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Review of Public Service Broadcasting Hong Kong 20 – 22 June 2006. Public Service Remit A new way to define its scope. Prof. Dr Albrecht Hesse Legal Director, ARD/BR. Discussion about the duties and activities of public service broadcasting - New impetus.
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Review of Public Service BroadcastingHong Kong 20 – 22 June 2006 Public Service Remit A new way to define its scope Prof. Dr Albrecht HesseLegal Director, ARD/BR
Discussion about the duties and activities ofpublic service broadcasting-New impetus • Europe: subsidy issues, Amsterdam Protocol, Member States must define the remit so that the funding requirements for PSBs can be checked • Protection of the licence-fee payer • Private broadcasters calling for limitations on PSBs • ARD and ZDF accused of trivial programming and convergence with commercial programming
but... • Difficult to define in legal terms the exact scope and content of schedules • No account taken of the need for constant schedule development in a competitive environment • Scheduling autonomy: broadcaster makes own decision about the content of schedules • Constitutional law protects both the existence and the development of public service broadcasting and scheduling autonomy
Solution: • Self-imposed commitment similar to the BBC Promises • Broadcaster knows best what content it should show • §11 RfStV came into force on 1 April 2004 • Example of regulated self-regulation
Three-tier model • RfStV: states that ARD/ZDF must make a self-imposed commitment, but leaves them to decide on the content and the selection procedure • Guidelines: contain abstract programming principles which are valid for more than two years and regulate selection procedure • Self-imposed commitment contains concrete programming goals for the next two years, after which a report is made on that period
Selection procedure • Collection of information on programme planning for the next two years • Intensive discussions with internal supervisory bodies to gain the greatest possible legitimacy
Commitment to the general public, not to political or governmental institutions Objectives: • To make the public service profile clear: e.g. 40% information programming (increasing to 50% in prime time), expenditure on high-quality TV films, but also sport and entertainment • Promoting acceptance of public service broadcasting
Outlook • Success remains to be seen, particularly regarding stabilization of public service broadcasting • Link with structural reform and an increase in the licence fee. __________