Broadcast ban clause unlikely to get support

Date: 23/05/1996

FRANCE will have to turn on all its charm to persuade its EU partners of the need for extra new measures to stop television stations from dodging national broadcasting bans.

Paris wants a clause included in the revised Television Without Frontiers Directive which would forbid broadcasters from relocating to other countries in order to circumvent restrictive national laws.

But it is unlikely to get its way when culture ministers meet to discuss the directive on 11 June. Most member states feel the proposed measure would undermine the country-of-origin principle and consquently bring about the demise of the single market in broadcasting.

“The directive is supposed to free up the internal market, not create new restrictions,” said a British diplomat. “We do not want a 15-speed system.”

Ironically, despite UK support for the draft directive as it now stands, London's new policy of 'non-cooperation' in EU matters could force its minister to veto the adoption of a common position at the 11 June meeting if British demands over beef have not been met by then.

Other member states have also expressed reservations about the French plan.

“This would give the receiving country jurisdiction over broadcasts and we could not agree to that,” said a German diplomat. “If a country feels its rules are being transgressed, then it can go to the European Court of Justice.”

Under the current regime, television stations must obey the rules in the country in which they are based. As a result, television stations tend to migrate to countries with laxer laws. For example, TV3, the Swedish television company, skirts its country's ban on advertising aimed at minors by, quite simply, broadcasting from London.

That infuriated the Swedish government, so Paris won a willing ally in Stockholm when it first floated its broadcasting plan back in November. Few others were tempted, however, and the proposal failed to fly.

France did score something of a victory by persuading ministers to sign a joint declaration allowing member states to block broadcasts which do not conform with national law. But that recital lacks legal weight and Paris has now come back for more.

As for quotas, more squabbles are in store. Member states insist they will not bow to MEPs' demands to tighten the current regime, which forces television stations to broadcast at least 50&percent; European-made programmes but only “where practicable” - a loophole MEPs want closed.

Ministers are also likely to refuse to extend the directive's scope to cover new audio-visual services such as video-on-demand and to reject MEPs' view that all new television sets should be fitted with devices to allow parents to filter programmes.