Consumers who subscribe to TV, sports and film services – from Sky Sports to Netflix – will be able to access them when they travel within Europe under proposed new EU rules.

Under the proposals, part of the European Commissions’s digital single-market strategy, Europeans will be able to access every media service they subscribe to in their home country while “temporarily abroad”.

The rules give freedom to roam during a ‘temporary’ residence in another EU country, to prevent people from exploiting national boundaries to access cheaper content on a permanent basis.
The EC’s proposals rather vaguely define the time period a consumer can access their subscriptions as while they are “temporarily abroad”.

The “temporary abroad” limit will still mean that many expats who live outside the UK will not be able to exploit these “roaming” accounts to access the digital online content. Continue reading »