Television broadcasting activities. 'Television without frontiers'

The ESC welcomed the Commission’s concern to submit a draft Directive aimed at harmonising and coordinating certain legal and administrative provisions in the Member States relating to the pursuit of television broadcasting activities. It wondered, however, whether the new quota measures were appropriate. It would like to see a more flexible and progressive system dovetailing with the gradual impact of the Media II programme. It therefore proposed that the Directive leave it up to the broadcasting organisations to choose between meeting either broadcasting or investment quotas, irrespective of whether they were a general or special interest channel. The ESC also proposed that these quotas - of whichever type - be progressive and that intermediary stages be fixed after which the effectiveness of the measures would be assessed before moving on to the next stage. For instance, the objective would have to be met after two or three two-year stages. The ESC stressed that the proposed measures should help to upgrade the quality of European audiovisual production. Having stressed the need to take account of economic and cultural realities and to introduce a progressive system for achieving the targets for the proportion of European works, the ESC wondered whether consideration might not be given to financial assistance measures through a fund, possibly as part of the European Investment Fund. It also emphasised the importance of preparing a stable and clear regulatory framework in preparation for the Information Society. This comment applied equally to regulation of media concentration. In this connection, the ESC was awaiting the forthcoming Green Papers on new services and reserved the right to take up the matter again then.