24janv06.qxd 26/01/2006 15:21 Page 1 Is there a case for an EU information television station? By Thierry Vissol 24janv06.qxd 26/01/2006 15:21 Page 2 24janv06.qxd 26/01/2006 15:21 Page 3 Table of contents Page - Acknowledgements . .6 - Methodological remarks . .7 - Main acronyms . .8 - Executive Summaries . .9 - Executive Summary (EN) . .11 - Executive Summary (FR) . .19 - Introduction . .27 PART I: A PANORAMA OF THE EU TELEVISIONS' LANDSCAPE AND THE SUPPLY OF TELEVISED EU INFORMATION . .35 Chapter 1: An overview of the global European TV landscape . .39 1-The economic situation in EU TV companies . .40 2-The TV signal transmission landscape . .42 3-The quest for audience . .44 4-The specificity of 'regional' television stations with a national reach . .45 Chapter 2: The supply of "news" market in the TV landscape . .47 1-What is "news"? . .47 2-News channels . .47 3-The share of news in viewer preferences . .48 4-EU issues in news and information programmes . .50 Chapter 3: International and pan-European (PETV) news channels . .53 1-The state of play: main characteristics and audiences . .53 2-International news TV versus national generalist TV . .56 3-Channel by channel review . .58 4-Conclusion . .64 Chapter 4: News and information on Internet Protocol TV (IP-TV) . .67 1-The state and the evolution of the penetration of broadband technologies . .67 2-The digital divide and its evolution up to 2013 . .69 3-The demand for news on the Internet . .71 4-IP-TV – a cost analysis . .73 Conclusions of Part I . .77 PART II: THE DEMAND FOR TELEVISION INFORMATION AND INFORMATION ON THE EU . 79 Chapter 1: The global use of media and TV by EU citizens . .81 1-Television and media consumption . .81 2-Watching television news: a favourite pastime . .83 3-The limits of TV news as a knowledge-building medium . .85 Chapter 2: Television and EU information . .87 1-EU knowledge of EU citizens . .87 2-Effective and desired use of the media to receive EU information . .88 3-EU referenda campaigns and media's consumption in France and the Netherlands . .90 Chapter 3: Analysis of TV consumption behaviour . .93 1-The reasons for the use of the TV or the Internet media . .93 2-The news selection mechanisms . .94 3-The news-processing mechanisms . .95 4-Conclusions . .97 3 Table of contents 24janv06.qxd 26/01/2006 15:21 Page 4 Chapter 4: The EU citizens' demand for EU audiovisual information programmes . .99 1-Citizens' concerns and their views of the EU . .99 2-Perceptions of the information on offer . .101 2.1 The quantity deficit . .101 2.2 The quality deficit . .103 3-Viewers' behaviour and expectations . .104 3.1 Behaviour . .104 3.2 Desiderata . .105 4-Synthesis of the results in terms of type of EU programmes . ..