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Europeans will get 'portable' streaming libraries next year
The European Union is supposed to be a big, borderless family of member states, but this concept is far from true in the online world. For several years, EU regulators have been working towards a "Digital Single Market" with the aim of breaking down some of the regional barriers. One success story is free mobile roaming across the EU, which comes into force this summer, and now various European bodies have agreed upon new rules that'll put an end to the geo-blocking of various online services like Netflix.
A single European market won't lead to a single European Netflix
Today the European Commission (EC) published a large number of proposals in its ongoing pursuit of a Digital Single Market -- the notion that a person or company in one European nation should be able to buy goods from any person or company in another. Chief among them were new rules regarding geoblocking that would make it easier to access sites from other European countries. But while this might simplify things for a Brit who wants to buy video games in France, for example, it's not likely to make a huge difference when it comes to streaming services, which the EC has identified as one of the areas "most affected by geoblocking."
EU wants Netflix to offer 20 percent European content
The European Union is updating its broadcasting laws to cover online services like Amazon and Netflix. As part of the move, the union is looking to prevent these firms just leeching money out of the 28 member states without putting something back. That's why the new rules mandate that 20 percent of each company's content library needs to be European in origin. Rumors of the ruling prompted fears that on-demand businesses would have to pay millions for obscure content that nobody wanted. But it turns out that Netflix is already doing more than the bare minimum to promote European film and TV.
EU aims to remove regional restrictions on digital goods by 2017
Being an EU citizen means you can grab your passport, head to the airport and travel freely among the 28 EU member states. When you arrive at your final destination, however, and fire up Netflix in your hotel room, you'll find a local content catalog that may not include your favorite show. The same level of localization is true for many digital goods and services, which is why the European Commission wants to create a "Digital Single Market" to rid the EU of geo-blocking and encourage a more connected Europe online. The Commission gave a vague outline of its Digital Single Market strategy back in March, but today its released a detailed proposal of what it intends to do by the end of next year to make it happen.
The EU wants to remove regional limits on digital goods
Think regional locks on movie streaming and other digital goods are silly? So does the European Commission. It's outlining a new strategy (the Digital Single Market) that would prevent companies from geo-blocking online services when it's not truly necessary. This kind of arbitrary limit "cannot exist" in a single European Union-wide digital marketplace, officials argue. It's not clear what rules will be involved (you'll likely hear more about that when the full strategy is due in May), but the implication is that you wouldn't be forced to download or stream from a country-specific service. If you wanted to watch French Netflix from Germany, for example, you could.
