THE EU, COMMUNICATIONS LIBERALISATION AND THE FUTURE OF PUBLIC SERVICE BROADCASTING
In: Media and Cultural Policy in the European UnionSearch for other papers by Peter Humphreys in
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Abstract
The article is concerned with the impact on public service broadcasting of the European Union (EU). It begins by explaining that, for various reasons, EU audiovisual policy is biased towards ‘negative integration’, namely market liberalisation and the direct exercise of extensive competition powers. This ‘de-regulatory’ bias has been seen by some as a threat to public service broadcasting. The paper examines the implications for public service broadcasting of two important lines of EU policy: 1) the EU’s policy response to the digital ‘convergence’ of broadcasting, telecommunications and IT; and 2) the EU’s handling of competition complaints from the commercial sector against public service broadcasters about their involvement in new media markets (including Internet).