Sky TV in Valencia. UK TV in Valencia. Satellite TV News and Information
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Costa Blanca Free Adverts and Business Directory
Sky TV in Valencia. UK TV in Valencia. Satellite TV News and Information
All content used on this site are protected by copyright and should not be used without expressed permission. (C)2003 - 2011 J Worby
Costa Blanca Free Adverts and Business Directory
Europe Television without Frontiers Directive implications for Satellite TV on the Costa Blanca Spain
Many people, and installers, are under the impression that European Union law means that you can watch your own countries television in any country. Hopefully this page will help clear up some of the misconceptions.
The History of Television without Frontiers Directive
The single European market - one of the biggest achievements of European integration - applies to television broadcasts as much as anything else. Just as any of us is free to buy chocolate, wine or a new car in any EU country, we can also watch TV channels from all over Europe. To function optimally, this single European TV market needs a minimum set of common rules covering aspects like television advertising, production of programmes and protection of minors. Since 1989 this has been provided by the Television without Frontiers Directive (TVWF). TVWF aims to create the conditions necessary for the free movement of television broadcasts within the EU (including most forms of transmission to the public of television programmes). It achieves this by preventing Member States from restricting reception and redistribution of broadcasts from other EU countries.
It is this last statement that people think allow them to receive their own country television throughout Europe.
In theory it does indeed. However, the nature of televisions broadcast contracts and copyright agreements may mean that broadcasters have to restrict their broadcasts to selected countries. The EU recognises that these contract are essential to how television operates through the EU, and recognise that this will restrict the full and free coverage of all Member countries broadcasts across the whole of Europe.
The statement also says that a country cannot restrict broadcasts from other counties. Well the main UK television channels are broadcast for free (free to air), and are available all over Europe for free. The statement says that, for example, Spain cannot block these transmissions. Similarly, if you live in the North East of France (Calais), you may even be able to receive the UK Freeview system transmitted from the UK mainland. The statement says that France cannot block these transmission.
The statement also states that Member countries cannot stop redistribution of broadcasts from other European countries. This, you may think, means that rebroadcasters can legally transmit channels from other countries. However, the directive does state that this only applied should the require permission (i.e. payment and copyright agreements) be made between the rebroadcasters and the the channels they are transmitting (referenced in the EUs and Internationals copyright directives.)
However, reception of television channels throughout the EU are juts a small part of AVS / TVwF. The directive also aims to standardise viewing and broadcasting across member states. These range form a common set of guidelines for the broadcasting of taste, racism, violent and protection of children in broadcasts. It also tries to provide guidance towards the amount of advertising and product placement on channels.
The implementation of Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS), the successor to TVwF, has produce guidelines for the emergence of new technologies, including online television on demand and internet streaming of television channels. Again, these streaming of television channels will be covered by the contractual arrangements between the programme makers and broadcasters. It will not mean that all UK TV channels can be legally streamed throughout the whole of Europe. Many of the guidelines of AVMS have to be implemented by December 2009.
1989 - Television without Frontiers TVWF passed
The technological revolution in the early 1980s - and the rapidly growing deficit with the US in audiovisual trade - were what first provided the incentive for European regulation. Rapid developments in TV and radio broadcasting technology – especially satellite broadcasting - resulted in commercial TV and radio stations sprouting up all over Western Europe. Since broadcast signals don’t stop at national borders, and the laws governing the audiovisual sector differed from one country to another, the EU came up with some minimum standards applicable in all member countries.
However, Television without Frontiers Directive was more a document of "guidelines" for EU member states to follow, rather than actual law
1997 - Television Without Frontiers updated
The directive was updated in 1997 to take account of further developments in the audiovisual sector. It now governs the EU-wide coordination of national legislation in the following areas: General provisions; Jurisdiction; Access of the public to major (sports) events; Promoting the production and distribution of European works; Television advertising, teleshopping and sponsorship; Protection of minors; Right of reply.
2007 - Television Without Frontiers Directive becomes Audiovisual Media Services Directive The new Audiovisual Media Services Directive which also covers on-demand services must be applied by EU governments by 19 December 2009 at the latest. Although the EU has asked for EU Member states for this Directive to be implimented by 19 December 2009, many countries have not yet fully adopted it into law. In fact in Spain (as as September 2010), the AVMS Directive was still in draft!
However, this has not stopped telecoms companies claiming that under EU Law, and specifically AVMS, that their provision of UK TV via their ADSL Internet services is legal.
AVMS DOES NOT MAKE THIS TYPE OF SERVICE UK TV BY INTERNET LEGAL - despite what hese companies claim. If you are unsure, ask these companies WHEN the AVMS Directive was implimented in both Spain and The UK.
As per the many other EU and Intellectual Property law in the EU and in Spain, permission MUST be sought from the channels to provide their programming.
