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European-Based VoDs: Models, Alternatives and Predictions
  • ISSN: 2516-3523
  • E-ISSN: 2516-3531
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Abstract

In Sweden, the government has been reluctant to regulate streaming platforms, including the measures in the EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive, which aim to maintain domestic and European productions. This article investigates what values are mobilized to legitimate the (non)regulation of streaming platforms in Sweden and what this means for democratic deliberation about platforms, content and culture. Building on policy documents and in-depth interviews, our findings are structured around policies addressing (1) democracy, equality and diversity and (2) European content, production and cultural values. Regulations are perceived to be difficult to enforce and often undesirable. This article identifies a shift in policy where regulating television has given way to producing media-literate, self-governing subjects. We introduce the concept ‘platform gaze’ to explain how regulation has deferred to the desires of platform providers, neglecting, e.g. independent producers. Further, we argue that the political space to discuss streamed content as culture has diminished.

Funding
This study was supported by the:
  • FORTE: Swedish Research Council for Health, Working Life and Welfare (Award 2021-01596)
  • European Union’s Horizon 2020 Research and Innovation Programme (Award 101004509)
© 2024 The Author(s). Published by Intellect Ltd.
This article is Open Access under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-ND), which allows users to copy, distribute and transmit the article as long as the author is attributed, the article is not used for commercial purposes, and the work is not modified or adapted in any way. To view a copy of the licence, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
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2024-08-20
2024-12-14
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  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): Audiovisual Media Services Directive; diversity; film and television production; freedom of speech; media policy; Netflix

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