussions with the industry to see how existing remedies to fight against piracy, such as injunctions, can be made more efficient and easier to obtain, notably in order to cope with the dynamic and borderless nature of online commercial-scale infringements. In this context, building on the IP Action plan, particular attention will be paid to fostering the cooperation amongst national enforcement authorities and crossborder enforcement.
5. Conclusion
With this Communication, the Commission is setting out a comprehensive vision for the media sector for exploiting the potential of a true European media market and embracing the Digital Decade.
The actions will be implemented in close cooperation with Member States, the European Parliament, the media industry and all interested stakeholders. In this respect, this Communication will constitute a concrete roadmap for media as part of the culture and creative ecosystem to reap benefits of digital transformation and foster its competitiveness
63 Between 2017 and 2018, overall access to pirated content declined by 32% for music, 19% for films and 8% for TV content. Source: European Union Intellectual Property Office, “Online copyright infringement in the EU. Music, films and TV (2017-2018), trends and drivers”. November 2019.
64 In the European Union (EU28), 3.6 % of the population — representing 13.7 million persons — is estimated to watch internet streamed TV from unauthorised online sources. The unauthorised IPTV subscription market is estimated to generate EUR 941.7 million annual revenue in the European Union in 2018. Source: “Illegal IPTV in the EU”, EUIPO, November 2019. A better enforcement of IP rights will also contribute to address the specific challenges created by the piracy of sport audiovisual content. See Commission’s declaration on sport event organisers, attached to the European Parliament’s legislative resolution on the Directive on copyright in the Digital Single Market. https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/TA-8-2019-0231_EN.html
65 https://ec.europa.eu/commission/presscorner/detail/en/ip_20_2187
APPENDIX- INDICATIVE TIMELINE
| Action | Sub-action | Indicative timeline |
| ACTION 1 –Easier access to EU support | >" A new interactive tool guiding media companies through the various support instru ments | > Q1 2021 |
| ACTION 2 - MEDIA INVEST aimed at boosting investment in the audiovisual industry | >" A dedicated equity investment platform to foster European audio-visual productions and distribution strategies; > Developing an investment pipeline through capacity building for investors and investment readiness for co mpan ies. | > As of H1 2022 > As of H2 2021 |
| ACTION 3 – ‘NEWS’: an initiative to bundle actions and support for the news media sector | >" Better access to finance, through loans and a pilot equity in itiative >" Capacity building among investors and media >" Support for news media to work on collaborative transformation > A European News Media Forum | > As of H1 2022 > As of H2 2021 > As of H2 2021 > As of H1 2021 |
| ACTION 4 – Unleashing innovation through a European media data space and encouraging new business models | > Create a Media Data Space to support media companies in sharing data and developing innovative solutions > European Media Outlook | > As of H1 2022 > As of H2 2021 |
| ACTION 5 – Fostering a European Virtual and Augmented Reality (VR/AR) industrial coalition | >" VR/AR industry coalition to stimulate cooperation across industry sectors and ensure European leadership > Launch a VR Media Lab on projects for new ways of storytelling and interacting | > H2 2021 > As of H1 2022 |
| ACTION 6 - Towards a climate-neutral media sector | >" A structured cooperation Forum with the industry and (sub)national film and aud iovisual funds | > As of H1 2021 |
| ACTION 7 – Towards a broader availability of audiovisual content across the EU | >" Launch a dialogue with the audiovisual industry in order to agree on concrete steps to improve the access to and availability of audiovisual content across borders in the EU | > As of H1 2021 |
| ACTION 8 – Fostering European media talents | >" New mentoring programmes for Europe’s media talents > MEDIA boot-camps provid ing hands-on | > As of H2 2021 > As of H1 2022 |
| media professionals > Campaign on diversity in front & behind the camera >" MEDIA market gateway to scout Europe’s most promising start-ups active in the media sector and help them thrive > Creative Innovation Labs open to start-ups and scale-u ps | > As of H2 2021 > As of H1 2021 > As of H2 2021 | |
| ACTION 9 – Empowering citizens | >" Practical application of the new media literacy obligations of the AVMSD (media literacy toolbox and guidelines to Member States) > Support the creation of alternative media content aggregation services | > Q4 2021 > As of H2 2022 |
| ACTION 10 – Ensuring the functioning of the European media market | > Strengthen the cooperation framework among European media regulators within the European Reg u lato rs Gro u p for Audiovisual Media Services (ERGA) | > As of Q1 2021 |