Media Study - Medija centar Beograd

a draft law 14 . In order to qualify as public service, these services must be based on journalistic-editorial needs and
be edited in a journalistic manner. 15
The mission statements for public broadcasters as they appear under the law are slightly more detailed in Serbia
than they are in other countries. However, in a country like Germany, the public broadcasters are required to
report biannually to the broadcasting council on the implementation of the program guidelines.
From these three countries, inspiration can be gained for new media practices in Serbia such as that the
broadcasters should publish the general principles of their programming and profiles at least annually in advance in
order to make clear how they intend to meet the public service obligations and how this is reflected in the
broadcast programme. In addition, this broadcast programme could be presented to an Advisory Programme Board
as is the procedure in Germany. A German Programme Board can request changes and amendments without
infringing upon editorial freedom. The draft broadcast programme along with the amendments requested by the
Programming Board, should then be approved by the Broadcasting Council, which will determine whether the
revised draft meets the public service obligation. If public financing is linked to public service obligations, this
procedure may serve as a basis for establishing the required budget of the broadcaster. In Denmark the public
broadcasters, Denmark’s Radio and TV2 Denmark, are required to deliver an annual account of their public service
broadcasting to document that they have fulfilled the public service obligations in their programmes.
Collection of license fees
Currently, public financing of public broadcasting is based on user contribution 16 , internationally often called
license fees (in Serbia radio-television subscription according to the Broadcasting Law, Article 81), which is due
14 http://www.parlament.gv.at/PG/DE/XXIV/ME/ME_00115/imfname_171534.pdf .
15 They are further subject to a three criteria test which aims at justifying the budgeting of users’ contributions (license fees) for these programs.
Promoting media literacy within the meaning of the AVMS – Directive is also a policy goal for public broadcasters in many EU Member States.
16 The question whether contributions user license fees are indeed a means of state subsidy is still not clarified: Subsidy is any advantage which
the state grants license fees to an entrepreneurial entity. The EU Commission holds that user fees are a state subsidy as the state mandates the
collection by law (and in the case of Germany, the fees are collected by an entity with the status of a public authority, the GEZ). By contrast, the
European Court of Justice (ECJ) has ruled in 2001 (Preussen Elektra case), that a state subsidy entails state control over those means, i.e. if the
means flow directly from a state budget or are granted by state institutions. Thus, there is no clear answer whether license fees are state
subsidies. However, the question of such fees has not yet been explicitly addressed by the ECJ.
In 2005, the EU Commission dealt with a complaint by an association of private broadcasters concerning the license fees in Germany (alleged
lack of transparency in distribution, online offers of public broadcasters, selling of sports events). The Commission requested a clear definition of
the concept of ‘Comprehensive Coverage’, separate accounting for commercial and public mission programming, and other measures to prevent
cross subsidizing. Although the question whether license fees constitute a subsidy remain discussion to date The specific complaint was settled,
as Germany made major concessions:
The extent to which additional digital channels and online offers serve public the interest must be specified;
In relation to online offers, there will be a 3-step test for new or modified services similar to the BBC’s public value test, although less
economically oriented:
o Is the offer part of the public service
o To which extent will the service contribute to the quality of publicist competition
o Which financial burden does the service involve.
The broadcaster launches a public hearing and decides on the basis of the comments and of independent expertise whether the threecriteria
test is met.
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