‘TV Without Frontiers’ review unlikely to result in end to quotas despite digital revolution

Date: 19/10/00

By Simon Coss

The broadcasting industry may have evolved beyond all recognition over the past decade but when it comes to EU regulation of the sector, some things never change.

When it was first adopted in 1989, the Union's 'Television Without Frontiers' directive introduced a statutory quota obliging all Union TV stations to ensure that at least half of their programming was produced in Europe. When the rules come up for revision in 2002, all the evidence suggests that the quota provisions will once again form the heart of the EU's single most important law governing the television sector.

However, many industry experts argue that Union policy-makers are deluding themselves if they think they can control tomorrow's television content the way they did ten years ago. Back then, most member states had just a handful of terrestrial television stations and it was fairly easy for state regulators to keep an eye on them.

But the arrival of satellite television, cable networks and digital broadcasting has changed the audio-visual landscape beyond all recognition. Hundreds of new stations have already sprung up throughout the EU and once the digital revolution really kicks in, that number will increase to thousands.

With such an abundance of channels available, say experts, the Union can pass all the programming quota laws it likes but they will be extremely difficult to implement.

But the European Commission and many EU governments are adamant. Despite what many regard as glaring evidence that the quota approach cannot continue to be effective, they have said repeatedly that Union law must protect European content in the face of cut-throat and essentially transatlantic competition.

In a joint statement issued by EU culture ministers after a meeting in May, they "stressed once again the key importance of European content and, as a consequence the need to uphold and foster support measures".

At that meeting, the Union's culture chiefs examined and widely endorsed a plan for the 'Community's audio-visual policy in the digital age' presented to them by Culture Commissioner Viviane Reding.

In her report and in several subsequent speeches, Reding has warned that the Union's programme producers must face up to the challenges of the digital revolution if they want to survive. But she has also hinted that they will not be left entirely to the mercy of the free market when the Commission revises 'Television Without Frontiers'.

"Existing support mechanisms at both national and Community levels have a crucial role to play in preserving the diversity of European creation and improving the competitiveness of the industry," she said at a meeting in Madrid on the impact of the new economy earlier this year .

But while quotas look set to stay, it is highly possible that a new 'Television Without Frontiers' directive will end up dealing with much more than just TV. The big buzz-word in media circles at the moment is 'convergence' - the idea that the old distinction between different types of media are becoming increasingly blurred. It is now possible to watch TV on the Internet or check e-mails on the telephone, for example.

These developments have prompted a re-think within the Commission as to how new media should be regulated. After much consideration, it has decided the best way forward is to separate legislation governing the content transmitted via a particular medium from laws covering the medium itself. The basic aim is to ensure that a film, for example, is governed by the same rules whether it is broadcast over the Internet or television airwaves.

"Technological convergence means that services which were previously carried over a limited number of communication networks can now be carried over several competing ones," said Reding recently. "This implies a need for technological neutrality in regulation: identical services should in principle be regulated in the same way."

Article forms part of a survey 'EU and the media'.