Text of the European Commission setting out the right to use a satellite dish in the internal market
Brussels, 2 July 2001
Services: Commission sets out right to use a satellite dish in the Internal Market
The European Commission has adopted a Communication in which it states that private individuals should be free to use satellite dishes without undue technical, administrative, urban planning or tax obstacles. The right to do so flows from the free movement of goods and services, which are both fundamental Internal Market freedoms. The Commission’s intention is that the Communication will respond to the numerous requests for information and clarification which it has received on the subject in recent months from private individuals and the European Parliament. This Communication is the first initiative under the new Strategy for Services, launched in January 2001 (see IP/01/31).
Internal Market Commissioner Frits Bolkestein said: "This Communication explains the right to use a satellite dish – one of the many concrete benefits for European consumers of the free movement of goods and services within the Internal Market. Satellite dishes are an increasingly popular tool for receiving multiple services via satellite: they facilitate mutual exchanges between our various cultures by overcoming national borders, and familiarise the general public with the new remote communications technologies. Their use must therefore be free from any unjustified obstacle."
Satellite dishes have become an increasingly powerful, inexpensive and popular tool for receiving a growing range of services which are carried by satellite, namely, television and radio broadcasts and information society services (for example, on the Internet).
Given the cross-border nature of these services, the Commission attaches considerable importance to this issue in terms of economic and cultural exchanges and the dissemination of the new technologies in the context of the Internal Market, notably in view of the prospects for an enormous expansion of satellite reception in Europe.
Satellite dishes are the last link in an economic chain which supplies various satellite services involving a number of economic operators, starting with the suppliers of the content through the satellite companies and assemblers to the end user. Obstacles to the use of satellite dishes therefore impact at several levels of the economy.
The Communication stresses that private individuals, as the final users of these cross-border services, can cite the free movement of goods and services, fundamental principles which must be directly applied in national law. In addition, the right to receive information via satellite dish is related to the fundamental right to freedom of expression, which is established by the European Convention on Human Rights.
The right to a satellite dish
The Communication should make it possible to eliminate a number of existing restrictions (and prevent potential ones) on the use of satellite dishes, thus avoiding new infringement procedures. By stating users’ rights to own a satellite dish, the Communication provides an illustration of how the principles of freedom of movement in the internal market are of direct, tangible benefit to consumers. The authorities in the Member States, whether at national, regional, provincial, communal or other level, must therefore ensure the primacy of Community law and full respect for the freedoms which it lays down.
In particular, the Communication gives a series of clarifications and specific information regarding the various types of restriction which have, on numerous occasions, been drawn to the Commission’s attention by private individuals and by written questions and petitions from the European Parliament. It stresses that the following national restrictions are incompatible with the free movement of goods and services:
Technical barriers
Regulations on the characteristics of satellite dishes can hinder not only the movement of goods but also the movement of the services which they carry.
Administrative obstacles
It is not acceptable to make the installation of a satellite dish subject to systematic prior authorisation or completion of a complex and expensive administrative procedure.
Architectural and town-planning obstacles
Concerns of an architectural and town-planning nature, which are often cited in this context, can be met by solutions which make it possible, where necessary and technically feasible, to minimise the visual and aesthetic impact of satellite dishes without impairing quality of reception, under reasonable conditions and at reasonable cost; such solutions can, for example, involve the location of the dish (indoors rather than outdoors) or the type of dish (e.g. a collective dish rather than numerous individual dishes).
Tax obstacles
The Commission reiterates its opposition to taxes which are specifically targeted at satellite dishes. It has already expressed its opposition as part of infringement procedures for violation of Article 49 of the Treaty (free movement of services); it recalls the case law of the Court of Justice, which has upheld private individuals’ right to obtain reimbursement of such taxes from their national courts, subject to the formal and substantive requirements of national law. Moreover, independent of the right to lodge a complaint or obtain a refund, a tax collected in violation of a fundamental freedom under Community law may cause the Member State in question to become liable.
Obstacles to freedom of user choice
The choice of technology, like the choice of services, rests entirely with the user. It is therefore unacceptable to influence such choices, for example, by penalising or otherwise discouraging the use of satellite dishes, or requiring satellite dish users to receive particular services or channels.
The Communication concerns exclusively satellite dishes designed to receive simple services. These dishes are becoming increasingly widespread, thanks to what are now very moderate prices and increasingly powerful technology. According to estimates for mid-2000, nearly 30 million EU households(1) had direct satellite broadcasting reception systems: either individual dishes serving one dwelling (DTH: Direct To Home) or collective dishes, shared by several dwellings (SMATV: Satellite Master Antenna Television). The range of services carried by satellite dishes is increasing constantly.
The text of the Communication is available on the Europa site: http://ec.europa.eu/internal_market
(1) Figures provided by Astra. More precisely, there were 25.2 million households with direct satellite reception systems in the EU in mid-1998, 27.7 million in mid-1999 and 29.4 million in mid-2000. The number could reach 52 million in 2010. Other statistics, obtained from a survey carried out for Eutelsat by Crédome (Centre de Recherche Innovation/Médias du Groupe Publicis) indicate that more than 26 million households owned a satellite dish in 1999.