The European Audiovisual Observatory’s MAVISE - Database on audiovisual services in Europe now offers information on the application of the European Union’s (EU) Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD). Users can now find out quickly under which country’s jurisdiction media service providers fall. MAVISE is freely accessible here.
The inclusion of information about jurisdiction relates to the Audiovisual Media Services Directive and is the result of the cooperation with the European Commission under the EU’s Creative Europe Programme. The availability of this jurisdiction information for EU Member States in a public database is a requirement of the Audiovisual Media Services Directive.
The data available in MAVISE are based on the contributions of the audiovisual regulatory authorities of the 27 EU Member States as well as 14 other European countries and Morocco.
In addition, new 2020 data has just been uploaded into MAVISE and the following trends become apparent:
Our 2020 MAVISE snapshot of the supply of audiovisual services in Europe shows that:
- Between Brexit and the transposition of the revised Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMSD), the supply of audiovisual services has been experiencing a lot of commotion. In a quest to secure continuity in their distribution outside the United Kingdom (UK), traditionally UK-originating channels have been relocating over the past two years. Transnational networks such as Discovery, Disney, NENT, NBC, Viacom, Sony, SPI International, Turner as well as the internationally targeted versions of Sky and BBC networks represented around 250 broadcasting licences migrating during this period.
- Most TV channels which relocated were cross-border services targeting foreign European audiences outside the country of origin. Half of the channels available in Europe outside their country of origin (as defined by the European regulations) fell under UK jurisdiction in 2018, as opposed to only 10% of them at the end of 2020.
- This shift generated a fragmentation of the supply and consequently a repositioning of the main hubs for channels addressing European markets outside their market of origin. The Netherlands (27%), Luxembourg (19%), Spain (15%), the United Kingdom (10%) and France (6%) are the top five hubs of establishment for international networks in 2020. This snapshot is taken in a context in which post-Brexit consequences are still to be felt and the AVMSD transposition is yet to be completed across the board.
- This AV market fragmentation was the result both of migrations and the continuity of a prominent trend towards diversification of the international TV channels in their new host territories. More additional localised versions (in terms of language, geographical scope and/or advertising) of international brand networks have been launched over the past year.
- 85% of TV channels addressing foreign European audiences fall within the jurisdiction of an European Economic Area (EEA) country. The Netherlands (32%), Luxembourg (22%) and Spain (18%) cumulatively accounted for over 70% of these channels at the end of 2020. While for the Netherlands and Spain - as for most Member States, the vast majority of jurisdiction claims are based on the head office establishment of the media service provider, for Luxembourg over 75% of channels fell within its jurisdiction due to usage of the satellite up-link situated there or the satellite capacity which it can offer.
- The vast majority (94%) of TV channels available in the 41 European countries covered by MAVISE originate from one of these countries and among these almost 2 out of 3 are under the jurisdiction of an EEA country.
MAVISE is a free access database on audiovisual services in 41 European countries and Morocco. It allows interactive searches of the registries of the European audiovisual regulatory authorities and the exporting of results. Moreover, MAVISE serves as a centralized database providing information on the country of jurisdiction of television channels, on-demand services and video sharing platforms available in the European Union, pursuant to the Audiovisual Media Services Directive 2018/1808.
The MAVISE database, managed by the European Audiovisual Observatory, is supported by the CREATIVE EUROPE programme of the European Union.