Progress in the Must-offer Debate? Exclusivity in Media and Communication

'Exclusive' offers will always appear most attractive to potential customers. This is certainly true of audiovisual content and broadcasters' endeavours to programme content which they alone can offer in order to attract maximum audiences. Closely linked to the key concept of exclusivity is the current European legal debate on must-carry rules, whereby television networks may be obliged to carry channels offering public interest content. Current discussions concern the 'mirror-image' of must-carry: the so-called must-offer rules which rather place the obligation on the broadcasters themselves to make their channels available to network providers.

The European Audiovisual Observatory has published in 2008 its latest legal analysis of the must carry/must-offer debate,