European Communications Law and Technological Convergence

This book presents a thorough critical examination of the European regulatory reaction to technological convergence, tracing the explicit and implicit mechanisms through which emerging concerns are incorporated into regulation and competition law, and then goes on to identify the patterns that underlie these responses so as to establish the extent to which the issues at stake, and the implications of intervention, are fully understood and considered by authorities. Focusing on 'conflict points' - areas of tension inevitably arising among overlapping regimes - the analysis covers such elements as the following: the provision of 'multiple-play' services; the advent of 'convergent devices'; the interchangeability of transmission networks; subscription-based ('pay television') services; the diversification of television services (such as on-demand and niche-theme channels); the relative scarcity of (premium) content; the 'migration' of television content with cultural and social relevance to pay television; and the emergence of 'bottleneck' segments in the communications value chain.

Dettagli