The European Commission has welcomed the positive vote in the European Parliament for eContentplus, a new programme for 2005-2008 to support the development of multi-lingual content for innovative, on-line services across the EU.
The European Parliament vote proposed only one amendment to the proposal for the programme. A compromise with the Council has set the budget at EUR 149 million, paving the way for a rapid adoption of the programme.
Commenting on the progress towards implementation of the programme, Viviane Reding, European Commissioner for Information Society and Media, said, “The Internet offers a unique opportunity for content companies to outgrow their so far mostly national markets. The eContentplus programme will facilitate the production and distribution of online European content, thus stimulating innovation and creativity.
"At the same time it will help to preserve and share Europe’s cultural and linguistic identities and give them a more prominent place on the Internet. Today’s vote in Parliament allows reaching a budget that is substantially increased in comparison to the predecessor programme.”
The new programme will concentrate on those parts of the digital content market where there is clear fragmentation in Europe, and where market forces alone so far have been insufficient to drive growth. It targets three domains: spatial (or geographical) data, educational material and cultural content.
eContentplus is part of a broader set of measures to improve the conditions for innovation and creativity in the converging content market, including the MEDIAplus programme, and the modernisation of the Television Without Frontiers Directive, due later this year.
 For more information on the new programme
|
All topics
