Germany’s PSB going online – is there an economic justification for Public Service Media online? Nadine Lindstädt September 2010 © University of Southern Denmark, Esbjerg and the author, 2010 Editor: Finn Olesen Department of Environmental and Business Economics IME WORKING PAPER 102/10 ISSN 1399-3224 All rights reserved. No part of this WORKING PAPER may be used or repro- duced in any manner whatsoever without the written permission of IME except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Nadine Lindstädt Department of Environmental and Business Economics University of Southern Denmark Niels Bohrs Vej 9-10 DK-6700 Esbjerg Tel.: +45 6550 1524 Fax: +45 6550 1091 E-mail:
[email protected] Abstract Public Service Media (PSM) online is a highly up to date topic. There is no clear consensus among researchers if Public Service Media should have a le- gitimization online and if so to which extent. Some authors still demand for an extensive role of public service provision in the digital era whereas others either argue against PSM on the internet at all or assign them a restrictive and com- plementing function at the most. The question has furthermore concerned the European Commission as well as several Member States for many years now. Public service broadcasters have been accused of distorting competition online – an area that up to then seemed to have worked being left to the market. Though the extension of public service providers towards the internet is legiti- mized by the European Commission it seems appropriate to analyze if there is a true economic justification for having Public Service Media online and if so to which extent.