Labour policy review tells EU where to stuff its geo-blocking ban

Ansip told to remove his licensing tanks from Europe's patchy lawn

Hang on. Haven't we been here before?

“Most people don’t understand how central the ability to vary prices is,” BECTU research officer Paul Evans, a former director of ISP Poptel. BECTU is the trade union for technical staff in TV, movie and theatre industries, which are enjoying a boom as investment pours into UK facilities. The movie business alone employs around 70,000 staff here.

These businesses, ranging from small production companies to hefty operators like BBC and ITV, create a fair number of decent-paying technical jobs in production.

For example, he says: “If you remove geo-blocking from the BBC, then the BBC is obliged to give away its content to everyone at no charge.”

Labour’s policy experts also point out that Europe has studied geo-blocking before, found only “superficial” reasons for it, and strong reasons against it. Indeed, the Commission was told as much last year.

The Commission's Internal Market Unit asked for an economic analysis into whether territorial licensing affected cross-border trade, whether it was compatible with the goal of a single market and whether the objections to pan-European licensing were reasonable or simply a load of whining.

It’s worth a read (pdf) if you thought the geo-blocking issue was a simple one. It’s anything but. Drawbacks of territorial licensing include transaction costs for the user, as more negotiations need to take place. On the other hand, local knowledge ensures the work gets its optimal return. Film and TV is typically funded through pre-sales, and if you can’t guarantee a minimum you won’t get the financing.

For Hollywood blockbusters and generic Euro-pap, this isn’t a problem. The more generic the product, the less you worry about territorial negotiations losing out on the price that a specific territory might pay for your stuff. You just carpet-bomb Europe with your easily-digestible product.

European Commissioner Michel Barnier spent over two years looking at European copyright and also came to the same conclusion: if you want diversity, you keep territoriality. Perhaps last year, Juncker thought his single market reforms would make the Brussels elite look consumer friendly, and in touch with “the kids”.

It isn’t surprising to anyone outside the incestuous Brussels policy bubble that Juncker’s copyright proposals are unpopular with people who make stuff Europeans actually care about. ®