‘YouTube Is Not Yet TV’, EC Says, Clarifying New Rules

The European Commission has clarified new media regulations, passed last week, that pertain to some new media but not all. The Audio-Visual Media Services directive (AVMS) makes the first ever distinction between linear media (conventional TV) and non-linear media (on-demand TV), adding some rudimentary new rules for video-demand but leaving the web essentially untouched.

Asked if either of the definitions extend to the likes of YouTube or Joost, Martin Selmayr, a European Commission spokesperson responsible for information society and media matters, told paidContent.org: “Everything else that you have been reading on this (over-regulation of the internet) was a (deliberately misleading) lobbying campaign that had nothing to do with the proposals on the table. The services YouTube currently offers, as repeatedly said, do not fall under the definition of a linear or non-linear audiovisual service, as these are not TV- or TV-like programs. The directive covers only audiovisual media services. This would change only if YouTube would offer TV- or TV-like services via the internet.”