Net neutrality and audiovisual services

Net neutrality is high on the European agenda. New regulations for the communication sector provide a legal framework for net neutrality and need to be implemented on both a European and a national level. The key element is not just about blocking or slowing down traffic across communication networks: the control over the distribution of audiovisual services constitutes a vital part of the problem. In this contribution, the phenomenon of net neutrality is described first. Next, the European and American contexts are dealt with. The impact for audiovisual services is sketched in the analysis, including the question of whether net neutrality is a new phenomenon and whether parallels can be drawn with previous issues. In the conclusion, we refer to the necessity of seeing net neutrality as a value chain issue. In addition, existing and future regulatory intervention needs to take a more concrete approach to net neutrality.