Media services to be portable in EU

Online service subscriptions, such as Netflix, BBC iPlayer and Sky's Now TV, will be portable across the EU under proposals announced on Wednesday.

The European Commission also described its plan to overhaul copyright laws, which it said would make it easier to legally buy and use content.

Supporters said the proposals were an opportunity for creative industries.

But some industry bodies attacked them, saying they lacked detail and would cause harm.

Under the first set of proposals, which will need to be approved by the European Parliament before they can be implemented, online subscriptions to services would become portable within the EU.

"People who legally buy content - films, books, football matches, TV series - must be able to carry it with them anywhere they go in Europe," said Andrus Ansip, the commission's vice-president for the digital single market.

The commission said that allowing cross-border portability would mean "enabling consumers to use their home online subscription while they stay temporarily abroad".

It said it expected the regulations to be approved next year and implemented in 2017, "the same year as the end of roaming charges in the EU".

The commission also announced plans - to be turned into more concrete legislative proposals within the next six months - to allow providers to sell content across the EU under a single set of copyright rules, rather than having to draw up various contracts to adhere to national laws.