Apple TV+ Could Face Ban in Europe Unless It Meets Proposed Requirement of 30% European Content

[justperry]

Ah...another pissing contest on EU/Europe Thread/Topic.👎

As always, comments are predictable.

As for the topic at hand, if the EU/Europe thinks it's a good Idea then go ahead, more diverse content is welcomed by me.

 

[Wowfunhappy]

Uh as an european im scared for my Crunchyroll subscription.

This is what I'm wondering about. I mean, in America, there's a number of niché streaming services that specialize in foreign media. Does Europe really want to ban that type of thing?

A requirement of "30% non-American content" might make somewhat more sense, although I bet singling out America specifically would create diplomatic issues.

 

[Alan Wynn]

Nice try... but how do we want to add those 30%? That much content would need to exist in first place... and, no, we don't need "content" like "Berlin Tag & Nacht"...

Actually, thinking about it, Amazon, Apple, et al, should just license every crappy local TV show they can find for as little money as they can. Get black and white stuff from the 50’s. They want 30%, let them have it. They can have hundreds of shows no one ever watches, but hit their quotas.

 

[jimbobb24]

its about a level playing field: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Level_playing_field

same sticking point that seems to block a trade deal between UK and EU.

This is exactly not what your linked article describes. This is ensuring some success at the cost of others not creating fair and consistent rules. This is an uneven playing field. Not saying its right or wrong but linking to that article is some artful double speak.

Unless you mean Apple has to play on the same uneven playing field as Netflix then sure.

 

[4nNtt]

Guess if they don’t meet the 30% quota you’ll need a location changing vpn to subscribe?

 

[jimbobb24]

The point of this legislation is to give European content a chance to compete against much cheaper American content. Why is it cheaper? Because what we get is second hand, the US has a very large domestic market which is all the same language. Selling to Europe is like printing money, the cost is lower and profit higher. European content is mostly produced for a single language region which is a much smaller base than with global streaming services. This means that for European production to survive, US importing needs to be regulated. It’s not ”Europe first”, it’s ”Let European media survive too”.

By the way India already has this legislation in place.

Avengers Endgame is much cheaper?

Every country has an excuse for why their local stuff shouldn't compete with people from other countries. US does the same and no country is free from this impulse.

 

[Creek0512]

Considering this is being proposed by Irish MEPs, it seems like the real goal of this proposal is to force more English language production to move to Ireland, rather than promoting content more content from other European countries.

 

[[AUT] Thomas]

....and that is why we (UK) voted leave.

Similar regulation exist in most countries for local radio/TV stations...

Analogue radio

Commonly known as AM/FM radio, Ofcom licenses analogue radio services like community radio and some commercial radio stations.

www.ofcom.org.uk

 

[Maximara]

Smaller countries simply can't compete and so, without some sort of balancing, we would lose our TV and film industries altogether. So if you want our audience, there need to be some concessions for local content.

Classic Doctor Who proves you wrong.

If the BBC hadn't fallen under the control of a clueless fool it would have never gone into hiatus. Sadly the video by Sfdebris that explained the whole ClusterFUBAR got clobbered in the moving from video service provider to video service provider as he couldn't really put it on Youtube as that site is seemingly run by overzealous neurotics. Thankfully, Screenrant's "Why Doctor Who Was Cancelled In The 1980s" hits some of the same points

Classic Doctor Who showed that even if its budget is borderline nonexistent it can compete with a far richer country like United States. Heck, Classic Doctor Who had less of a budget than Original series Star Trek!

In fact, the Star Trek comparison is not that far off as one of the ways Classic Doctor Who was killed off was putting it in a time slot totally unsuited to its audience though in Classic Doctor Who's case it was also run it against one of the most watched shows of the period. You listen to Colin Baker's Big Finish outings like "City of Spires" and "Wreck of the Titan" and realize if he had been given good scripts he would have been a decent Doctor.

Produce good shows with good scripts done by producers who know what the sam hill they are doing and you will succeed even with a poor budget. Pull the kind of crap happening with Doctor Who and Star Trek now and you will not only kill your golden goose but make it to the point that another revival is unlikely no matter how much money you throw at it.

 

[Mousse]

The population of the EU is under 450M people. Worldwide population is 7.7B people. So EU represents just under 6% of the global population.

I'd say having as little as 3% of the content be from the European Union would be perfectly fair. Requiring a minimum of 30% is just insane - that's like requiring that 250% of executives to be a particular gender.

China or India could reasonably argue that 10-15% of content being from their respective countries is fair. EU is just insane with what they're asking for.

Apple doesn't have to provide any Asian content on their streaming service in Europe. The EU content would be a larger piece of a smaller pie. The EU market can have 70% 'Merican content, 30% EU content, 0% everywhere else content. China or India can have 70% 'Merican content, 30% Chinese/Indian content, 0% EU content in the respective markets.

This is just insane government regulation if people want to pay for it let them have it. I pay for BBC and Korean content and its 0% American. What about an Asian or Middle Eastern focused service I'm sure they would have a hard time even justifying a lot of European content.

I'm sure you already know this, but Apple has more than a single server location. Why would they have Asian or Middle Eastern content on their European location server or European content on their Middle East location server?

