(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.
- = -
(9) In order to facilitate the clearance of rights for the provision of ancillary_online_services across borders, it is necessary to provide for the establishment of the country of origin principle as regards the exercise of copyright and related rights relevant for acts that occur in the course of the provision of, the access to or the use of an ancillary_online_service.
That principle should cover the clearance of all rights that are necessary for a broadcasting organisation to be able to communicate to the public or make available to the public its programmes when providing ancillary_online_services, including the clearance of any copyright and related rights in the works or other protected subject matter used in the programmes, for example the rights in phonograms or performances. That country of origin principle should apply exclusively to the relationship between rightholders, or entities representing rightholders, such as collective management organisations, and broadcasting organisations, and solely for the purpose of the provision of, the access to or the use of an ancillary_online_service.
The country of origin principle should not apply to any subsequent communication to the public of works or other protected subject matter, by wire or wireless means, or to any subsequent making available to the public of works or other protected subject matter, by wire or wireless means, in such a way that members of the public may access them from a place and at a time individually chosen by them, or to any subsequent reproduction of the works or other protected subject matter which are contained in the ancillary_online_service.
- = -
(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.
- = -
(17) Any rights held by broadcasting organisations themselves in respect of their broadcasts, including rights in the content of programmes, should not be subject to the mandatory collective management of rights applicable for retransmissions. Operators of retransmission services and broadcasting organisations generally have ongoing commercial relations, and as a result the identity of broadcasting organisations is known to operators of retransmission services. Accordingly, it is comparatively simple for those operators to clear the rights with broadcasting organisations. As a consequence, to obtain the necessary licences from broadcasting organisations, operators of retransmission services do not face the same burden as they face when seeking to obtain licences from holders of rights in works and other protected subject matter included in the television and radio programmes they retransmit.
Therefore, there is no need for simplification of the licensing process with regard to rights held by broadcasting organisations. It is, however, necessary to ensure that where broadcasting organisations and operators of retransmission services enter into negotiations, they negotiate in good faith regarding the licensing of rights for the retransmissions covered by this Directive.
Directive 2014/26/EU provides for similar rules applicable to collective management organisations.
- = -
(18) The rules provided for in this Directive concerning the rights in retransmission exercised by broadcasting organisations in respect of their own transmissions should not limit the choice of rightholders to transfer their rights either to a broadcasting organisation or to a collective management organisation, thereby allowing them to have a direct share in the remuneration paid by the operator of a retransmission service.
- = -
(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.
- = -
(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.
- = -