In a letter to policymakers, 18 European buy-side firms state that only an Equities/ETFs tape that delivers data in real-time and that includes pre-trade data in the form of 5 layers of best bid and offer, will meet with the necessary market demand to make the Equities/ETFs Consolidated Tape commercially viable.  A reasonably priced tape is also a precondition for success, they argue.  The consolidated tape, as with all market data feeds, should be available on a Reasonable Commercial Basis.  There is only one area where the EP text could have done better and that is on governance.  A robust governance framework should be outlined from the start to ensure that decisions governing policies and fees, data content, and speed and connectivity are made by a broad group of market participants, including the data user community.