EMFA Article 20. Right to customise the media offering

Recipients of media services providing programmes should be able to effectively choose the content they want to watch or listen to according to their preferences. Their freedom to choose content could, however, be constrained by commercial practices in the media sector, such as agreements for content prioritisation between media service providers and manufacturers of devices or providers of user interfaces controlling or managing access to and the use of media services providing programmes, such as connected televisions or car audio systems. Prioritisation can be implemented, for example, on the home screen of a device, through hardware settings or software shortcuts, applications and search areas, which have implications on the recipients’ behaviour, who might be unduly incentivised to choose certain media offerings over others. User choice could also be limited by closed circuits of pre-installed applications. Users should be able to change, at any time, in a simple, easily accessible and user-friendly manner, the configuration, including default settings, of a device, such as a remote control, or of a user interface controlling or managing access to and the use of media services providing programmes. That should be understood as covering all the customisation features of devices or user interfaces which orientate or guide users in their choices as regards the media services or content they wish to access and which allow them to find or discover such services or content, taking into account the goal of fair access to media services in all their diversity, from the perspective of both users and media service providers. That right should not extend to individual items, such as programmes, within an on-demand service catalogue and is without prejudice to measures intended to ensure the appropriate prominence of audiovisual media services of general interest implementing Article 7a of Directive 2010/13/EU as well as those implementing Article 7b of that Directive, taken in the pursuit of legitimate public policy considerations. Manufacturers, developers and importers should be able to demonstrate the effective user-friendliness of the functionality required when placing their relevant products on the market. Member States should ensure, by appropriate measures, that devices and interfaces placed on their market by relevant market players comply with the relevant requirements set out in this Regulation. That could be achieved by monitoring the application and effectiveness of the actions taken by such market players.

Visual identities of media service providers consist of brands, logos, trademarks or other characteristic traits and enable recipients of media services providing programmes to determine easily who bears the editorial responsibility for the service. Visual identities are also a key competitive asset for media service providers, enabling them to differentiate their media offering on the market. Therefore, it is important that visual identities of media service providers providing programmes are preserved when users access their media services through different devices and user interfaces. To that end, manufacturers, developers and importers of devices and user interfaces should make sure that such visual identities as provided by such media service providers are not removed or modified.

In order to ensure a level playing field in the provision of diverse media services providing programmes in the face of technological developments in the internal market and to ensure fair access to media services in all their diversity, it is necessary to promote the development of common harmonised standards for devices and user interfaces controlling or managing access to and the use of media services providing programmes or digital signals conveying the content from source to destination. In that context, it is important to avoid diverging technical standards which create barriers and additional costs for the industry and consumers, while encouraging the development of solutions to implement existing obligations concerning media services.