Film and music streaming geoblocking to be eliminated in EU

 

EU Netflix, Sky, Amazon, etc. subscribers will be able to continue using their service as they travel through the 28 nation bloc, if current proposals go through.

An agreement made on Tuesday between the European Parliament and Malta, which currently holds the rotating presidency in the EU, is likely to see subscription service barriers between states abolished. Essentially that means that customers of services such as Netflix and Sky should be able to access their subscription services if they travel to another EU member state.

The move has some opposition from rights holders, but is seen as a positive step for subscribers who travel frequently throughout the 28 nation bloc. It would effect services such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Sky and Apple Music.

The plan is yet to be formally approved but is expected to be part of new regulations that come into force at the beginning of 2018.

Many subscription services lock their subscriber to their home country because the library of content offered varies in different territories. If this regulation comes into effect, the subscriber should have access to the same library of content they have in their home country, but it does not force streaming services to offer the same content to all 28 EU member states.