Öffentlich-rechtliches Fernsehen fordert Feedback von Reding

German MEP Helga Trüpel (Greens/EFA) was critical of the European Commission's directorate general for competition for not participating in the European Parliament's public hearing on the issue. "It's not a good sign that DG Competition is not here. We cannot allow the competition directorate to do all the running on this," she said. 

Alexander Wrabetz, director general of the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF), said he is still quite happy with the 2001 communication. He said the impact of technological advances has been overstated by private media companies. 

"For decades, broadcasting only meant radio. Then we had black and white television, followed by colour television and then teletext. Next came the Internet, and now mobile platforms. Broadcasting has always been evolutionary," he said, stressing the need for the communication to be broad in scope and technologically neutral. He argued against any division between "old media" and "new media". 

Ross Biggam, director general of the Association of Commercial Television in Europe (ACT)  said there is considerable value in fostering a thriving private sector. "Commercial broadcasters make a major contribution to media pluralism and have been pioneers in developing 24-hour news services." He said it was "disingenuous" for public broadcasters to accuse private companies of seeking to monopolise digital media. 

Biggam also dismissed suggestions by member states that the Commission was straying beyond its remit in providing a more detailed broadcast communication, adding that the current draft acknowledges the principle of subsidiarity on 40 occasions. 

Maria Rørbye Rønn, director of legal and public affairs at the Danish Broadcasting Corporation, said a Danish court had ruled late last year that member states are competent to define the role of public service broadcasters and the mechanism of funding is irrelevant. She said the Danish court's judgement conflicts with the Commission's draft communication. 

"We are not against regulation, but it must be suited to individual cultures, especially for smaller countries with smaller markets and minority languages," she said. Rørbye Rønn added that public service broadcasting should be defined in a technologically neutral way. 

Greek Socialist MEP Katerina Batzeli, chair of the European Parliament's culture and education committee, said defining public broadcasting is a matter for member states. In order to carry out their mission, public broadcasters receive state aid, both direct and indirect. Public broadcasters should provide authoritative programming that is not directed by market forces, she said. 

Pere-Oriol Costa, professor of political communication at the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona criticised private television for some of its market-driven practices, including the trend towards producing shorter news programmes "focused on scandals," and the increasing number of television outlets using interactive quizzes to raise revenues from viewers. 

Costa said there had been a concerted campaign to undermine public television for over two decades. "Neoliberal campaigns and private broadcast companies have attacked the image of public broadcasters." Publicly-funded television chains should be innovative and embrace new media technology such as citizen journalism, he said. "They must use all means necessary to communicate – television, web pages and telephones." 

Olivier Japiot, director general of the Conseil Supérieur de l'Audiovisuel (CSA)  in France said the economic downturn had led to a decline in advertising revenue across all media sectors. He said replacing advertising revenue with direct state funding "frees public service broadcasters from chasing ratings". 

Luxembourg MEP Erna Hennicot-Schoepges (EPP-ED) said it is important to look not only at viewing figures, "but at what viewers need". "Sometimes viewers need to be taught," she added. 

In a statement released in the wake of the public hearing, Angela Mills Wade, executive director of the European Publishers' Council, said the online newspaper market and its readers should benefit from a wide diversity of suppliers, "unrestrained by unfair competition from any dominant player". She said the expenditure, content and cross-promotional advantages enjoyed by public broadcasters are swamping even the liveliest of newspaper sites. "All this will endanger investment in wide areas of potential activity by the private sector," she said. 

At a press briefing on Friday (6 March), Jean Réveillon, director general of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), said the current text is too detailed and would reduce the scope for member states to grant public service broadcasters a significant role in the information society. "The EBU strongly supports member states in their refusal to accept commission measures such as the communication which indirectly leads to a de facto European harmonization of public sector broadcasting regulations," he said. 

In a statement, Tobias Schmid, vice president of the Verband Privater Rundfunk und Telemedien (VPRT)  and vice president of media policy at RTL Television Germany, said: "A number of EU member states have expressed their concerns about an update of public broadcasting rules. We do not understand the excitement. The revision of the broadcasting communication is not a European harmonisation and acknowledges the principle of subsidiarity."

Frederik Stucki, secretary general of the Association of European Radios (AER), called for clear separation of the activities of public and commercial broadcasters. "A transparent system and an allocation of costs for profit centres will enable a real level playing-field between the two players. Only this will allow the European commercial media to survive in the new media environment and offer high quality content to millions of European citizens in the future," he said. 

Valtteri Niiranen, director of the European Newspaper Publishers' Association, expressed concern that publishers were being forced to take their cases regarding market distortion to national and, where necessary, European authorities. "A timely reminder is needed from European level on how member states should define the role to be played by public broadcasters in order to eliminate these uncertainties," he said.