The European Parliament has approved the eContent Plus Community program, which shall support the development of multi-lingual content for innovative, on-line services all across the European Union. The program sets the budget at 149 MEUR for the period 2005-2008, exceeding that of its predecessor, the eContent program.
According to the European Commissioner responsible for Information Society and Media, Viviane Reding, “The Internet offers a unique opportunity for content companies to outgrow their so far mostly national markets”, enabling the eContentplus programme to preserve and share Europe’s cultural and linguistic identities and give them a more prominent place on the Internet. Furthermore, the programme will contribute towards the creation of EU-wide information services derived from such data in areas such as transportation, navigation, emergency response and environmental management.
The eContent Plus integrates a broader set of measures to improve the conditions for innovation and creativity in the converging content market, including the MEDIAplus program, and the modernization of the Television Without Frontiers Directive.
Further information:
- New EU Programme to Promote European Digital Content Market: Commissioner Reding Welcomes Positive Vote in Parliament http://europa.eu.int/rapid/pressReleasesAction.do?reference=IP/05/98&type=HTML&aged=0&language=EN&guiLanguage=en
- eContent programme http://www.cordis.lu/econtent
