EU may demand more European films on Netflix

Netflix and Amazon's video streaming services could be forced to devote "at least" 20 per cent of their catalogues to European films and TV shows as part of an overhaul of the EU's broadcasting rules.

Under a Brussels plan to be unveiled next week, video-on-demand groups would also be obliged to “ensure prominence” of any European works, potentially forcing them to replace valuable space on their homepages given to Hollywood blockbusters with French cinema.

Such services are not currently covered by legislation that requires national broadcasters to keep 20 per cent of their content European in order to make sure that viewers are not overwhelmed by US imports.

‘Contribute financially’

But a draft of the

European Commission

proposal would put the streaming services, which are dominated by US companies, into the same regulatory regime as broadcasters, obliging them to “contribute financially” to the production of European works in countries where such levies are placed on national broadcasters.

The new proposals come as part of a wider plan to increase investment in the EU’s television and film industry. Traditional broadcasters invest more heavily than their online peers, according to an EU study. In general, broadcasters such as the BBC invest roughly 20 per cent of their turnover in new productions. For streaming services, this figure drops to barely 1 per cent, the EU found.

Netflix has started to make more original European content with mixed success: its recent blockbuster series Marseille, starring Gérard Depardieu, has been panned by critics. – Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2016