'Are you sure/that we are awake’?: European media policy and copyright

This chapter argues that a number of the positive aspects of European media policy are compromised by its failure to take into account the seriously distorting effects of the global oligopolies, built on the back of the copyright monopoly, in the sector of media and entertainment production. Part 2 of the chapter considers the articulation of an interlocking web of human rights-based objectives in the Audiovisual Media Services Directive of 2010 in the context of their relationship to the international copyright system. The nature of the international copyright system and the obstacles that it poses to the realization of these objectives are considered in Parts 3 and 4, respectively. Part 3 focuses on the critical significance of copyright to the so-called cultural industries, particularly (but not only) in the form of independent exclusive rights granted by the copyright system to investors, such as film producers and broadcasters, in the distribution of creative works. It assesses the operation of the markets for entertainment products in the light of the monopoly rights enjoyed by copyright holders. The way in which the copyright system, and market that it sustains, interacts at the global and local levels with the values expressed in the Audiovisual Media Services Directive of 2010 is the subject matter of Part 4.