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WestminsterResearch http://www.westminster.ac.uk/westminsterresearch The politics of DTT policy-making in Bulgaria: the significance of path dependencies and institutional characteristics Rashid, I. This is an electronic version of a PhD thesis awarded by the University of Westminster. © Miss Imir Rashid, 2015. The WestminsterResearch online digital archive at the University of Westminster aims to make the research output of the University available to a wider audience. Copyright and Moral Rights remain with the authors and/or copyright owners. Whilst further distribution of specific materials from within this archive is forbidden, you may freely distribute the URL of WestminsterResearch: ((http://westminsterresearch.wmin.ac.uk/). In case of abuse or copyright appearing without permission e-mail [email protected] THE POLITICS OF DTT POLICY-MAKING IN BULGARIA: THE SIGNIFICANCE OF PATH DEPENDENCIES AND INSTITUTIONAL CHARACTERISTICS IMIR RASHID A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements of the University of Westminster for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy September 2015 ABSTRACT This thesis examines the politics of the policy process concerning the introduction of digital terrestrial television (DTT) in Bulgaria. Bulgaria is an Eastern European post- communist country and a member of the European Union (EU) since 2007. The policy of digitalisation of terrestrial broadcasting is studied from a domestic perspective that focuses on the relevance of the national institutional structures and their response to internal and external (notably EU) influences. The thesis relies primarily on the ‘new institutionalist’ theoretical approach to examine how historical path dependencies and state capacities have enabled or disabled certain types of behaviour by public and private actors which have in turn shaped the policy process. In this respect, the role of the EU is seen as refracted through the prism of domestic arrangements, capacities and interests. The thesis demonstrates that the weak institutional capacities of the Bulgarian state, political patronage, clientelism and cronyism, failed to ensure a clear, fair and transparent DTT switchover policy. Sectoral broadcasting characteristics including the prominence of pay-for platforms and small market size contributed to this result, yet the thesis argues that the extent of their impact has been determined by structural characteristics within which the desion-making process has taken place. The thesis shows that far from genuine public interest objectives - such as increased media plurality, a stronger role for PSB, more competition within and between platforms, and efficient use of spectrum - the DTT transition in the country has served to reinforce path-dependencies and historical continuities. This last point has been observed in relation to digital television policies in Western countries, such as Britain and the USA (Galperin, 2004a) and Sweden and Spain (Suarez Cantel, 2011: 318). More research is needed to confirm or not this conclusion in relation to other (post- communist) countries and other sectors. ii TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF TABLES ................................................................................................................... vi CHAPTER 1: Introduction ...................................................................................................... 1 1.1 Context and main argument ........................................................................................ 1 1.2 Methods and data collection .......................................................................................... 5 1.3 Contribution to knowledge........................................................................................... 10 1.4 Chapter outline ............................................................................................................. 11 CHAPTER 2: Analysing the politics of policy-making: Actors, Powers, Institutions and the EU .......................................................................................................................................... 16 2.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 16 2.2 Approaches to policy analysis and the question of power ........................................... 17 2.2.1 Kingdon’s agenda-setting model .......................................................................... 17 2.2.2 Adapting Kingdon’s model: Focus on stakeholders and advocacy coalitions ...... 21 2.2.3 Decisions, non-decisions and power ..................................................................... 24 2.3 New Institutionalism: the question of structure – agency interplay ............................. 28 2.3.1 Path dependence and the CEE .............................................................................. 32 2.4 The European Union’s impact on national policy-making .......................................... 36 2.4.1 Factors affecting EU’s impact ........................................................................... 40 2.5 Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 42 CHAPTER 3: Transition to DTT in the EU: objectives, national characteristics, and factors ............................................................................................................................................... 45 3.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 45 3.2 Transition to digital television: EU objectives ............................................................. 46 3.3 DTT rule adoption mechanisms of the EU .................................................................. 50 3.4 Varying national incentives and path dependencies in the DTT transitions of EU member states..................................................................................................................... 51 3.4.1 EU member states’ incentives to analogue switch-off: politically driven ............ 52 3.4.2 The role of political systems and path dependencies in DTT transitions .............. 58 3.5 Examples of EU’s intervention in member states’ DTT policies ................................ 65 3.6 Digital switchover in CEE: sectoral factors and structural conditions......................... 71 3.7 Conclusions .................................................................................................................. 79 CHAPTER 4: Development of post-communist politics and media structures in Bulgaria .. 82 4.1 Introduction .................................................................................................................. 82 iii 4.2 The end of the communist regime and the political environment in Bulgaria after 1989: state capture and the rise of clientelism and rent-seeking .................................................. 83 4.2.1 1989-2001: a period of ideological bipolarity and struggle for power, yet economic and institutional inefficiency ......................................................................... 84 4.2.2 2001-2014: rise of populism, EU accession, more corruption and back to political instability........................................................................................................................ 90 4.3 Struggles over broadcasting legislation and the unregulated appearance of the first private television stations ................................................................................................. 100 4.4 The licensing of the first nation-wide broadcasters: politicisation and lack of administrative capacity .................................................................................................... 107 4.5 Cementing the broadcasting status quo and the EU’s pre-accession leverage ........... 111 4.6 Outcomes for Public Service Broadcasting: loss of positions and financial weakening ......................................................................................................................................... 114 4.7 Conclusions ................................................................................................................ 116 CHAPTER 5: Establishing the DTT legislative framework: path dependencies, state capacities, rules and practices .............................................................................................. 118 5.1 Introduction ................................................................................................................ 118 5.2 The (analogue) licensing: path dependencies and shortage of regulatory capacities . 119 5.2.1 The capture of CEM ............................................................................................ 128 5.3 Formal rules and informal practices in the legislative process on DTT..................... 132 5.3.1 Amendment of the Law on Radio and Television (LRT): policy issues, demands, gains and ‘ghosts’ ........................................................................................................ 133 5.3.2 Amendment of the Law on Electronic Communications (LEC): establishing the basis for political and economic interdependencies in the Bulgarian DTT structure .. 143 5.3.3 Adoption of the Law on Public Broadcasting (LPB) – last chance for all .......... 148 5.4 Conclusions ...............................................................................................................