Investment obligations for VOD providers to contribute to the production of European works: A 2022 update

This study provides a fresh look of the existing regulatory approaches that include requirements for VOD providers to invest in local content. The objective is to present insights on a range of policy approaches from EU Member States and other jurisdictions and their underpinning characteristics such as calculation methods, rates, thresholds for exemptions and enforcement procedures. To that end, we also highlight more recent legislative interventions coming up from the transposition of the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD).

The research presented was conducted during a period of rapid change in the audiovisual industries. Welcoming the analysis of prevailing challenges presented in recent reports, including the Film i Väst report ‘Public Funders at a Crossroads’ and the 2022 Nostradamus Report – ‘Imagining a Sustainable Industry’, our purpose is to contribute to the broader discussion by providing an in-depth look into the legal complexity of investment obligations for VOD providers.

This is the third edition of the Study on Investment Obligations for VOD providers, following the editions published in 2018 and 2021. As with the previous editions, the outcomes of this study are intended to provide valuable insights to policymakers and industries in Europe and beyond. Lessons from other jurisdictions that require VOD providers to contribute to local content might be helpful to those in a search of well-designed policy. Our ambition is also to provide a detailed view on Member States’ regulatory requirements in order to help VOD providers comply with the investment obligations.

Alongside the comprehensive overview of legislative frameworks, in the current edition of the study we include perspectives on investment obligations collected from key European stakeholders. We believe that stakeholders’ views on opportunities and challenges brought by investment obligations provide new perspectives to policymakers at national and EU level.

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Photo by Glenn Carstens-Peters on Unsplash

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Ivana Kostovska

Researcher

Ivana Kostovska is a media economics researcher in the Media Economics and Policy unit. Her current research is focused on understanding the impact of the ongoing changes in the European film and television industries driven by the rise of global streaming services and platforms. In her PhD research, she examines the shift of policy measures […]

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Tim Raats

Management

Most of us have grown up with public service broadcasting and linear television as the focal point for news, entertainment and TV drama. While television and public broadcasting still exist today, and still take up crucial positions in the European media landscape, the entire audio-visual constellation has – and is – changing at a rapid […]

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Catalina Iordache

Senior Researcher

Coming from an Eastern European background, my life completely changed in the early 1990’s when the colours and fast-moving images of cable TV reached our living room, and I experienced an instant fascination with film, television programmes and music videos. Through my studies, I became interested in the market forces behind audiovisual media and the […]

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Stephanie Tintel

Researcher

Technology hands out new modes of storytelling, new ways of expressing ourselves and being in the world. I grew up along with the upswing of the digital world, a world where dispersed audiences are finding ways to connect through various communication platforms, where low-budget productions are given a chance to be seen and streaming has […]

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