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Media Ownership Special Special Published by the European Audiovisual Observatory Media ownership - Market realities and regulatory Regional and local broadcasting in Europe Regional and local broadcasting Regional and local broadcasting in Europe responses The structure of this study explores the following questions: • What is the role of regional and local media in Europe? • How is this role promoted by the actions and legal instruments of the Council of Europe? • What are the national specifi c trends and developments in Europe on a country-by-country basis? • Where does the future of regional and local media in Europe lie? This IRIS Special report offers a much-needed overview of regional audiovisual media in Europe in three main sections. EUR 45 - ISBN 978-92-871-8339-2 IRIS Special 2016-2 Media ownership - Market realities and regulatory responses European Audiovisual Observatory, Strasbourg 2016 ISBN 978-92-871-8405-4 EUR 55 Director of publication – Susanne Nikoltchev, Executive Director, European Audiovisual Observatory Editorial supervision – Maja Cappello, Head of Department for legal information, European Audiovisual Observatory Editorial team – Francisco Javier Cabrera Blázquez, Maja Cappello, Sophie Valais European Audiovisual Observatory Authors Amedeo Arena (University of Naples), Konstantina Bania (EUI), Elda Brogi (EUI), Mark D. Cole (EMR), Gilles Fontaine (EAO), Silke Hans (EMR), Pascal Kamina (Université de Franche-Comté), Deirdre Kevin (EAO), Carles Llorens (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona), Roberto Mastroianni (University of Naples), Michael Petri (die medienanstalten/KEK), Krzysztof Wojciechowski (Telewizja Polska), Lorna Woods (University of Essex) Translators / Proof-readers Marco Polo Traductions, Nathalie Sturlèse, Erwin Rohwer, Roland Schmid, Julie Mamou, Gianna Iacino, Lucy Turner Editorial assistant – Snezana Jacevski, Sabine Bouajaja Marketing – Markus Booms, [email protected] Press and Public Relations – Alison Hindhaugh, [email protected] European Audiovisual Observatory Publisher Contributing Partner Institution European Audiovisual Observatory Institut of European Media Law (EMR) 76, allée de la Robertsau F-67000 Strasbourg, France Franz-Mai-Straße 6, 66121 Saarbrücken, Germany Tél. : +33 (0)3 90 21 60 00 Tel.: +49 681 99275 11 Fax : +33 (0)3 90 21 60 19 Fax: +49 681 99275 12 [email protected] [email protected] www.obs.coe.int www.emr-sb.de Cover layout – P O I N T I L L É S, Hoenheim, France Please quote this publication as: Cappello M. (ed.), Media ownership - Market realities and regulatory responses, IRIS Special 2016-2, European Audiovisual Observatory, Strasbourg, 2016 © European Audiovisual Observatory (Council of Europe), Strasbourg, 2016 Opinions expressed in this publication are personal and do not necessarily represent the views of the Observatory, its members or the Council of Europe. A publication of the European Audiovisual Observatory Media ownership Market realities and regulatory responses Amedeo Arena, Konstantina Bania, Elda Brogi, Mark D. Cole, Gilles Fontaine, Silke Hans, Pascal Kamina, Deirdre Kevin, Carles Llorens, Roberto Mastroianni, Michael Petri, Krzysztof Wojciechowski, Lorna Woods MEDIA OWNERSHIP - MARKET REALITIES AND REGULATORY RESPONSES Foreword One of the pillars of freedom of expression in the audiovisual sector is media pluralism. This concept covers, on the one hand, the availability of a variety of choice in the programming of the different media players. On the other hand, it concerns the effective presence of a multitude of operators so as to avoid an excessive concentration of the market. Media pluralism, as such, has been widely explored by legislation and case-law both at the national and European levels. A related issue is the need for ensuring transparency of the financing of the various media providers, and an adequate knowledge of their ownership structure and control or influence. For these purposes most countries have put in place tools and mechanisms to allow for the collection of the necessary information, which also allows the European Audiovisual Observatory (EAO) to compile a certain proportion of this data. Other sources of information are made available by regulatory bodies throughout Europe, and administrative case-law, which is also related to competition issues, completes the picture. This IRIS Special provides an overview of the current market realities and a selection of regulatory responses that have been put in place across Europe since the Observatory’s report on “Converged markets – converged power? Regulation and case law” of 2012. It has been prepared by the Institute of European Media Law (EMR) in Saarbrücken and collects contributions from various authors. It focuses on a selection