A new regulation approved by the European Parliament in June 2017 came into effect in all EU Member States on Sunday, April 1, that will enable cross-border transmission and viewing of digital content, much of which had been restricted to national audiences.
According to the European Commission, half of Europeans access the internet with their mobile devices. Now, Europeans who buy or subscribe to films, sports broadcasts, music, e-books and games in their home Member State are able to access this content – including Netflix – when they travel or stay temporarily in another EU country.
The European Commission said that the development is logical, just as roaming telephone charges were abolished.
The regulation restricts geoblocking of online services, which resulted in access depending on country-specific agreements, especially for sports programming, where rights are often sold for very large sums.
Interestingly, the France Télévisions platform France.tv, which does not require identifiers, will not be available from abroad in the immediate future.
The Commissions says that 30% of Europeans who access films, TV series and other video clips online pay to view them by subscribing to an online service or by purchasing and renting them item by item.
Read “Travel with your online content across the EU”