Spain wins support for broadcast proposal

Date: 26/10/1995

THE long-running drama over plans to tighten Europe's controversial broadcasting regime may soon come to a close following an unexpected breakthrough by EU culture ministers last weekend.

Most member states now agree that the only way out of the current deadlock is to maintain the quota system, set out in the 1989 Television Without Frontiers Directive, more or less as it is.

A Spanish compromise which won broad support at the meeting puts on ice European Commission plans to tighten the existing regime by removing a legal loophole and abandons the previous insistence on dropping quotas altogether in ten years.

If approved by the European Parliament and culture ministers at their 20 November meeting, the proposal would force member states to submit detailed explanations of any derogations from the quota limits granted to television stations to the European Commission.

“The latest compromise seems to suit most people. All those against quotas said they could go along with it and those on the other side, though they were not as enthusiastic, made encouraging noises,” said one source close to the negotiations.

Talks over proposed revisions to the directive have been bogged down for over a year.

France has led the campaign for tighter curbs on the number of American films, chat shows and soap operas which can be shown on European television screens, arguing the integrity of its culture is at stake. But it failed to muster enough support from other member states.

Many in the EU industry say quotas are needed to counter competition from US products which have already recouped their costs, a claim which is refuted by American film producers.

The 1989 version of the Television Without Frontiers Directive says that stations must broadcast a minimum of 50&percent; home-made products “where practicable”. After a long and bitter debate earlier this year, the Commission removed those words, which had allowed broadcasters to avoid implementation of the quota system.

The latest compromise virtually reverts to the original wording, a humiliation which France is likely to accept in exchange for concessions over the duration of the directive.

Spain has made an agreement on quotas one of the priorities for its presidency and will pull out all the stops next month to persuade culture ministers to sign up to its latest proposal.

The directive is also being discussed by the European Parliament which is expected to decide its final position in December.