keyboard_tab Media online 2019/0789 EN

• 1 Article 1 Subject matter
• 1 Article 2 Definitions
• 1 Article 7 Retransmission of an initial transmission originating in the same Member State
• 2 Article 8 Transmission of programmes through direct injection

• retransmission 19
• transmission 18
• organisation 17
• broadcasting 17
• public 11
• initial 10
• article 9
• programme-carrying 9
• signals 9
• programmes 9
• which 9
• directive 9
• means 9
• television 8
• radio 8
• online 7
• such 6
• from 6
• service 6
• chapter 6
• defined 6
• direct 6
• than 6
• ancillary 5
• carried 5
• broadcast 5
• over 4
• definitions 4
• member 4
• intended 4
• reception 4
• //eec 4
• transmits 4
• injection 4
• purpose 4
• signal 4
• party 4
• made 4
• responsibility 4
• control 4
• under 4
• services 3
• state 3
• provision 3
• rules 3
• paragraph 3
• authorisation 3
• access 3
• through 3
• technical 3

For the purpose of this Directive, the following definitions apply:

Member States may provide that the rules in this Chapter and in Chapter III of Directive 93/83/EEC apply to situations where both the initial transmission and the retransmission take place within their territory.

• (2) The development of digital technologies and the internet has transformed the distribution of, and access to, television and radio programmes. Users increasingly expect to have access to television and radio programmes, both live and on-demand, through traditional channels, such as satellite or cable, and also through online services. Broadcasting organisations are therefore increasingly offering, in addition to their own broadcasts of television and radio programmes, online services ancillary to such broadcasts, such as simulcasting and catch-up services. Operators of retransmission services, which aggregate broadcasts of television and radio programmes into packages and provide them to users simultaneously with the initial transmission of those broadcasts, unaltered and unabridged, use various techniques of retransmission, such as cable, satellite, digital terrestrial, and mobile or closed circuit IP-based networks, as well as the open internet.

    Furthermore, operators that distribute television and radio programmes to users have different ways of obtaining the programme-carrying signals of broadcasting organisations, including by means of direct injection.

    There is a growing demand, on the part of users, for access to broadcasts of television and radio programmes not only originating in their Member State, but also in other Member States. Such users include members of linguistic minorities in the Union, as well as persons who live in a Member State other than their Member State of origin.


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• (14) Operators of retransmission services can use different technologies when they retransmit simultaneously, in an unaltered and unabridged manner, for reception by the public, an initial transmission from another Member State of television or radio programmes. The programme-carrying signals can be obtained by operators of retransmission services from broadcasting organisations, which themselves transmit those signals to the public, in different ways, for example by capturing the signals transmitted by the broadcasting organisations or receiving the signals directly from them through the technical process of direct injection.

    Such operators' services can be offered on satellite, digital terrestrial, mobile or closed circuit IP-based and similar networks or through internet access services as defined in Regulation (EU) 2015/2120 of the European Parliament and of the Council (6).

    Operators of retransmission services using such technologies for their retransmissions should therefore be covered by this Directive and benefit from the mechanism that introduces mandatory collective management of rights. In order to ensure that there are sufficient safeguards against the unauthorised use of works and other protected subject matter, which is particularly important in the case of services that are paid for, retransmission services which are offered through internet access services should be included in the scope of this Directive only where those retransmission services are provided in an environment in which only authorised users can access the retransmissions and the level of content security provided is comparable to the level of security for content transmitted over managed networks, such as cable or closed circuit IP-based networks, in which content that is retransmitted is encrypted.

    Those requirements should be feasible and adequate.


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• (20) In order to ensure that there is legal certainty and to maintain a high level of protection for rightholders, it is appropriate to provide that when broadcasting organisations transmit their programme-carrying signals by direct injection only to signal distributors without directly transmitting their programmes to the public, and the signal distributors send those programme-carrying signals to their users to allow them to watch or listen to the programmes, only one single act of communication to the public is deemed to occur in which both the broadcasting organisations and the signal distributors participate with their respective contributions. The broadcasting organisations and the signal distributors should therefore obtain authorisation from the rightholders for their specific contribution to the single act of communication to the public.

    Participation of a broadcasting organisation and a signal distributor in that single act of communication to the public should not give rise to joint liability on the part of the broadcasting organisation and the signal distributor for that act of communication to the public.

    Member States should remain free to provide at national level for the arrangements for obtaining authorisation for such a single act of communication to the public, including the relevant payments to be made to the rightholders concerned, taking into account the respective exploitation of the works and other protected subject matter, by the broadcasting organisation and signal distributor, related to the single act of communication to the public.

    Signal distributors face, in a similar manner to operators of retransmission services, a significant burden for rights clearance, except as regards rights held by broadcasting organisations. Member States should therefore be allowed to provide that signal distributors benefit from a mechanism of mandatory collective management of rights for their transmissions in the same way and to the same extent as operators of retransmission services for retransmissions covered by Directive 93/83/EEC and this Directive.

    Where signal distributors merely provide broadcasting organisations with ‘technical means’, within the meaning of the case-law of the Court of Justice of the European Union, to ensure that the broadcast is received or to improve the reception of that broadcast, the signal distributors should not be considered to be participating in an act of communication to the public.


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• (21) When broadcasting organisations transmit their programme-carrying signals directly to the public, thereby carrying out an initial act of transmission, and also simultaneously transmit those signals to other organisations through the technical process of direct injection, for example to ensure the quality of the signals for retransmission purposes, the transmissions by those other organisations constitute a separate act of communication to the public from the one carried out by the broadcasting organisation.

    In those situations, the rules on retransmissions laid down in this Directive and in Directive 93/83/EEC, as amended by this Directive, should apply.


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• (23) In order to prevent circumvention of the application of the country of origin principle through the extension of the duration of existing agreements concerning the exercise of copyright and related rights relevant for the provision of an ancillary_online_service as well as the access to or the use of that service, it is necessary to apply the country of origin principle also to existing agreements, but with a transitional period.

    During that transitional period, the principle should not apply to those existing agreements, thus providing time to adapt them, where necessary, in accordance with this Directive.

    It is also necessary to provide for a transitional period in order to allow broadcasting organisations, signal distributors and rightholders to adapt to the new rules on the exploitation of works and other protected subject matter through direct injection set out in the provisions in this Directive on transmission of programmes through direct injection.


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• (24) In line with the principles of better regulation, a review of this Directive, including its provisions on direct injection, should be undertaken after a certain period of time of this Directive being in force, in order to assess, inter alia, its benefits for Union consumers, its impact on the creative industries in the Union, and on the level of investment in new content, and hence also the benefits regarding improved cultural diversity in the Union.


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