By Dominic Timms

September 20, 2005

New EU proposals to further deregulate the television market could have a negative impact on the internet industry, lobbying groups for UK hi-tech companies warned today.

As the EU commission met politicians and industry groups at the i2010 European Broadcast convention in Liverpool, which starts today, trade groups warned that plans to update the TV Without Frontiers directive could usher in regulation of the internet "via the back door."

Intellect, the lobbying group for the UK hi-tech industries and the Broadband Stakeholder Group, the government's broadband advisory said plans to update TV regulation to include internet content are "unjustified, premature, inappropriate and unworkable."

"Our members are seriously concerned that the European commission's proposals will inhibit growth of the content and new media market in Europe," said Antony Walker, a director of the knowledge economy at Intellect.

"New audio-visual content services, made possible through innovation in digital technology and the internet, should be given time to evolve and develop rather than being shackled by premature and unnecessary regulation intervention by the EU."

Originally devised in 1989 to bring down barriers to TV production across Europe and create a single market for producers, the EU is trying to update the TV Without Frontiers directive to take account of technological change such as the growth in broadband and video on demand.

Lobby groups say the move amounts to regulation of an industry that is still growing and that already has many self-regulatory safeguards.

The groups called on the commission to "go back to the drawing board", citing an industry poll which, they said, showed 82% of senior hi-tech executives thought the reforms should be put on hold.

'Begin the consultation process again'

"What the EU must do now is stop the process in its tracks and begin the consultation process again," Mr Walker said.

"It is only through an in-depth understanding of the new audio visual content marketplace that the EU will be in a position to decide whether further regulation is required, and if it is what the scope of this regulation should be."

In a paper responding to calls for proposals to change the directive, Intellect said it supported revision of the directive but said it was still unclear how it should be structured.

"Convergence is therefore changing the definition of what we still refer to today as 'broadcasting' and 'telecoms', however, we don't yet have a clear picture of what the converged world will look like, even five years from now [in 2010].

"The only thing that is certain is that it will be different to the analogue world of the 1980s when the TVWF Directive was first conceived and probably very different from today.

"It is therefore clear that the TVWF Directive needs to be revised, but it is much less clear how this should be done."