Public TV competition guidelines stay on shelf

Date: 20/02/1997

By Chris Johnstone

COMPETITION officials have shelved the idea of drawing up guidelines to determine what subsidies can be paid by governments to public service television companies.

The decision stems from the European Commission's failure to tackle a backlog of complaints from private rivals. The resulting lack of case history on which to base any recommendations means the planned guidelines are likely to be delayed for several years.

So far, the Commission has only dealt with one of some half a dozen competition complaints lodged by private broadcasters against their public service rivals. “We have done some work in the area, but basically we have not dealt with enough cases to draw any clear conclusions,” explained a Commission official this week.

The admission comes as private German television companies prepare to lodge fresh complaints with Competition Commissioner Karel Van Miert over services launched by public sector rivals.

The VPRT, a German association representing private television, radio, telecoms, cable and satellite companies, is preparing formal complaints about a new children's channel and a news channel launched by public service broadcasters.

The children's channel, backed by Germany's largest public service broadcasters ARD and ZDF and Erfurt-based regional broadcaster MDR, started broadcasting in January. Phoenix, the news channel put together by ARD, ZDF and Cologne-based West Deutsche Rundfunk, is due to start broadcasting on 1 April.

The association alleges the companies are using public funds to launch the new stations instead of spending the money on meeting their public service obligations, and claims their cooperation amounts to anti-competitive cartel-style activity.

Phoenix is also the target of a separate complaint in Germany's constitutional court launched by music and news channel MTV on the grounds that it distorts competition. ARD and ZDF, like many European public service broadcasters, are financed by a mixture of licence fees and advertising revenue.

The one complaint which has already been dealt with by the Commission concerned public financing of around 35 million ecu a year to Portuguese public television organisation Radiotelevisão Portuguesa between 1992 and 1995.

The Commission ruled that the money did not constitute a state subsidy, saying the funds - which accounted for between 15&percent; and 18&percent; of RTP's annual budget - covered the extra costs of educational, cultural and religious broadcasting obligations imposed on the station.

Brussels-based commercial television lobby ACT said the Commission judgement on RTP had appeared to force the broadcaster to refocus its efforts on meeting its public service commitments instead of launching rival services.

ACT has, as yet, made no public stand for or against the idea of a Commission code to spell out when aid for public services can be permitted.

Commission decisions are still awaited on long-running complaints about state subsidies for public channels in France, Spain and Italy.