Media Study - Medija centar Beograd

more effective control of overcompensation and supervision of the public service mission on the
national level;
increased financial flexibility for public service broadcasters.
The Communication is designed to ensure high quality public broadcasting services on a variety of
platforms, ranging from the internet to screens in public places. Moreover, European citizens and
stakeholders will be able to give their views in public consultations before any new services are put on
the market by public service broadcasters. The new Communication seeks to ensure a more
accountable, transparent and proportionate use of public funding in this sector.
The Commission adopted a number of decisions in relation to cases in Germany, Denmark and
Austria.
In 2005, the EU Commission had to deal with a complaint of a German association of private
broadcasters regarding the contribution in Germany. Issues at stake were an alleged lack of
transparency in distribution, online offers of public broadcasters and the selling of sports events. In
2007, the case was settled, although Germany retained the position that funding public broadcasters
from a contribution paid by the audience did not constitute state aid. The Commission requested a
clear definition of the mission of ‘Comprehensive Coverage’, separate accounting for commercial and
public mission programming, and other measures to prevent cross subsidizing. Although the question
whether the license fee was a subsidy remained under discussion to date, the matter was settled, as
Germany made major commitments:
The extent to which additional digital channels and online offers serve public interest must be
specified; online offers must be limited to ‘journalistic editorial offers’, which must be specified
on a regular basis (e-commerce, sponsoring, advertising as well as a comprehensive local
coverage are unlikely to be part of the public on – line mission);
In relation to online offers, there will be a 3-step test for new or modified services which is similar
to the BBC’s public value test, although less economically oriented;
o Is the offer part of the public mission
o To which extent will the service contribute to the quality of publicist competition
(Germany has subsequently foreseen the possibility of independent expert assistance to
the broadcasting regulator in relation to this point);
o Which financial burden does the service involve
The broadcaster launches a public hearing and decides on the basis of the comments and of an
independent expertise whether the three criteria test is met.
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