They might all have the same US content on their servers in all locations though. That would make sense, if they're marketing their service on US content.

 

[Adoniram]

Not sure I understand what they're trying to accomplish here.

What if European companies start a new streaming service or let's use BBC America for an example and then US mandates that 30% of content be made in US for BBC to stream in US? And then China has the same mandate and other countries and eventually, it just becomes impossible to have a global service because of these rules.

This smells like the silly "USA first" policy that is actually an isolationist policy and anti-globalism at best.

They're looking at the monthly charges going directly to American companies (Apple, Amazon, Netflix, Hulu, etc...) instead of their state-sponsored (and sometimes required) local companies. Instead of Europeans paying for European content (in the countries where they have a choice), they're paying for Amazon, Netflix, etc. because the libraries are larger and offer more.

It's akin to India requiring some percent of iPhones to be made in India (or was it a fixed dollar amount of salaries?) before iPhones would be allowed to be sold in the country.

These policies are intended to drive economic growth in their host countries, but most policies end up doing more harm than good.

 

[CE3]

Apple TV+ is a US-based streaming network; why should it be forced to carry European content? This makes no sense.

It's as if the BBC were to offer a streaming network in the US but then be forced to carry US content. It's a foreign network!

Agreed. While I'm sure it wouldn't be too difficult for Apple to find more European content to commission or license, the focus should be on producing quality content, not what continent it's from.

I also think it's important to note that this is "proposed legislation" so no laws have been passed yet requiring these ridiculous quotas to be met. Hopefully it stays that way.

 

[nothingtoseehere]

What a dumb law. Let the people decide if they want to watch it or not.

^^This.

I live in the EU and apologize for that silly proposal. Notwithstanding that I do not watch Apple TV+ but this is my decision.

 

[Plutonius]

Uh as an european im scared for my Crunchyroll subscription.

Does the EU produce any anime ?

 

[Lazrhog]

It specifically says it would still include the British content despite Brexit. (Hence why Trying would count)

No, the EU cannot legislate in the UK anymore, so it would not apply in the UK at all

 

[McKodiak]

I've convinced myself that Roy Kent's and Jaime and Tartt's characters are loosely based on Noel and Liam Gallagher from Oasis.

 

[Zmmyt]

This is exactly not what your linked article describes. This is ensuring some success at the cost of others not creating fair and consistent rules. This is an uneven playing field. Not saying its right or wrong but linking to that article is some artful double speak.

Unless you mean Apple has to play on the same uneven playing field as Netflix then sure.

I thought it’s more along the lines where the US has a much wider reach than local distribution channels have and they want to give local businesses (production studios) a fair chance in competing and also appealing to a similar audience, and not being left out.

 

[Gasu E.]

Yes and no. A lot of TV shows these days are filmed in Canada (Vancover specifically).

Canada is not in Europe as far as I know; unless your criteria is based solely on sovereignty and some subset of spelling.

 

[LonestarOne]

"The Bollywood Channel -- now with 30% European content!"

 

[The Cappy]

I mean of course a majority of content on steaming services is from the US since most media content is produced in the US. If anything they should be encouraging more European productions with tax credits and other incentives, not mandating the streaming services...

That's not how the EU works though.

 

[Hodar1]

Whatever happened to making a BETTER show? The BBC's "Being Human" was superior, in every possible way to the US re-make, and there are very few exceptions to the rule. I have seen some really great movies from Europe "Let the Right One In", "Troll Hunters" - these wonderful and entertaining shows stand on their own.

You don't need some bureaucratic parasite demanding that everyone lower their standards, so everyone has to suffer through crap , just because they fill some "minority checkbox". For that matter, Russia's "Sputnik" was a superior effort in the Sci-Fi genre this past year, because it was ORIGINAL and it was very, very well done. It didn't depend upon CGI to tell a story, it set politics aside, it gave Americans a glimpse inside of Russian culture, and it told a human story - and if you can't be bothered to read subtitles to enjoy a movie, more the pity for you.

It's a stupid policy when hiring people, it's a stupid policy when determining programming. I want the most qualified team member to join my team, and when it comes to movies, I want to be entertained.

 

[jgdeschamps]

Lazy solution. They should form a commission whose work is to ensure that a larger chunk of European taxes go to studios, channels, film commissions, software devs, etc. so they can come up with a Euro+ app that carries only Europe's finest content throughout the world. As politicians "that care," they should force Apple to get said app the same deals that Amazon, Netflix and Disney+ get, so royalties go directly to euro creators. What they are asking for is not fair competition, it's called charity.

 

[SDJim]

You have got to be kidding me.

 

[Stiksi]

Avengers Endgame is much cheaper?

Every country has an excuse for why their local stuff shouldn't compete with people from other countries. US does the same and no country is free from this impulse.

Avengers Endgame is massively cheaper for Disney + to stream in Europe. It has already made a profit at the box office, then a profit with US streaming and a profit with merchandizing, dvd/BD sales. Streaming Avengers Endgame costs bandwidth and translation for subtitles and a couple language dubs, which is exactly peanuts.

Competition is fine, but lets be honest, it’s not a level playing field.

 

[MacBH928]

Apple should bundle free VPN service to their content in European countries to access Appletv+, like people use VPN to access YouTube in China.