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Week ending December 6, 2008

ACT - JOINT CALL FROM EUROPEAN COMMERCIAL BROADCASTERS & PUBLISHERS FOR FAIR PLAY IN THE MEDIA MARKET – December 3 2008
from Utta Tuttlies/ACT

Commercial broadcasters and publishers from across Europe have joined forces in advance of tomorrow’s crucial meeting on the future of broadcasting between the European Commission and Member States to warn against any further dilution of European rules for state aid to public broadcasters. The European Commission presented its Communication on the 2001 Broadcasting Communication on 4 November 2008 and opened a public consultation asking for industry input until 15 January 2009. On Friday (5 December 2008) the Commission’s services of the Directorate General Competition will meet with Member States to discuss the text, due for adoption next year. The text will form the basis for application of state aid rules throughout Europe.

The Communication is of key importance for the commercial broadcasting and print industries, as it will set a legal framework for the use of state aid in the digital media world, at a time when discussions about the appropriate scale of state intervention in media markets are taking place in most EU Member States.

It is against this background that the Association of Commercial Television in Europe (ACT) and the European Publishers’ Council (EPC), have decided to join forces on this crucial issue. The ACT represents the interests of the commercial TV sector throughout Europe and the EPC is a group of European media corporations actively involved in multimedia markets spanning newspaper, magazine and online database publishers as well as in many cases commercial TV and radio.

Ross Biggam, Director General of the ACT, commented: “The Communication is far from perfect, but it contains some helpful elements such as the provisions for an effective ex-ante scrutiny for new ventures involving public money. This already exists in the UK and will shortly be introduced in Germany. However, all European media businesses need safeguards against unfair competition: a Dutch newspaper group or a Slovak broadcaster must have the same rights as UK and German players. The Commission’s text has already been watered down and we call on the Commission to resist further pressure from Member States seeking to protect their state-aid to broadcasters”.

ACT and EPC call upon the Commission and the Member States to ensure fair play and competition in the future online market place, and to guarantee that:

_ There is a clear definition of the public service remit in the digital world, which is currently too vague and unquantifiable.

_ There must be an independent ex-ante control for planned activities of public broadcasters in the online environment. A minimal set of conditions must be established and control must be entrusted to a truly independent regulator with effective control powers. Compatibility with competition law must always prevail.

_ Transparency and separate accounting must be guaranteed in order to minimize the risk of cross-subsidization and leveraging of market power by public broadcasters.

_ Market distortions caused by dual financing must be prevented. A proper system must be established by Member States, in order to ensure a level playing field, where all broadcasters are equally treated and enjoy the same opportunities, namely when competing for the same broadcasting rights.

Angela Mills Wade, Executive Director of the EPC, said: “Traditionally the competition issues surrounding publicly funded broadcasters have only focused on their broadcasting activities. Now the same old problems of distortions of competition arising from very generous state funding; lack of clear remits about what is public service on the internet and inadequate regulation threaten the viability of the press online. Unless clear rules are established, through risk-free funding, state-aided technology and marketing power, PSBs will quickly dominate the online market as they do in TV. Such unparalleled resources, combined with privileged access to un-regulated cross-promotional opportunities and cross-subsidized access to content production and assets, will, if unchecked by clear rules at EU level, combine to create unfair competition on a vast scale with the commercial media sector”.

EBU regrets IOC decision on rights for Olympic Games 2014 & 2016 - December 2 2008
from Michelle Roverelli/EBU

The IOC has rejected the European Broadcasting Union’s (EBU) bid for the European broadcast rights for the Olympics Games 2014-2016.

“We very much regret the decision of the IOC. We have worked with the IOC since 1956 to deliver the Olympic Games to the broadest possible audience, and ensured maximum exposure of the Olympic Games, and also Olympic Sports between the Games”, said EBU President Fritz Pleitgen (ARD, Germany). “We note that there are different views about the future monetary broadcast value of the Games. EBU Members were surprised by the high financial expectations of the IOC. We regret that, it seems, little account is taken of the additional high level of investment by the EBU in rights for, and the production and quality editorial coverage of, World-, European- and National Championships, across many Olympic Sports.”

EBU President-elect, Jean-Paul Philippot (RTBF, Belgium), added : “The worldwide financial crisis will not stop at the doorstep of free-to air television; it will also have an impact on the value of broadcast rights for sports events. The EBU’s offer reflected the maximum price public service broadcasters could pay for the rights, our philosophy of investing in Olympic sports throughout the Olympiad (the four years between the summer Games), and the value of offering Olympic sports free of charge to all citizens”.

“We are sorry that we did not manage to convince the IOC of the importance of our global support of Olympic sport. We will now carefully analyse the consequences of the IOC decision on our sports-rights acquisition policy”, concluded Mr Philippot.