V I D E O • A G E MA R C H/ AP R I L 2 0 1 2 30 With the increasing popularity of VoD and OTT (Over The Top) services — via online delivery services such as Netflix and Hulu — and the beginnings of true convergence of television and the Internet, real issues are emerging as to how the content we watch will be regulated, and by whom. In a speech delivered earlier this year, Ed Richards, chief executive of the U.K. broadcast regulator OFCOM, identified the key technical and market changes that are creating new challenges for content regulators. In particular he tapped: 4G mobile connectivity, tablets and smartphones, connected TVs and “services that combine linear and on-demand viewing.” His conclusion was straightforward, “in such an increasingly converged world, it is simply not possible to provide the comprehensive audience protection of the pre-Internet world.” Richards went on to suggest that those responsible for content regulation need to think about four main areas. “First, we should avoid tinkering with the established regulation around broadcast TV. It is respected and trusted by the public and understood by practitioners.” His second suggestion was that “we should strive to preserve the open nature of the Internet.” This, Richards believes is both, “desirable in and of itself and also a recognition of what is practical in the light of the hundreds of thousands of services emanating from places well beyond the jurisdiction of the U.K. or even the EU.” And this led to the third area Richards suggested regulators should consider. He insisted that “it is the task for the government, regulators and the industry to provide clear information, education and a framework of personal responsibility throughwhich individuals and their families can exercise an informed choice.” Finally, Richards believes, “when something looks, feels and acts like TV, but is delivered over the Internet, into people’s living rooms, we need something that meets audiences’ expectations and provides the right degree of reassurance.” Jane Turton, Business Affairs director at All3Media, felt Richards’ speech was, “very much along the right lines in calling for a light touch, adherence to sensible principals and proper protection for minors and from harm and defamation.” However, she went on to raise some interesting points of her own. “[Our company] is no different from the vast majority of large content suppliers in that the overwhelming majority of content we produce is produced for broadcasters and was made to conform to their regulations. That said, some of this will have been made for post-watershed (after 9:00 p.m.) and will in practice be available on these platforms at 3:00 p.m., so some sort of tweaking or flagging will be necessary,” she asserted. Turton believes the original content is easily dealt with from a regulatory point of view, but what is “more challenging from a regulatory perspective are add-on content and activities made to support the broadcast.” Here too, Turton thinks the future is safe, explaining, “increasingly producers are developing a direct link with the consumer. In this world of B2C relationships content producers are no different from producers of any other FMCG [Fast Moving Consumer Goods] — consumer trust and confidence is paramount. Of course, we always operate within the prevailing laws and regulations, and would absolutely never do anything that would threaten consumer trust in any of our brands. But, by the same token, regulators need to balance their duty to the public with their duty not to strangle creativity.” One way in which the industry has already begun to strike this balance between the need to protect the public — especially children — against the need not to stifle creativity, is in recognizing that pay services need lighter regulation than free-to-air channels, because people have made a conscious choice to pay for the channels, can regulate them in their own home, and can stop paying for them if they don’t like the content being delivered. And this has been having a definite impact on what sells internationally, especially in terms of U.S. drama, where many of the most successful dramas of the past few years, series such as Mad Men, Spartacus and the eagerly anticipatedMagic City, have all emanated from pay services in the U.S. Manuel Alduy, head of Cinema/TV series at France’s Canal Plus estimated that, “generally about 40 percent of the U.S. series we play are from the FTA net world and 60 percent are from pay services.” Although he pointed out that, “this is not set in stone, and, at the moment, we are playing five U.S. series: Body of Proof, Terra Nova and Desperate Housewives, all from free networks, and just Dexter and Homeland from pay.” And while Alduy acknowledges that, “pay-TV shows are important,” precisely because they provide, “edgier series such as Shameless, Nurse Jackie, and Mad Men,” he also made the point that, “the fact that they are so edgy also means that, in France, we can only use them late [at] night. For the past three years or so, we have struggled to find popular and innovative series that can play [during] primetime.” Gene George is executive vice president of Distribution at Burbank-based Starz Media, the home to many of the biggest international drama hits of recent years, such as the Spartacus franchise and Magic City, set in decadent 1950s Miami against a backdrop of that city’s Mafiosi which, George reports, “has already cleared more than 70 territories before it even debuts on April 6.” While George was happy to acknowledge that “in part, the international success of the [Spartacus] franchise is due to the fact that the series clearly pushes the boundaries of television, and is truly ‘premium,’” he also echoed Turton’s plea that creativity not be stifled by censorship, adding that in the case of Spartacus it was not. “The edited version has also been highly successful in several territories as well, and this is because Spartacus has brilliant writing, a dramatic and engaging storyline and a great cast.” What is clear is that arcane though the subject of censorship may seem, there are many key issues yet to be resolved, and the way in which those responsible resolve them will potentially have a significant impact on the future of the audiovisual content industry. BJ If Internet TV Feels Like B’cast TV, Rules Apply Slightly C o n v e r g e n c e & M o r a l i t y Jane Turton at All3Media Ed Richards of OFCOM “ “We should strive to preserve the open nature of the Internet.” -Ed Richards
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