The European Commission - Representation in Italy

EUROPEAN IDENTITY AND DIVERSITY
EU integration in the cross-media Public Service perspective

An initiative of Infocivica – the Turin Workgroup for the European Conference on

PUBLIC SERVICE MEDIA IN THE SOCIETY OF
INFORMATION AND KNOWLEDGE

GREEN PAPER: PREPARATORY WORK REPORTS

4. 4. Governance and new rules of the game for public services in the society of information and knowledge

The objective of this, the fourth, report will be to delineate the guidelines for a European approach to the reform of public service media, which can ensure their balanced integration with new players and organisations deriving from technological convergence, as well as their orderly transition to networks of the new generation, while adopting rules that do not discriminate against new entrants, ensuring the excellence and quality of the services provided, corresponding to new areas of experimental investigation and forms or experiences of citizenship that are in line with the objectives outlined in their mandates.

The report of this group will contain the guidelines for a Magna Charta of the new European public service of communication entrusted with a clear and precise mission that will be able to eliminate any ambiguity within the Protocol on public services annexed to the Treaty of Amsterdam.

Based on the findings of the reports of the three previous groups regarding the mission, nature and role of public service media in the society of information and knowledge, the rearticulation of the offer, the criteria for disbursement of contributions and for the organization of firms, this Magna Charta should help to clarify what forms of state aid are legitimate for funding the activities of public service media in the society of information.

Possible study areas of Group No. 4

• Analysis of the laws for reforming public service media in the transition to digital and during the shift from the linear radio/television broadcast offer to the new hybrid linear offer and the offer on demand supplied by broadband and ultra highspeed broadband networks.
• Analysis of national antitrust laws in the new chain of on-line value.
• Analysis of national policies to encourage the development of Open IPTV platforms.
• Acceptance and compliance of the European Directives in the legislation of the Member Countries.

ACCESS TO RESERVED AREA OF REPORT N. 4