Media Technical Committee (MTC) Discusses Future of Online and Broadcast Licensing

On 15-16 October, about 60 guests, including experts from 25 author societies from Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Europe and Africa participated in the CISAC Media Technical Committee (MTC) meeting hosted by Croatian authors’ society HDS-ZAMP in Dubrovnik, Croatia.  Discussions focused on the latest issues in online and broadcast licensing, highlighting challenges and opportunities in licensing creative works in the digital age.

Opening the proceedings, CISAC Director General Gadi Oron shared his vision for the licensing of creative works in the digital era. "The licensing market is changing," he said, pointing to blurrying lines between traditional broadcasting and new digital services, and to the evolving role of intermediaries.  "This raises many challenges for rights holders and, of course, for societies representing them.  The frontier between different services, and the different rights involved, is becoming less and less clear.  From a legal standpoint, the border between broadcasting and interactive transmissions is blurring.  From a licensing standpoint, it is no longer easy to divide between traditional forms of use and new interactive ones."  

Oron then clearly outlined the strategy for CISAC member societies, "We need to ensure that all content is licensed, in every country, and that creators get a fair remuneration."

HDS-ZAMP Executive Director Nenad Marčec and ZAMP Head of International Affairs Antoneta Tokovska Kotevska presented a national report on the situation in their respective countries (Croatia and Macedonia), while CISAC Regional Director for Europe Mitko Chatalbashev reported on collective management trends in Eastern and Central Europe.  

BUMA-STEMRA International Department Manager Johan Visser and TONO Online and Broadcast Media Director Inger Elise Mey updated the audience on the opportunity for a Retransmitted Channel Index and on the European Commission consultation on the Cable and Satellite directive. 

The discussion then moved to online content aggregation with a presentation by SACEM Director for AV Rights Didier Antoine, licensing of new services, with SUISA Head of Mechanical Rights, Broadcasting & New Media Daniel Koehler and GEMA Director of the Broadcasting and Online Department Thomas Theune sharing the German and Swiss experiences as well as an update from JASRAC on the Japan Fair Trade Committee case by Transmission Rights Department Senior Coordinator Atushi Maekawa and International Relations Department International Strategy Section Sub-Chief Kazuaki Yoneda.  

SACD Director of Legal Affairs Hubert Thilliet and BUMA-STEMRA Manager of RTV & Cable then presented on the licensing of new online services (i.e., VOD, subscription-based) from an audiovisual and music repertoire perspective.

The BIEM/CISAC Online working group provided feedback on its first conference.  A group of experts from Thomas Theune of GEMA, SAMRO General Sales Manager Stephenson Mhlanga, SADAIC Head of Licensing & Collections Eduardo Falcone and SACEM Director of Licensing Cécile Rap-Veber discussed multi-territorial licensing, followed by a panel discussion on direct online licensing and its impact on collective management by AMRA Chief Operating Officer Scott Farant and BMI Senior VP Global Policy Ann Sweeney.  

The afternoon of the second day was dedicated to a series of case study presentations on Network Personal Video Recorder in Finland by TEOSTO Head of Key Accounts Vappu Verronen, cloud locker services (JASRAC), anti-piracy measures in Denmark by KODA Director of Legal and International Jakob Hüttel and GESAC activities on the value gap/transfer of value by J. Hüttel.

Thomas Theune then informed the audience on the current state of the GEMA vs. YouTube litigation currently pending with the German courts.  Closing the debates, CISAC Director of Business Standards and Rules Sylvain Piat presented the future evolution of the CISAC I&E tool, as well as the confederation’s key royalty figures for 2014. 

The meeting ended with the election of a new Chair (Inger Elise Mey, TONO) and Vice-Chair (Stephenson Mhlanga, SAMRO) of the MTC.