30/01/2008

Despite the adoption of the new Audiovisual Media Services Directive in December 2007, the legal framework for VoD services in Europe is far from being complete and consensual.

The report Iris Special: Legal Aspects of Video on Demand, recently launched by the Strasbourg-based European Audiovisual Observatory and elaborated in partnership with the Institute of European Media Law (EMR) in Saarbrücken and Amsterdam’s IViR (Institute for Information Law), offers a detailed look at this new distribution window, still controversial for both professionals and audiences.

The report analyses the various parameters for VoD business models, pointing out the various advantages and disadvantages of supplying VoD via the existing platforms: Internet, IPTV, cable or satellite and DTT. The profiles of the various players involved in VoD are compared and contrasted and the three different types of economic models – rental, purchase and FoD (“Free on demand”) – are analysed.

The report also includes a brief analysis of the YouTube business model as well as a look at licences and media windows in the context of VoD distribution. The traditional order in which a film is made available to its public and by what technical means – media windows – has also been called into question by the arrival of VoD and the report addresses this issue.

For further information on the report, please click here.