Opinion split on ‘threat’ to quality programming

Date: 22/04/1999

By Simon Coss

ACCORDING to Rupert Murdoch, reports of the death of Europe's audio-visual industry have been greatly exaggerated.

The man seen by many as the archetypal all-powerful media mogul flatly rejects claims that EU film and TV production is in danger of being drowned by a flood of low-quality programming from the US.

" European media are a robust, proliferating life-form capable of taking on the world and winning," he insisted at an audio-visual conference in the UK last year.

The debate over what Europeans watch on their television screens has intensified in recent years with the advent of new digital broadcast technology which allows TV stations to beam thousands more channels into the Union's living rooms than ever before.

The European Commission has embraced digital broadcasting with open arms, with Acting Audio-visual Commissioner Marcelino Oreja arguing that the transition to an all-digital environment is "essential".

But the question of exactly where the programmes shown on these new channels will come from is unresolved.

While Murdoch and like-minded 'ultra liberals' argue that consumers will decide what they want to watch and the market will provide, others see things differently.

The European Broadcasting Union, which represents most of the EU's public sector broadcasters, not surprisingly argues that Europe's TV and film producers should be given special support.

But it is not alone. France's largest pay-TV service Canal+ also believes that a flourishing European film industry must be at the heart of a successful digital revolution. "More than ever, Europe needs quality images," argues Canal+ chairman Pierre Lescure.

Article forms part of a survey 'Converging technologies', p13-20.