Global governments fire their own shots in the streaming war

Future. Every government from the EU to South Korea wants slow U.S.-based streaming services just as they make their big global rollouts and investments. The moves are an attempt to participate in the ever-growing success of SVODs (subscription video on demand services), which may either hinder growth in their countries just as production heats up, or force streamers to invest in more local content… and create a new wave of diverse offerings.

Control the flow
Even though the streaming industry has ballooned to a $50 billion business, governments around the world want to dam the mostly-Hollywood-first exports.

• The EU. The consortium of 27 countries is pushing the Audiovisual Services Media Directive (ASMD), which requires that 30% of the content that is offered to European subscribers be of European origin and invest a certain amount of revenue from European countries back into those countries.
• England. England has also adopted the ASMD, but is looking to force the streamers to become more transparent about viewership data and also highlight the country’s public service broadcaster content.
• Australia. Currently, streamers have free reign in the country, which government officials say is decimating local broadcasters. New legislation proposals could force streaming giants to reinvest 20% of their revenue in the country on local content.
• India. The country is still figuring out exactly who has the real authority to govern streamers, but the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting released an “Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code,” which prohibits the exhibition of anything the government finds objectionable or inappropriate.
• South Korea. The country’s “Service Stability Law” is forcing streamers to pay “network fees” as if they were an internet service provider.

If these laws and regulations hold, there’s a chance that the streaming race for global dominance could hit a few walls… just as growth has become the name of the game.