The Hungarian regulator NMHH will shortly release the full findings of a consultation it began into OTT services at the end of last year.
However, speaking on its behalf at the Media Hungary conference in Siofok, Balács Bartóki-Güncy was able to provide some insights into the process and its results.
According to Bartóki-Gönczy, the NMHH wanted a pro-active discussion and had a lot of feedback beyond the deadline, all of which it intends to process.
Among the points it was looking for itself was the creation of a definition for OTT. It decided to have one that separated voice from video.
It also looked at barriers to entry and net neutrality, along with the question “what would you suggest to modify the Directive on Audiovisual Services?”
There was general agreement that the issue of who is responsible for the transmission of OTT services is very important.
Furthermore, there should be a separation of standard from stand-alone OTT services.
It was felt that it is harder to start a Netflix-type service for OTT providers due to the difficulty of securing content licences.
Barriers to entry are also horizontal and sector specific.
There are also language and cultural barriers; Hungarians prefer dubbing to subtitling in the content they watch.
