euro news_news 24/04/2014 12:19 Page 6
Euro court: ISPs may block pirates
he Motion Picture
Association (MPA) has
welcomed a verdict
from the Court of Justice of
the European Union (CJEU)
which confirms that blocking
infringing sites is a
proportionate and valid
measure to be implemented
by Internet Service Providers
(ISPs).
According to the MPA, the
decision by the CJEU is an
important milestone in the
creative industries’ ongoing
efforts to curb online piracy and
sets a clear legal framework
across the EU confirming existing
national court decisions.
Furthermore, it sends a strong
signal to ISPs that website
blocking is an effective measure
to reduce overall infringement.
The CJEU re-confirms that
T
Zaslav eyes top rights
for Eurosport
David Zaslav, president and
CEO of Discovery
Communications, has said
that the broadcaster’s
acquisition of a controlling
interest in pan-European
sports channel Eurosport
has given it the opportunity
to create a bigger and better
service, and admitted that it
will consider acquiring
premium sports rights.
Speaking at the FT Digital
Media Conference in London,
Zaslav said that
Discovery now
had the ability to
go “deep and
agressive” in a
particular
market. Noting
that many of
Eurosport’s
rights were
locked in for a
number of years
(tennis, cycling, winter
sports) he suggested that
Discovery could get a lot
more value out of the
14 EUROMEDIA
intermediaries in general are best
placed to tackle copyright
infringement.
On 15 June 2012, the Austrian
Supreme Court referred the case,
Constantin Film and Wega v. UPC
Telekabel Wien, better known as
the kino.to case, to the CJEU
asking for clarifications about
site-blocking and the ability of the
creative industries to address
online copyright infringement in
the EU. Kino.to was one of the
largest pirate streaming portal
sites for German-speaking
territories with a top 40 ranking
on Alexa.com and up to four
million visitors per day.
Chris Marcich, president and
managing director of the MPA
EMEA, said the verdict meant
that rights-holders would
continue to have the ability to
secure balanced website blocking
channel by making it “local”.
He said that Discovery
would be “careful and
thoughtful” as to which rights
it targeted in the future, and
admitted that it could partner
with other players in acquiring
rights. “We’ll be keen to look
at what’s available.”
Describing Eurosport as a
“great brand” he said it could
emerge as a premier sports
brand.
Asked about sports rights
such as the English Premier
League football, Zaslav said:
“We have a real advantage
keeping the
costs of second
level sports
manageable. The
question is do
we go up a level.
In some cases
taking a big
swing might
make sense to
do in a joint
bidding. In some
cases might make sense to
leave bigger high-end sports
to big broadcasters. We’ll just
have to see.”
orders from national courts
across the EU to address
infringing sites. “I am particularly
encouraged by the strong stance
the CJEU has taken in relation to
the responsibility of
intermediaries to address
copyright infringement. A
sustainable Internet that benefits
Cable top-line growth
up 5.9%
Cable investments in highspeed broadband
connections and new
service platforms drove topline revenues across Europe
up 5.9% to €21.9 billion in
2013, according to new IHS
statistics released by Cable
Europe, the industry’s trade
association, at Cable
Congress 2014 in
Amsterdam. The more than
€1 billion increase in
annual revenues benefited
from 9.1% growth in
broadband revenues, 6.5%
growth in telephony
revenues and a greater
share of TV revenues (more
than 70%) than ever before.
Cable Europe president
Manuel Kohnstamm said the
past year had seen significant
transformation and change in
the industry. “All of us feel
good about cable’s ability to
grow through these cycles.
As our customers
increasingly go digital, overthe-top and outside the
all must operate fairly, with
proportionate and balanced rules.
We must all play a constructive
role in this aim including search
engines who continue to lead
consumers to illegal moneymaking sites,” he declared.
“The film industry is working
hard every day to develop new,
innovative and consumer-friendly
platforms delivering the shows
and movies that audiences want
to see – whilst ensuring that the
creators and makers get
compensated for their hard work.
The result is that citizens in
Europe now have access to more
audiovisual content on more
devices than ever before,
including over 3,000 legal on
demand video services. Today’s
result means that these services
will be competing on a more level
playing field,” he stated.
home, cable is positioned as
the future of entertainment,”
he declared.
“Cable is a shining star at
a time when Eur