Sally Broughton Micova, CERRE Academic Co-Director, moderated a public webinar on 1 July examining how the EU’s Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD) could be reformed to respond to the rapidly changing digital media environment.
Organised by the Centre on Regulation in Europe (CERRE), the webinar, titled “Reform of AVMSD: Towards Coherent Rules for EU-wide Platforms that Provide Access to Media Content,” brought together policymakers, regulators, industry representatives and academic experts to discuss the future of audiovisual media regulation in Europe.
Since the last revision of the AVMSD in 2018, audiences have increasingly turned to video-sharing platforms, social media, connected devices and other digital intermediaries to access audiovisual and news content. This transformation has created new challenges for editorially independent media, particularly regarding visibility, access to audiences, platform dependence, advertising revenues and media pluralism online.
The discussion also considered the increasingly complex EU regulatory landscape, shaped by the European Media Freedom Act, Digital Services Act and Digital Markets Act, and their implications for the relationship between media organisations and digital platforms.
A key part of the webinar was the presentation of CERRE’s issue paper “Reform of AVMSD: Towards Coherent Rules for EU-wide Platforms that Provide Access to Media Content,” authored by Michèle Ledger, CERRE Research Fellow and University of Namur.
The discussion featured Carolina Lorenzon, International Affairs Director at MEDIAFOREUROPE, and Rowena Burke, Head of International Content Policy at Ofcom.
The webinar addressed key questions around content visibility and prominence, platform regulation, media pluralism, advertising, audience protection and the balance between national regulatory objectives and the EU internal market.
Recording: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zF4piOlmpYM