of European countries (Germany, United Kingdom, Italy, France, Spain, and Poland), which have been chosen with the intention of providing a set of different approaches. The report begins with an introduction by Gilles Fontaine and Deirdre Kevin (EAO) on the state of the art of European markets. The data is elaborated from the Observatory’s MAVISE database, which contains information on the ownership of TV channels and on-demand services available in European countries with their country of establishment (either inside or outside of Europe) and of the line-ups of the main television distributors in Europe. Mark D. Cole and Silke Hans (EMR) follow this, discussing the guarantees established at European level in order to protect media diversity. In doing so, they detail the different markets of the audiovisual sector – pay-tv, free-to-air, broadcasting rights, internet advertising – and the pertinent case-law of the European Commission. The European picture is completed by Konstantina Bania and Elda Brogi (European University Institute) with an outline of the main findings of the so- called Media Pluralism Monitor during the measurement of the level of pluralism carried out in 19 EU member states in 2015. The report continues then with national case-studies on Germany by Michael Petri (Medienanstalten/KEK); the United Kingdom by Lorna Woods (University of Essex); Italy by Roberto Mastroianni and Amedeo Arena (University of Naples); France by Pascal Kamina (Université de Franche-Comté); Spain by Carles Llorens (Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona); and Poland by Krzysztof Wojciechowski (Telewizja Polska); before Mark D. Cole and Silke Hans (EMR) conclude. 1 MEDIA OWNERSHIP - MARKET REALITIES AND REGULATORY RESPONSES As to the main findings, what appears is the clear importance of guaranteeing media pluralism through European provisions for the protection of media diversity. The national case- studies also show that convergence is creating challenges for regulatory and monitoring bodies, and that the opportunities offered by the Internet do not imply that media diversity can be protected solely by the new technical possibilities. Since traditional broadcasting remains an important source of information for many European citizens, this also means that rules on media ownership are still relevant. Strasbourg, November 2016 Maja Cappello IRIS Coordinator Head of the Department for Legal Information European Audiovisual Observatory 2 MEDIA OWNERSHIP - MARKET REALITIES AND REGULATORY RESPONSES Table of contents 1. Introduction: media ownership in European markets ..................................................................... 9 1.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................... 9 1.2. Examining media ownership, data, and transparency .............................................................. 9 1.3. National media systems and concentration ............................................................................ 10 1.4. Pan-European broadcast media groups .................................................................................. 12 1.4.1. Multi-country broadcasting groups ................................................................................. 12 1.4.2. Pan-European brand broadcasting groups ...................................................................... 12 1.5. Pan-European distribution companies .................................................................................... 13 1.6. Pan-European groups and content.......................................................................................... 14 1.7. Concluding remarks and potential further research ............................................................... 14 2. Guaranteeing media diversity at European level ........................................................................... 17 2.1. Introduction ............................................................................................................................. 17 2.2. Legal framework ...................................................................................................................... 18 2.2.1. The context of human rights ............................................................................................ 18 2.2.2. Media-specific regulation ................................................................................................ 19 2.3. Measures to prevent media concentration at European Union level ..................................... 20 2.3.1. Protection of media diversity and pluralism through European competition law .......... 20 2.3.2. Convergent audiovisual media markets in the EU ........................................................... 21 2.3.2.1. Traditional
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