Keywords :
broadcasting; television; television without frontiers; transfrontier television; Council of Europe; public service; advertising; licence fee; pay-TV; radiodiffusion; télévision; radio; télévision transfrontière; Conseil de l'Europe; service public; redevance; publicité; télévision à péage; Directive Télévision sans frontières; CEE; Europe; EEC
Abstract :
[en] In Europe, broadcasting developed essentially within a national framework. For various technical reasons (the fact that there are not many frequencies and that the transmitters have a limited range), economic reasons (a concern to protect domestic electronic industries) and political reasons (the concern of the politicians to keep the communication networks under their control), the organization of broadcasting was conceived as serving the interests of the various countries. A European approach, of the kind practiced by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) since 1954, was initially the brainchild of the broadcasters themselves, and not of the national governments. The growth of broadcasting in response to national needs was reinforced by the diversity of the languages spoken in Europe, and this was probably the most decisive factor in the breaking up of audio-visual space in Europe. To think of broadcasting in the context of European interdependence therefore requires us to recognize that the nationalist outlook which has hitherto held sway in most of the states of Europe must be left behind. Broadcasting is already to some extent cross-frontier in the areas near national boundaries where it is possible to receive programs from neighboring countries by ordinary direct transmission. In small countries, such as Belgium, the Netherlands and Switzerland, the development of cable networks, which was essentially fueled by the interest which viewers displayed in programs from neighboring countries, has done a great deal to make broadcasting international. On some networks in French-speaking Belgium it is now possible to receive, in addition to the two RTBF channels, the two BRT channels, RTL, two NOS channels, the three German public-service channels, the three French public-service channels, BBC1, RAI 1, and three channels set up to broadcast throughout Europe, TV5, Sky Channel and Super Channel. But this, the Promised Land of European television, remains very limited: in the major European countries, most viewers can still choose only from programs intended for national consumption.
