Broadcasting in the European Union:The Role of Public Interest in Competition Analysis


Book Description

Broadcasting in the European Union: The Role of Public Interest in Competition Analysis explores whether and to what extent EC Competition law promotes media pluralism and how broadcasting's public service and commercial interests can be reconciled in Europe, where public and economic competition have traditionally been defined as distinct concepts. It employs a multi-disciplinary approach to identify how the term 'public interest' is used by different actors. Publicists, it is believed, compete on words, not on products or prices. Against the background of increased commercialisation, this book takes a different point of view. It identifies how EC law and the case law of the European Courts balance public interest considerations with economic competition on media markets. It also contrasts various policy options and examines issues from EC merger control to the marketing of sports rights. This book offers the first comprehensive application of competition analysis to European broadcasting.




Broadcasting in the European Union:The Role of Public Interest in Competition Analysis


Book Description

Broadcasting in the European Union: The Role of Public Interest in Competition Analysis explores whether and to what extent EC Competition law promotes media pluralism and how broadcasting's public service and commercial interests can be reconciled in Europe, where public and economic competition have traditionally been defined as distinct concepts. It employs a multi-disciplinary approach to identify how the term 'public interest' is used by different actors. Publicists, it is believed, compete on words, not on products or prices. Against the background of increased commercialisation, this book takes a different point of view. It identifies how EC law and the case law of the European Courts balance public interest considerations with economic competition on media markets. It also contrasts various policy options and examines issues from EC merger control to the marketing of sports rights. This book offers the first comprehensive application of competition analysis to European broadcasting.




Communications in EU Law : Antitrust Market Power and Public Interest


Book Description

Approaching the theme from an antitrust perspective and focusing on telecommunications and television broadcasting, this volume examines how traditional European competition law doctrines and principles can be applied to this converging sector. The application of antitrust rules to the communications sector is often one of the most controversial areas of law and policy. The shift towards a more competition law oriented form of regulation is one of the main principles inspiring the recent reform of European sectorial regulation enshrined in the 2002 Electronic Communication Package. The Package was adopted in 2002 and is in the process of being implemented throughout the Union. This monograph provides a detailed description of the new regulatory package and highlights the interplay between regulatory provisions and EC competition law. It then follows the pattern of a typical antitrust analysis containing chapters on the definition of relevant market in the sector and various forms of abuses of market power. The book also critically examines the Commission's practice and policy in the field of merger control and considers its relationship with wider regulatory policies. Finally it analyses the sector from the perspective of the 'European' public interest and the changed nature of communications as a public service.




Public Broadcasting and European Law


Book Description

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.




The European Union and the Culture Industries


Book Description

This edited collection brings together leading academics in their respective fields to examine the European Union's impact on media and public policy. It provides an analysis of the broader areas of EU policy and links these together to give a greater appreciation of the nuances and scope of EU regulatory initiatives and their impact on the member states. Under a broad public interest perspective, the authors provide an assessment of the success of EU policy in protecting the public interest in the culture industries and respecting certain normative principles and balancing these with market dynamics.




Services of General Economic Interest in EU Competition Law


Book Description

This book provides a comprehensive examination of the interaction between Services of General Economic Interest (SGEI) and EU competition law, covering in particular Article 106 of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union (TFEU) and state aid rules. It also takes the telecommunications, postal service and transport sectors as case studies, taking into account the technological, economic and political backgrounds to these sectors. The area of SGEI has undergone fundamental developments over the past three decades and the most recent changes in the Lisbon Treaty, recognizing SGEI as a shared value and granting explicit competence to the EU, mark its constitutional significance. The key issue is how to balance economic values underlying competitive markets and non-economic public service values such as universal access to essential services. The essence of the question is the relationship between the market and the state. This controversial issue is addressed through a critical analysis of a number of landmark EU Court judgments and Commission decisions over the decades. Offering a clear appreciation of the evolution of the EU regulatory framework on SGEI that lays out the limits and boundaries within which the Member States define, organize and fund SGEI, the book is particularly aimed at academics with a research interest in the interaction between public services and EU competition law, but as it also demonstrates clearly how the application of EU competition law has transformed the public utilities sectors, it will be of interest to law makers, legal professionals and policy makers as well. Dr. Lei Zhu is a Research Associate at the Institute of International Law at Wuhan University in Wuhan, China. He studied at the Institute for Competition & Procurement Studies of the Bangor University Law School in Wales, United Kingdom, where he obtained his PhD in law in 2015.




Convergence in European Digital TV Regulation


Book Description

Analyzing the role of governments in the regulation of the new "Information Society", the ten chapters in this book stem from a seminar hosted by the European Media Regulation Seminar Group (ESRG) at the University of Warwick. Each chapter explores the regulatory responses of the UK govermentand the EU to commercial, technical and market convergence in the broadcasting, telecommunications, print media and computing sectors. The text focuses on the establishment of satellite pay-TV, telecommunications and the launch of digital terrestrial TV as they blend real andcyber-governance.




The Role of Media Pluralism in the Enforcement of EU Competition Law


Book Description

EU Competition Law is generally believed to play a negligible role in protecting media pluralism. Three arguments are usually put forward to support this position. First, the application of EU competition law ensures market access, thereby potentially delivering an outcome that is of benefit to media pluralism, but this outcome is entirely dependent on the economic concerns the European Commission attempts to address in each individual case and hence (at best) coincidental. Second, precisely because it is driven by efficiency considerations, EU competition law is incapable of grasping the qualitative dimension of media pluralism. Third, when exercising State aid control, the Commission can (and must) play only a marginal role in the planning and implementation of aid measures aimed at promoting media pluralism. This thesis puts forward the claim that EU competition law has potential that remains unexplored by questioning the accuracy of the above three assumptions. To test this claim, it examines a number of traditional and new media markets (broadcasting, print and digital publishing, online search, and news aggregation) and competition law issues (concentrations, resale price maintenance agreements, online agencies, abuses of dominance, and State aids to public service media). The study demonstrates that if relevant assessments are conducted properly, that is, by duly taking account of the dimensions that drive competition in the media, including quality, variety and originality, and by making appropriate use of the tools provided by the applicable legal framework, EU competition law may go a long way towards safeguarding media pluralism without the need to stretch the limits of the Treaty on the Functioning of the European Union. Amidst a deregulatory trend towards the media and given that the likelihood that action with far-reaching implications under other branches of EU law is low, the normative suggestions put forward in this thesis possibly form the only realistic proposal on the contribution the EU can make to the protection of pluralism.




Television and the Public Interest


Book Description

Explores the achievements of European broadcasting and attempts to assess the potential for maintaining its public function in changing circumstances. It also surveys the different values which European media systems have sought to protect.




The European Union and the Regulation of Media Markets


Book Description

This book investigates the processes by which European Union institutions have sought to regulate national media markets, both through European level initiatives and influences upon national policy-making. This provides an excellent case study for observing new modes of EU governance. Because of this sector's political and cultural significance at national levels, there have been limits to the amount of European legislation that has been deemed to be acceptable, and limits have been encountered by the European institutions in question. The book argues that the institutions have therefore found other ways of governing media markets -- the initiation of European level fora, the decentralization of decision-making bodies, presenting best practices solutions to domestic policy problems, and the Europeanization of national policies through direct action. This book provides the first in-depth empirical analysis of new modes of EU governance with a specific industry case study, and also shows how the European institutions have between them engineered processes of policy convergence at national levels.