Public broadcasting and European law. A comparative examination of public service obligations in six Member States

Although EU Member States share a tradition of regulating public broadcasting for the public interest, such regulation has been in decline in recent years. It has been challenged by the emergence of commercial television sworn to the market logic, as well as by satellite services and the Internet. EU law and policy has, under pressure from powerful global forces, abetted that decline. The question thus arises: Do cultural values still matter in European national broadcasting?

This important book examines the challenges posed to public service obligations by European Union media law and policy. An in-depth analysis of the extent to which six countries (France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) regulate broadcasting for the public interest reveals a range of vulnerability to national political pressures or, alternatively, to the ideology of market sovereignty. The author examines the country of origin principle and the European quota rule of the Television without Frontiers Directive, revealing the influence of European law on the definition and enforcement of programme requirements, and shows how the case law of the European Court of Justice encourages deregulation at the national level without offering adequate safeguards at the supranational level in exchange. She asks the question whether the alleged ‘European audiovisual model’ actually persists—that is, whether broadcasting is still committed to protecting such values as cultural diversity, the safety of minors, the susceptibility of consumers to advertising, media pluralism, and the fight against racial and religious hatred. The book concludes with an evaluation of the impact of the EU state aid regime on the licence fee based financing of public broadcasting.

Contents:
Part I. Public Broadcasting Obligations in Six Member States
1. Introduction
2. France
3. Germany
4. Greece
5. Italy
6. The Netherlands
7. United Kingdom
8. Conclusion

Part II. Public Service Obligations Between Culture and Commerce
9. Introduction
10. The Competence of the European Union in the Area of Culture under Article 151 EC
11. Television without Frontiers: The Country of Origin Principle
12. Free Movement of Television Broadcasts and National Broadcasting Obligations
13. Television without Frontiers: The European Broadcasting Quota
14. Conclusion

Part III. Public Service Obligations and State Aids
15. Financing of Public Broadcasting and European Union State Aid Law