LEAD ARTICLE
Financing and supervision of public service broadcasting
Rules under European law and current national developments with regard to content supervision
The lead article deals with the most recent developments in the funding and supervision of public service broadcasting in Europe.
An overview of the European legislative framework is followed by a discussion of concrete models for the funding of public service broadcasting. The applicable legislative arrangements in a number of states that have been selected as examples are discussed, and the recently emerged issue of the obligation to pay broadcasting licence fees for internet-enabled PCs is considered. The supervision of public service broadcasting services in terms of their funding and content - two aspects that are often linked together - is another area on which this lead article focuses. Examples of this supervision are the so-called "public value" test and the "three-stage test".
The order of sections in the lead article:
I. Introduction
II. European legislative framework for the financing and supervision of public media services
1. European Union: Legal acts and the case law of the Court
2. Council of Europe: Legal acts and the case law of the ECHR
III. Funding models for the public service media in the EU member states (taking as examples Germany, Finland, France, the Netherlands, Austria, the Slovak Republic and Spain)
IV. The supervision of public service media funding and services (taking as examples Germany, the United Kingdom, Ireland and Austria)
V. Conclusions
RELATED REPORTING
How and what to finance
This second part illustrates the current state of the discussion concerning the funding of public service media and issues relating to the content of these media that is to be funded. It contains contributions from 11 States, all of them originating from the first six months of 2010. The following five areas of emphasis in the present national discussions can be discerned from the reports:
- Tax money for advertisement
- Mixed funding
- Public-private partnerships
- Raising licence fees
- Public service value
The short reports originate from the following countries: France, Slovakia, Kirghizia, Latvia, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, Poland, Malta and Spain. There is also an article on an enquiry sent to Spain by the European Commission.
ZOOM
Public service audiovisual media services on the test bed
The first part of the ZOOM section presents a list in tabular form of new media services that are being or have been examined to check their compliance with the public service remit. Details are given of the present situation or the outcome of these checks and reference sources are provided for any decisions taken. There is also a discussion of why the funding of public media services in Belgium's Flemish-speaking Community and Norway is currently not (yet) being examined.
Comparing the funding of public sector broadcasting in the European Union
The second part of the ZOOM informs you about the changes in public service broadcasters' revenues and how they are reflected in growth rates and per capita operating income. This therefore provides you with some basic guidance on the economic dimension of public funding for broadcasting.
You will be given concrete figures on:
- Operating revenues of the public service broadcasters in the European Union (EU-27) (2004-2008)
- The average annual growth rate of the public service broadcasters' operating profit (2004-2008)
- The average per capita operating revenues of public service broadcasters in the European Union (2008)
