THE DIGITAL AGE OF TELEVISION

How is the Digital Age of Television and the Internet effecting Public Service Broadcasters, and what are these Broadcaster doing to survive?

Table of Contents

1. Introduction3

1.2. Administrative Infighting induced by technology convergence12

1.3. Modeling a heavy-handed but Ineffective policymaking process18

1.3. The oligopoly of CCTV encouraged by SARFT22

2. The study24

3. Media and digital policy in Flanders26

4. eVRT: a new remit for public broadcasting?35

5. Conclusion42

References45

How is the Digital Age of Television and the Internet effecting Public Service Broadcasters, and what are these Broadcaster doing to survive?

1. Introduction

Every debate on audiovisual policy in recent years, is being dominated by the idea of convergence or rather convergences: technological convergence, market convergence, regulatory convergence,… Convergence is a ship sailing under many colours. One of the most visible aspects of the multiinterpretable notion of convergence is digital television (DTV), a technological evolution which adds new features to the ageing medium of television. Different forms of communication (images, sounds, texts) will be integrated into a single, bandwidth-economical medium, thus creating new opportunities in terms of television use (e.g. interactive features), television production and television distribution. According to some (Negroponte, 1995; Castells, 1996; Chalaby and Segell, 1999; Hughes, 2000) digitalisation will change the nature of television, of mass communication or even of society itself. Others ( Ellis, 2000; Søndergaard, 2000; Wedell and Luckham, 2001; Briggs and Burke, 2002) see digitalisation as an evolution rather than a revolution and rightfully point to the hype surrounding the idea and applications of digitalisation. Only time will tell which side will have been closest to the truth, but whatever its consequences, DTV is already a fact in most European countries, despite the many uncertainties raised by the digital (r)evolution:

• The regulatory framework--whether at the national or at the European level--is still not fully adapted to DTV as many questions remain the object of debate and are thus as yet unanswered. Striking a balance between soft-touch telecommunication policies and traditionally much stricter broadcasting policies has proven to be quite a challenge. And attempts to set a common standard have been unsuccesful: a modest DTV-market as the Swedish one alone knows four different DTV-standards and Europe is not even trying to establish a common standard.

• The financial burden of introducing DTV is starting to weigh heavily on already struggling private companies, as the recent ITV Digital debacle has shown. Economic setbacks have put quite a damper on some companies' digital ambitions. And the boom of digital channels is increasingly turning content and talent into a scarce, and thus expensive, good.

• Reports on the users' response to DTV are rare. In Britain, DTV seems to be catching on but whether the proposed switch-off dates for analogue television will be met is doubtful. Innovators and early adopters might be eager to get the latest technologies into their home, but it is still not clear if and when the majority will follow.

These doubts notwithstanding, European public broadcasters have booked themselves front row seats as they are among the first to offer DTV to ...