International Institute of Communications

TELECOMMUNICATIONS AND MEDIA FORUM

Traditional boundaries between fixed, mobile, broadcast and internet markets are blurring. With smart phones, games consoles and internet-enabled TVs capable of bringing together content and applications from multiple platforms, infrastructure distinctions between types of service provider are beginning to disappear. This provides industry with both new opportunities and new challenges. There are doubts that current regulatory frameworks, including the EU’s telecoms reform package, are adequate for this emerging communications market. This year’s IIC Brussels Forum looks at what this new outlook and the resulting tensions might mean for businesses and policymakers in the important areas of content and copyright, data protection and privacy, and competition policy, as work begins on the EU’s Digital Agenda.

Kindly hosted by The Centre

22 Avenue Marnix, B-1000 Brussels

PROGRAMME OUTLINE

WEDNESDAY 28 APRIL 2010

MORNING

• What is the nature of convergence, and how is it evolving? What does this mean for consumer power and what opportunities might this offer? What is disruptive about this evolution and why?
• In general which companies are taking the lead in terms of driving innovation? Which industry sectors stand to benefit and which will be challenged? How are current industry structures changing? What are the implications for value chains and business models? To what degree can legacy players take advantage and traditional operating models be dismantled? What is the future for platform-specific players?
• What is the impact on competitive dynamics? What role will there be for vertically integrated and ‘closed’ systems?
• How is current regulatory policy a barrier to or enabler of convergence? How might new initiatives including those regarding spectrum and consumer protection provide the basis for a new regulatory mindset? How close are we to the end of platform-based, and beginning of service-based regulation?

AFTERNOON

• How appropriate are current frameworks, such as the Audiovisual Media Services Directive (AVMS Directive), the current copyright regime and licensing arrangements for digital content in a converged and cross-border environment? What steps need to be taken to satisfy the demands of consumers, commercial users and rightsholders?
• How will extension of regulation to new services, including those offered on-demand, work in practice? What is the outlook for implementation of the ‘country of origin’ principle, and what will it mean for national jurisdiction?
• Copyright infringement and licensing issues continue to put a brake on the development of the digital content market. To what extent is reform of the copyright regime inevitable, and if so, should it be done on an international or pan-European basis? Are new business models emerging for consumer use of licensed content that offer a way forward on copyright? Can a solution be found in cloud-based content or the use of other technologies? How to achieve a multi-territorial licensing regime for content in order to increase the momentum for distribution?

THURSDAY 29 APRIL 2010

 MORNING

• What does convergence mean for the nature of competition? How to respond to new competitive dynamics and in particular to potential new forms of anti-competitive behaviour, such as those relating to access to content or platforms, spectrum hoarding, margin squeeze and non-price discrimination? In triple and quad play services is margin squeeze a problem and if so, how can it be deterred? At what point do bundled services become the market? How is access to content, including premium and exclusive content, and to search best addressed?
• Where do the demarcation lines for ex ante and ex post regulation lie in light of the EU telecoms reform package? To what extent is there a risk of regulatory or commercial complacency in some markets? When is the right time to withdraw from sector-specific regulation to other approaches including self-regulation, the use of market-based information intermediaries and consumer protection bodies, and competition law?
• How far will next-generation access networks test such approaches? What are the new models for public investment that are compatible with state aid rules? Should regulators take a more lenient stance on industry consortia and merger activity related to next-generation fixed and mobile networks? What should be the approach to the sharing of infrastructure and spectrum?

 AFTERNOON

• What are the emerging issues for data protection and privacy in a converged world? How to balance the rights of consumers while enabling industry to embrace new business models, improve services and fulfil legal obligations? 
• Which commercial organisations have what data on individuals and what is being done with it? To what extent can the collection and sale of individuals’ ‘clickstream’ data be achieved without damaging consumer confidence? Could ‘individual ownership’ of personal data be the starting point for consumer privacy, with individuals controlling the gathering of their own data for service enhancement, marketing purposes and behavioural advertising? How might this work in practice? What role should ‘opt in’ and ‘opt out’ preferences play?
• What are the practical implications of cloud computing for data privacy? To what extent can individuals’ concerns over privacy be allayed?
• How to establish a suitable framework enabling trust in digital services? Where does responsibility for redress and compensation lie? Will current Commission initiatives provide adequate protection and public accountability? To what extent is a global approach on data protection and privacy required?

 

© International Institute of Communications 2010