Convergence is Here!!

Michael Hedges - October 31, 2005

EC media commissioner Viviane Reding spells out a delicate vision for moving forward, and every other direction.

In a wide ranging speech at the 4th Bienne (Switzerland) Comdays, Mrs Reding announced that the draft revision of the Television Without Frontiers Directive had been “tabled.” The new draft is called “Audiovisual Content Without Frontiers.” By the time internal EC consultation, another round of public consultation, debate in the European Parliament and a vote takes place, perhaps by 2007, the title will likely change.

“It’s the content that counts,” said Mrs Reding, in a notable bow to the fatigue felt in Brussels, and elsewhere, from the onslaught of technologies and the difficulty of national regulators to get a grip. One regulatory framework, the new Directive, will cover traditional television and on-line services. Left out are newspapers and radio.

Newspaper publishers lobbied hard to remain outside any broadly European regulation and, with considerable political power – even with shrinking circulations – inclusion was never seriously considered. Radio also lobbied for exclusion, though less vigorously, based on local content arguments.  But both newspapers publishers and radio broadcasters will, however, face inclusion as their services migrate to on-line.

On-line providers also lobbied for exclusion, in vain, as Members of the European Parliament (MEPs), who will take that final vote, are clear on their intention to bring the internet under some sort of control. “Technology is not waiting,” said Mrs Reding. At the same time, she said “governments must not interfer with the internet.”

All of this process is wrapped into the new EC plan called i2010. The audiovisual sector is “a crucial sector of economics,” said Mrs Reding. The sector accounts for 5% of Europe’s GDP, 20% of growth and 40% of productivity. i2010 intends to replace the ill-fated Lisbon Agenda, which focused on cross-border cooperation among Member States. The Lisbon Agenda proposed by EC president José Manuel Barroso attempted to instruct Member States on competitiveness for “growth and jobs.” 

The new agenda now focuses on a “rollback of unneeded regulation,” freeing of advertising restrictions and, as usual, promotion of European content. Mrs Reding has long championed a regulatory “light touch” with market liberal tendencies. Individual Member States, she added, will be encouraged to adopt “mini-Lisbon” rules, a politically expedient position as Member States are wary of broadly European benchmarks.

Lifting ad restrictions, seen as crucial for the sectors financial strength, means an EC position favoring product placement. Mrs Reding repeated concerns about protection of minors with regard to both advertising and audiovisual content.

i2010 will also tackle radio spectrum management, which Mrs Reding said needs “coordination.” Careful to avoid threatening entrepreneurial media, she added that “harmonization and flexibility are not mutually exclusive.” Spectrum management is broad terminology for migrating all services from analogue to digital.

Mrs. Reding saved her blast at the United States for last, always a crowd pleaser. Last weeks UNESCO statement on cultural diversity, opposed by the United States, was, she said, “not only useful thinking but reality.”

She described US concerns about changing the governing system for internet addresses as “the difference between the US and the rest of the world.” Pointing at the current US administration she said there had been “no problem in earlier days.” The US government “answered unilaterally and without warning.”  Valid arguments exist on both sides.

There is no question that the European Commission sees Europe as locked in a battle with the US, and perhaps the rest of the world now that India and China are emerging content providers, over the broad direction of the audiovisual sector. The remaining question is how Europe can maintain, or even improve, the productivity of its media sector while maintaining deeply felt notions of protectionism. “Convergence is an opportunity,” said Mrs. Reding.

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