Connected TV : how European broadcasters are
responding to the legal and commercial
challenges
Moscow, March 2012

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What we do :
(1) Develop business relations among broadcasters;
(2) Representation of member companies at the EU/international
institutions
• Advertising
• Public television
• Copyright
• Digital
• Freedom of the Media
(3) “Voice of European television” in communicating key trends
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Connected TV : what is it?
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Connected TV : Why is this such a challenge?
• Pace of change
• Impact on value chain
• Commercialisation of the schedule
• Regulatory questions
… and how should broadcasters respond?
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Pace of change
• State of TV today : viewing, advertising, and pay revenues are all
holding up … underpinned by viewers’ demand for content
• High level of innovation and risk-taking among commercial
broadcasters
• Connected TV needs to be seen in context of proliferation of
platforms – which will be most consumer-friendly?
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Impact on value chain
• New entrants are a fact of life – European TV has grown from 47 to
9000 “channels” in twenty years;
• But Connected TV is more than “some more television channels”;
• Could allow manufacturers access to revenue (after sale) and
potentially at least encourage the entry of vertically-integrated
global players … raises the key issue of who controls the last
section of the chain?
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Commercialisation of schedule
• Single most important strategic question : who can earn revenue from
the [broadcasters’] content and relationship with viewers?
• Never called into question in any previous new platform – might
connected TV be different?
• Which impacts on …
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Legal/Regulatory Questions
• These issues are often debated in a context of micro-
management (“how many minutes of advertising?” “what criteria
for a broadcasting licence?”);
• Connected TV potentially goes beyond this to the heart of how
broadcast media are regulated : i.e., the notion of editorial
responsibility for all on on-screen output;
• How do operators, regulators and indeed society react if that
responsibility can no longer be guaranteed?
• Hence need for fundamental rethink not “amendment” of laws
• “If the TV screen is just one among many portals, if the same
moving images, apps and services can be used on different
devices … that is also a challenge for media regulation”
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How should broadcasters react?
• Vital to remain open to new forms of distributing content and to
respect competition law;
• What matters here :
• protection of the signal;
• anti-piracy provisions
• commercialisation of the schedule
• One approach : French broadcasters’ charter
• But in the end, the consumer will decide…
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Thank you! Questions?
Contact: ACT
Association of Commercial Television in Europe
Rue Joseph II, 9-13, BE - 1000 Brussels
Tel: + 32 2 736 00 52 - Fax: + 32 2 735 41 72
www.acte.be
Ross Biggam
Director General
rb@acte.be