Press Release: State aid: Commission closes inquiries into French, Italian and Spanish public broadcasters following commitments to amend funding systems

Following changes made to the financing of public broadcasters in France, Italy and Spain, the European Commission on 20 April 2005 closed the existing procedures under EC Treaty state aid rules (Article 88(1)). All three Member States had either accepted or already implemented measures to introduce greater transparency and proportionality in their funding systems, which facilitated the monitoring of cross-subsidies for activities not related to public service broadcasting.