The European Commission  decided January 3rd 2008 to give a new boost to Europe's on-line content sector. EU citizens should be able to enjoy easier and faster access to a rich variety of music, TV programmes, films or games via the Internet, mobile phones or other devices. The Commission therefore encourages the content industry, telecoms companies and Internet service providers to work closely together to make available more content on-line, while at the same time ensuring a robust protection of intellectual property rights. The Commission also wants to facilitate copyright licences for on-line content covering the territory of several or all of the EU Member States. According to Commission studies, a truly Single Market without borders for Creative On-line Content could strengthen considerably the competitiveness of Europe's music, film and games industry and allow retail revenues of the sector to quadruple by 2010 if clear and consumer-friendly measures are taken by industry and public authorities.

The Commission adopted on 3rd January 2008 a Communication on "Creative Content On-line in Europe's Single Market". This strategic document is the starting point for new EU actions to support development of innovative business models, cross-border services and consumer-friendly offers.
The retail sale and distribution of high value "creative" content on-line represents a major structural change in the European content market. Whilst the on-line market share of music sales is reportedly reaching 25% in some European countries such as the UK, the retailing of video content, and the availability of on-demand TV programming via the Internet is as yet still a nascent market. Such high value "creative content" also covers radio, on-line games, on-line publishing and educational content. New market developments also arise from Web 2.0, i.e. user-created content, that consumers themselves may wish to "protect" from unauthorised re-use.

EC identifies four main challenges

• Availability of creative content – Owners of creative content are sometimes reluctant to make it available for on-line distribution. Amongst the reasons for this are concerns over illegal downloads and on-line "piracy". In addition, there are across the EU major difficulties in negotiating and settling terms of trade between the right owners and the on-line distributors of creative content. The Commission is therefore strongly encouraging stakeholders to find innovative and collaborative solutions to exploit the market for content on-line. A first step into this direction was taken in 2006 with the "European Film On-line Charter" (see IP/06/672), but the Commission notes a lack of ambition and implementation in the follow-up to this initiative.
• Multi-territory licensing for creative content – On-line environments such as the Internet and mobile services inherently allow content services to be made available across the single European market. However, the lack of multi-territory copyright licences – allowing the use of content in several or all EU Member States – makes it difficult for on-line services to be deployed across Europe and to benefit from economies of scale. While it is first for rights holders to appreciate the potential commercial benefits of multi-territory licensing, there is an underlying need, also from a consumer perspective, to improve on existing licensing mechanisms.
• Interoperability and transparency of Digital Rights Management systems (DRMs) – Technologies that support the management of rights and the fair remuneration of creators in an online environment can be a key enabler for development of innovative business models. Lengthy discussions amongst stakeholders have yet to lead to the deployment of interoperable and user-friendly DRM solutions.The Commission therefore seeks to establish a framework for DRM transparency concerning, amongst others, the interoperability of different DRMs, and ensuring that consumers are properly informed of any usage restrictions placed on downloaded content, as well as of the interoperability of related online services.
• Legal offers and piracy – Piracy, including the unauthorised up- and downloading of copyrighted content, remains a central concern.The Commission intends to instigate co-operation procedures ("codes of conduct") between access/service providers, right holders and consumers to ensure not only the widespread offer of attractive content online, but also adequate protection of copyrighted works, and close cooperation on the fight against piracy and unauthorised file-sharing.