WHITHER CULTURAL DIVERSITY: THE EUROPEAN UNION’S MARKET VISION FOR THE REVIEW OF TELEVISION WITHOUT FRONTIERS DIRECTIVE
In: Media and Cultural Policy in the European UnionSearch for other papers by Mark Wheeler in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Purchase instant access (PDF download and unlimited online access):
Abstract
Technological convergence and the globalisation of communications services have brought new entrants into the European television sector. The European Union’s regulation of television services was established in the 1989 Television without Frontiers Directive (TWF) which provided liberalising rules to stimulate production so a harmonised single European audiovisual market could compete with US imports. In 2000, the Education and Culture Commissioner Viviane Reding announced the Commission would review TWF to consider whether its focus on television remained appropriate, and this process culminated in the publication of the draft Audiovisual Media Services Directive in December 2005. Throughout this review, the EU opened up the European audiovisual sector to market opportunities, while placing matters of cultural diversity and democratic opportunity to one side. Moreover, this supranational policymaking has conformed to the changes accompanying a transformation from ‘government to governance’ which has emerged in modern statecraft.