Hopes for new directive to tackle content

Among proposals in the European Commission's reworking on the Television Without Frontiers directive are the possibility that TV companies will have to allow at least a proportion of their content to be shared with emerging rival platforms.

At the Westminster Forum called to discuss the issue, David Melville, head of legal and regulatory policy at French-owned online company Wanadoo, admitted that its plans to launch a broadband-based TV service in the UK, as it already has in its own country, were being scuppered by lack of access to content.

"Our TV on DSL service already has 150,0000 customers in France," said Melville. "We have plans for investment in DSL. We cannot do it in the UK. That investment is only worthwhile if we can get access to content."

Despite fears that the extension of Television Without Frontiers would cover areas such as the internet and mobile, new media players hope that it can prove a breakthrough in what Melville claimed was the "huge problem" of securing programming rights.

This article was first published on Media Week