News From You

followthemedia.com - a knowledge base for media professionals

ftm News From You

News From You

We receive dozens of news tips and press releases each week from ftm contributors. We want MORE. And we want to share the raw information as quickly as possible. NEWS FROM YOU is the forum for adding what you know to what we know. Share what you know...or what your hear. We will apply the light-touch of the editors axe for clarity. We will also accept NEWS FROM YOU in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Dutch and Portuguese...without translation. (We do insist on being able to understand what you contribute.) You also must clearly indicate that your contribution is for publication in NEWS FROM YOU.

Please note: we cannot use PDF files, only text and .doc files.

Send us NEWS FROM YOU

Week ending July 11, 2009

European Commission - How to transform the "digital dividend" into consumer benefits and up to €50 billion in economic growth for Europe? - July 10, 2009
from DG Info Society and Media

The change from analogue to digital TV in Europe will free up radio frequencies for use by new services. The EU is well placed to benefit from this “digital dividend”: Germany, Finland, Luxembourg, Sweden, the Netherlands, Belgium (Flanders) and major areas in Austria have already switched off analogue terrestrial TV transmissions, and other EU countries will follow by 2012 ( IP/09/266 ) . On 12 June, the USA also switched to digital TV transmissions. Unleashing the full potential of the switchover is on top of the EU's telecoms policy agenda as the newly available radio spectrum can improve the way we communicate and access audiovisual content. Used efficiently, it will also bring economies of scale and improve the EU’s competitiveness by increasing innovation in equipment and wireless services, as well as by facilitating access to mobile broadband. Today, the Commission launched a consultation to determine how to better work together at EU level to get the most from this unique opportunity. The consultation will run until 4 September 2009.

"The digital dividend comes at a critical moment when we want to connect all parts of Europe to high-speed broadband, ensure high quality broadcasting, and expand consumer choice in future wireless services," said Viviane Reding, EU Commissioner for Information Society and Media. "Europe will only achieve all of this if it adopts a coordinated approach using radio spectrum in the most efficient way. Depending on the choices we make, the potential impact of the digital dividend can be increased by billions of euros. We want to better understand what the public, broadcasters, mobile operators and other market players think of these choices before we finalise our proposals."

The freed up radio spectrum can transmit data over long distances and across borders, so decisions about it made in one Member State impact areas up to several hundreds of kilometres away. Without coordination, this precious resource may not be used to maximum efficiency, and some services may not be available in parts of Europe or parts of some countries.

Most of the potential uses for the digital dividend are mass consumer services, in both television and mobile broadband. There are huge potential economic benefits in ensuring that the same equipment can operate in the same frequencies across the EU. This will create significant economies of scale for equipment manufacturers and drive down the price, which will in turn stimulate further consumer demand and make these services more accessible.

Appropriate European coordination would increase the potential economic impact of the digital dividend by an additional €20 to €50 billion between now and 2015. In the long run an additional benefit of € 30 billion could be realised beyond 2015 through further EU coordination.

Given that by 2012 digital TV will completely replace analogue transmission and that several Member States want to quickly use the potential of wireless solutions to achieve full broadband access, EU countries need urgently to agree upon a common approach now. The Commission proposes to adopt an EU roadmap – a set of common, coordinated actions outlined in today's consultation. To ensure that a clear and predictable regulatory environment prevails for regulators and industry alike in making the best use of the digital dividend, the Commission is also considering a plan harmonising the 800 MHz band, particularly suitable for new generations of mobile broadband

The EU roadmap would outline the benefits of spectrum coordination while giving Member States flexibility to address local and national specificities, for example in broadcasting. The roadmap will also increase the overall availability of radio spectrum beyond what could be achieved by individual Member States and enable the delivery of more affordable and interoperable services.

The Commission will present a final proposal as quickly as possible after the closure of this public consultation.

EPC - International publishers demand new intellectual property rights protection to safeguard the future of journalism - July 9, 2009
from Heidi Lambert for EPC

On the day that Commissioner Viviane Reding unveils her strategy for a Digital Europe during the Lisbon Council, and as the European Commission’s consultation on the Content Online Report draws to a close this week, senior members of the publishing world are presenting to Information Society Commissioner Viviane Reding and Internal Market Commissioner Charlie McCreevy, a landmark declaration adopted on intellectual property rights in the digital world in a bid to ensure that opportunities for a diverse, free press and quality journalism thrive online into the future.

This is the first press communiqué on a significant meeting convened on 26th June in Berlin by news group Chief Executives from both the EPC and the World Association of Newspapers where the 'Hamburg Declaration' was signed, calling for online copyright to be respected, to allow innovation to thrive and consumers to be better served.

With the list of signatories growing by the day, the movers and shakers of the media are rallying around this Declaration, which started life in Hamburg, as a way to garner support from publishers and broadcasters throughout the world.

Host of the most recent signing ceremony Dr. Mathias Döpfner, CEO of the Axel Springer AG, said: ““I am happy about this international declaration of publishers. This is an important step in the interest of the global Internet community. The Internet is not our enemy but rather the future of journalism, if intellectual property is respected in the digital world as well. In front of all I see two main goals: We want a fair share of the revenues, which are already being generated through the commercial exploitation of our content by others, as well as the development of a market for paid content in the digital world. We are confident that the representatives of search engines and other aggregators will join us in realizing and opening up the opportunities of the market for legitimate paid content in the Internet.”."

With copyright very much a live, hot issue in Brussels right now with the controversy of the Telecoms Package, digital libraries and new consultations expected soon on the follow up to Green Paper on Copyright in the Knowledge Economy and the post-i2010 strategy, this Declaration could not be timelier.

Francisco Pinto Balsemão, CEO of the Portuguese media group Impresa, and Chairman of the EPC said: "A fundamental safeguard of democratic society is a free, diverse and independent press. Without control over our intellectual property rights, the future of quality journalism is at stake and with it our ability to provide our consumers with quality and varied information, education and entertainment on the many platforms they enjoy. In this declaration we call on governments worldwide to support the copyright of authors, publishers and broadcasters on the net”.

Gavin O'Reilly, Group Chief Executive Officer, Independent News & Media PLC, President of the World Association of Newspapers and News Publishers (WAN-IFRA) and Chairman of ACAP (Automated Content Access Protocol) said: "We continue to attract ever greater audiences for our content but, unlike in the print or TV business models, we are not the ones making the money out of our content. This is unsustainable. Publishers failing will benefit no-one, least of all consumers, or indeed the search engines and other aggregators who currently make huge profits on the back of our intellectual property".

EPC and WAN-IFRA have collaborated closely in creating a new tool to enable any content provider to communicate their copyright terms and conditions online in a machine-readable way via ACAP (Automated Content Access Protocol). As Chairman of ACAP, O’Reilly added: “We need search engines to recognize ACAP as a step towards acknowledging that content providers have the right to decide what happens to their content and on what terms. The European Commission and other legislators call on our industry constantly to come up with solutions – here we have one and we call upon the regulators to back it up”.