OSI contribution to the European Commission Consultation on the application of state aid rules to public service broadcasting

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EUMAP: EU Monitoring and Advocacy Program > Advocacy > EUMAP Advocacy > EUMAP advocacy: Media Policy > OSI contribution to the European Commission Consultation on the application of state aid rules to public service broadcasting

OSI contribution to the European Commission Consultation on the application of state aid rules to public service broadcasting

In March 2008, EUMAP submitted a contribution to the European Commission's consultation on the application of state aid rules to public service broadcasting.

The European Commission launched this consultation on the future framework for State funding of public service broadcasting (PSB) in January, and closed it on 10 March. It was intended to give Member States and stakeholders the opportunity to submit their views before any Commission proposal was made on the possible revision of the Broadcasting Communication.

Member States and stakeholders were invited to comment on whether market developments, changes in the legal environment and the Commission's decision-making practice, and future challenges of the audiovisual media sector call for changes to the rules.

In its contribution, EUMAP directly addressed some of the points included in the questionnaire the European Commission supplied for the consultation. It did so on the basis of its extensive monitoring study Television across Europe: regulation, policy and independence, as well as the Open Society Institute's experience in supporting media development in Europe’s 'new democracies'. It also provided several additional observations on public service broadcasting.

Among other things, it observed that "the broad assumption underlying the Commission questionnaire appears to be that public service broadcasters hold advantages over their commercial rivals. The chief such advantage is presented as the guaranteed revenue stream from the state budget and/or a licence fee [..]." OSI's research, however, found that such advantages "are purely theoretical for most public service broadcasters, which face multiple and profound challenges in a multiplatform world."

Instead, "all public service broadcasters today – even those performing most successfully – are caught in an unsustainable and vicious circle whereby on the one hand they need to justify their privileges by offering standard-setting output in mainstream strands, while at the same time also provide services that commercial rivals do not offer, notably in cultural, educational, children’s and minority programming."

The initiative to revise the Broadcasting Communication may therefore, the contribution warns, "exaggerate the risks posed in most Member States to fair competition [..] by the funding arrangements for public service broadcasters." On the other hand, the contribution encourages the Commission's idea for a discussion of how to make the "national supervisory mechanisms," which monitor the public service broadcasters' performance vis-à-vis their mission, more effective.

Read more about the European Commission's public consultation on the future framework for State funding of public service broadcasting.

Read the the Questionnaire provided by the European Commission for the consultation.

OSI contribution to the European Commission Consultation on the application of state aid rules to public service broadcasting

OSI contribution to the European Commission Consultation on the application of state aid rules to public service broadcasting, 10 March 2008 [ 67.5 k, Adobe PDF document ]

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