The European parliament in Strasbourg, France, voted mid-month to impose tougher restrictions on u.s. and other foreign films and programs broadcast on European television.

The intention is to close a loophole which effectively has allowed satellite channels to exceed their u.s. quotas, and extends quotas to include new media, pay-tv, video-on-demand and online services.

L’Observatoire Europeen de l’Audiovisuel recently reported that 69% of films telecast on 88 European channels were American.

Final approval of the tighter quota application has to be approved by eu governments, some of which oppose the ruling for revenue reasons.