EU plan to ban geoblocking will lead to dull content, warn film-makers

A still from Triangle of Sadness. The film’s Swedish director, Ruben Östlund, said film-makers would come under commercial pressure to target the tastes of a median European viewer. Photograph: Neon/Allstar

Prominent film-makers have warned against a move that could make European public broadcasters’ streaming offerings accessible from anywhere within the EU, predicting that it would unravel the industry’s business model and lead to “dull films aiming for the lowest common denominator”.

In a drive to deepen the EU’s digital single market, the European parliament will on Tuesday vote on whether to ask the commission to look into banning film and TV platforms from using “unjustified” geoblocking, technology that is used to restrict access to internet content based on location.