😡 European Media Associations Sound the Alarm
Europe’s leading broadcasting and publishing industry associations have issued a joint emergency letter to EU ministers ahead of the upcoming Telecoms Council meeting.
Media market representatives expressed deep concern over the introduction of “destructive measures” within the European Commission’s proposed “Digital Omnibus” legislative package.
The signatories of the appeal include the media sector’s largest players, such as the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), the Association for Commercial Television and Video on Demand in Europe (ACT), the European Publishers Council (EPC), and News Media Europe. The authors of the letter highlight a critical disconnect between the initiative’s stated goal—streamlining regulation to boost EU competitiveness—and its actual substance.
Instead of cutting red tape, the proposed amendments (specifically Articles 88a and 88b of the GDPR, as well as modifications to the ePrivacy Directive) impose stringent new restrictions on data processing.
The media industry emphasizes that the new rules effectively block companies from efficiently obtaining user consent for data processing, while failing to offer any alternative legal mechanisms for basic, low-risk processes such as audience measurement.
The associations urged ministers to strike the controversial articles from the final text, return them for revision, and conduct a thorough regulatory impact assessment to align the Digital Omnibus with existing frameworks, namely the European Media Freedom Act (EMFA) and the Digital Markets Act (DMA).
Soyrce: Advanced Television
