Media Study - Medija centar Beograd

The regulator decides whether the program is compatible with the public mission.
Subsequently, in 2008 there have been indications from the European Court of First Instance (CFI) that
in principle, license fees are to be considered as state aid, but that they would not be subject to the
EU-wide state aid regime (national laws would apply).
On 31 January 2008 the Commission informed Austria of its preliminary concerns that the financing of
ORF by means of programme fees was incompatible with EC Treaty state aid rules. The Commission's
main concerns were the unclear definition of the public service remit, in particular for online activities
and sports programmes, and the lack of adequate supervision for the public service mandate.
Furthermore, no adequate mechanisms were in place to prevent overcompensation (and so potential
cross-subsidies of activities outside ORF's public service remit) and to ensure that ORF carried out its
commercial activities in line with market principles. Thus, Austria is requested to clarify the public
service remit will be clarified by additional criteria for new media activities. Austria will create a new
media authority charged with supervising the remit of ORF. ORF will have to submit proposals for new
media services to this independent media authority, which will have to launch a public consultation to
test the added value of the proposals for Austrian society and their market impact, giving citizens and
stakeholders the opportunity to comment on ORF's plans for new media offers. Further, the financing
of ORF will be limited to what is strictly necessary for the fulfillment of its public service tasks,
including an effective ex post control of possible overcompensation. ORF's commercial activities will
be clearly separated from the provision of public service activities. The newly created media authority
will not only supervise ORF's compliance with the public service mandate but also ensure that ORF is
not unduly overcompensated for the cost of providing its public service activities. ORF will be obliged
to sublicense unused sport rights to third parties and the programming of ORF Sport Plus will in future
focus on minority sports of interest to Austrians. ORF's planned new special interest channels for
information and culture will be subject to prior public consultation on their added value and their
potential market impact. The programming of the existing TV channels ORF1 and ORF2 will be subject
to an ongoing internal quality control procedure and complaints can be lodged with the new media
authority. ORF may launch new online services before all appropriate measures are formally
implemented, subject to the condition that such offers are not commercially exploited before the new
media authority has tested their public value and market impact. This solution will in particular apply
to the planned new "ORF TV-THEK" which will offer downloads for ORF's own TV and radio
productions.
In Denmark, the scope of the public service mission was widely defined as services of general
economic interest. The European Commission did not agree with the definition, as it encompassed
also advertising financed content.
Although there is precedent in the form of decision of the EU Commission, there is a number of ‘open
issues’, namely whether contributions/subscription fees are state aid (or only contributions directly
from the state budget), and how broadly public missions can be defined.
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