Television broadcasting activities. 'Television without frontiers'

This Communication is drawn up pursuant to Article 4(3) of Council Directive 89/552/EEC, as amended (Television without Frontiers Directive). The Commission reports, for the eighth time since the adoption of the Directive, on the application of Articles 4 and 5, now for the period 2005-2006. The report is based on the Member States’ statistical statements on the achievement of the proportions referred to in these Articles by each of the television programmes falling within their jurisdiction and it presents the Commission’s opinion on the application of these provisions, including the main conclusions to be drawn from the Member States’ reports.

For the first time, the statistical statements of the ten Member States that joined the EU on 1 May 2004 are presented and assessed for the entire reference period of the report (2005-2006). Furthermore, it should be noted that Articles 4 and 5 (in particular the former) are being successfully applied in a changing audiovisual environment: for the first time, channels broadcasting in Digital Video Broadcasting-Handheld (DVB-H) are listed in a Member State’s report.

The Commission looks at Articles 4 and 5 in the context of the European audiovisual landscape and examines their application in Member States. According to the statistical statements provided by the Member States, the scheduling of European works at Community level increased over the current reference period, following a decline during the last reference period. The trend over four years has been relatively stable, while over six years (2001-2006) there has been a slight decrease. Overall, however, the proportion of European works broadcast on EU screens has stabilised at a relatively high level of above 63%. However, there are four factors that hinder a fully consistent evaluation. First, starting from the last report, figures now include the statistical statements of the ten Member States that joined the EU in 2004. Second, the method of calculation has been altered, in as much as figures for channels with an audience share of less than 3% have been included in the averages since the last report. Third, the growing fragmentation of the sector produces economic pressure and a need for cheap and easily accessible content, thereby creating a more difficult environment for investment in and scheduling of European works. Lastly, the number of channels for which no data were communicated has fallen.

This notwithstanding, the stabilising trend in terms of the scheduling of European works is undeniable and is further confirmed by the positive trend in the average compliance rate of the channels covered. This rose by more than 4% during the reference period, and also developed positively over the four-year term (2003-2006). In conclusion, the overall situation is satisfactory for the transmission of European works on EU television channels, although there is still scope for progress in certain Member States. The scheduling of European works at European level has stabilised well above 60%, and a proportion above 65% or more is sustainable in future. This positive assessment applies equally to the 10 new Member States which actually performed better than the ‘old’ Member States in the reference period - showing that their initial efforts to comply with Article 4 have been successful.

With respect to the implementation of Article 5 of the Directive, a positive trend can also be observed: after a considerable decline of -6.25% during the period 2001-2004, the 2006 rate stabilised at a level comparable with that recorded in 2001 (37.59% compared with 37.75%). This means that the average proportion increased quite substantially by 6.2% over four years, despite the impact of the factors described above. It is remarkable that the vast majority of the Member States were able to stabilise their performance as regards independent productions at a level well above 25% of total qualifying transmission time.

The situation concerning recent works by independent producers is also very satisfactory: despite a slight decrease over the reference period and over four years, the figures improved over six years. During the reference period, more than 25% of total qualifying transmission time was devoted to recent works.

These results, based on a detailed analysis of the Member States’ national reports, demonstrate that the objectives of Articles 4 and 5 of the Directive have been met comfortably over the current reference period at both Community and Member State levels.