Public Broadcasting and European Law: A Comparative Examination of Public Service Obligations in Six Member States

Neuausgabe 2008
ISBN: 978-90-411-2500-2
Verlag: Wolters Kluwer

Buch, Englisch, Band 17, 478 Seiten, Format (B × H): 165 mm x 244 mm, Gewicht: 885 g

Reihe: Information Law Series

Although EU Member States share a tradition of regulating public broadcasting for the public interest, such regulation has been in decline in recent years. It has been challenged by the emergence of commercial television sworn to the market logic, as well as by satellite services and the Internet. EU law and policy has, under pressure from powerful global forces, abetted that decline. The question thus arises: Do cultural values still matter in European national broadcasting?

This important book examines the challenges posed to public service obligations by European Union media law and policy. An in-depth analysis of the extent to which six countries (France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom) regulate broadcasting for the public interest reveals a range of vulnerability to national political pressures or, alternatively, to the ideology of market sovereignty. The author examines the country of origin principle and the European quota rule of the Television without Frontiers Directive, revealing the influence of European law on the definition and enforcement of programme requirements, and shows how the case law of the European Court of Justice encourages deregulation at the national level without offering adequate safeguards at the supranational level in exchange. She asks the question whether the alleged ‘European audiovisual model’ actually persists—that is, whether broadcasting is still committed to protecting such values as cultural diversity, the safety of minors, the susceptibility of consumers to advertising, media pluralism, and the fight against racial and religious hatred. The book concludes with an evaluation of the impact of the EU state aid regime on the licence fee based financing of public broadcasting.

Despite the increasing importance of the subject, its study in a comparative context has been heretofore underdeveloped. This book fully provides that context and more, and will be of great value and interest to all parties concerned with the key role of communications in the development of European integration.

Autoren/Hrsg.

Katsirea, Irini

Fachgebiete

• Rechtswissenschaften Recht, Rechtswissenschaft Allgemein Rechtsvergleichung
• Rechtswissenschaften Wirtschaftsrecht Medienrecht Film-, Fernseh- und Rundfunkrecht
• Rechtswissenschaften Internationales Recht und Europarecht Europarecht Europäischer Gewerblicher Rechtsschutz, Medien-, IT- und Urheberrecht
• Rechtswissenschaften Ausländisches Recht Common Law (UK, USA, Australien u.a.)
• Rechtswissenschaften Ausländisches Recht Westeuropa, Südeuropa

Inhaltsverzeichnis

General Introduction. Part One: Public Broadcasting Standards in Six Legal Systems. 1. Introduction. 2. France. 3 . Germany. 4. Greece. 5. Italy. 6. The Netherlands. 7. United Kingdom. 8. Conclusion. Part Two: Public Broadcasting Standards and European Union Law. 1. Introduction. 2. The Competence of the European Union in the Area of Culture under Article 151 EC. 3. Television without Frontiers: The Country of Origin Principle. 4. Free Movement of Television Broadcasts and National Broadcasting Standards. 5. Television without Frontiers: The European Broadcasting Quota. 6. Conclusion. Part Three: Financing of Public Broadcasting and European Union State Aid Law. General Conclusion.