The Flemish government is to require TV manufacturers to ensure their devices some with Flemish apps preinstalled.
Media minister Cieltje Van Achter said the move was necessary to prevent international players from determining what Flemings watch. The rules involving “channels of special impact” come into force in July next year and will include car dashboards as well as smart TVs.
The Flemish media regulator will now decide which apps will fall under the legislation, but are likely to include VRT Max, VTM Go, GoPlay and Streamz.
“VRT Max and other ‘special impact’ channels will have to be pre-installed as standard. Other Flemish apps must be presented at startup, or at least be easily findable, so that the Fleming can install them himself”, explains Van Achter to De Standaard.
The legislation, which follows similar actions in the UK, France and Germany comes amid concerns that the region might otherwise lose its voice “If our children only watch Youtube or Netflix, because Flemish apps are not on it, we lose our own stories. If Flemish media cannot be found, international players will determine what the Fleming gets to see.” She saw it in her own children, she says. “They were watching YouTube on TV all the time. I thought: why don’t you watch Ketnet or VTM Go? It turned out that those apps were simply not installed. Then they don’t find it, and they don’t look at it.”
A fund of €26 million has also been established to support local productions, while Big Tech including Tiktok and Instagram are also obliged to invest in Flemish content.
