Free Movement of Audiovisual Content for Benefit of European Consumers of Culture

Abstract

One of the EU’s founding premises was the establishment of the internal market, in which the free movement of goods, persons, services and capital is ensured. However, in the present online era, the internal market remains far from frictionless. To address this failure, the EU launched the Digital Market Strategy in 2015. One component of this strategy is the removal of barriers for the flow of online content across borders. This article highlights the fact that free movement of audiovisual online content is of paramount importance for European end users, and an important component for the free movement of persons in the EU. Free movement of audiovisual content would enable Europeans who have migrated to another European country to access content from their home country. In addition, the free flow of audiovisual online content would serve the interests of various language minorities. Serving the end users of audiovisual content in this manner would be in line with important objectives of the EU, such as the protection of European cultural diversity and the public sphere. This article notes that when the EU has regulated digital audiovisual markets, the emphasis has been on the protection of copyright-related interests. This has meant that other stakeholder interests linked to cultural diversity and non-discrimination have been undervalued and played only a limited role. The article posits that, with regard to audiovisual content, more weight than before should be given to the free movement of persons and to minority language rights. This would also align with achieving a digital single market in audiovisual online services.