Television Without Frontiers Stakeholders Meeting 27 October 2005

TELEVISION WITHOUT FRONTIERS STAKEHOLDERS MEETING 27 OCTOBER 2005 Outcome of Liverpool conference Commission received 200 responses Opening summary: No-one proposed an alternative to the linear/non-linear split Non-linear services (not scheduled) should have basic obligations – protection of minors, no incitement to racial hatred Don’t understand how this can be called “regulating the internet”

TELEVISION WITHOUT FRONTIERS STAKEHOLDERS MEETING 27 OCTOBER 2005 Outcome of Liverpool conference Country of origin jurisdiction must be maintained More work needed on advertising rules Support for status quo on listed events, but dealing with short reports trickier Media pluralism primarily a matter for Member States Service providers can benefit from common set of rules in one Directive

TELEVISION WITHOUT FRONTIERS STAKEHOLDERS MEETING 27 OCTOBER 2005 Outcome of Liverpool conference Reports from working groups: Scope – official report supported linear/non- linear split within new audiovisual content Directive Many group members questioned wisdom and ability of rules for AV on websites Broadcasters want a level playing field – unclear whether they would be as happy to “level down” as to “level up”

TELEVISION WITHOUT FRONTIERS STAKEHOLDERS MEETING 27 OCTOBER 2005 Outcome of Liverpool conference Self- or co-regulation supported by industries that are used to it eg VOD Desire from broadcasters and politicians to maintain promotion of European culture: some confusion as to whether Directive should be a single market measure or a cultural measure Commission suggests all service providers benefit from harmonising rules in one Directive rather than plethora of Member State rules

TELEVISION WITHOUT FRONTIERS STAKEHOLDERS MEETING 27 OCTOBER 2005 Outcome of Liverpool conference Rights to information: happy to keep national lists of major events that need to be available free-to-view No clear outcome on how to handle short extracts eg news to be available to other broadcasters, online, on mobiles

TELEVISION WITHOUT FRONTIERS STAKEHOLDERS MEETING 27 OCTOBER 2005 Outcome of Liverpool conference Cultural diversity – agree that quotas for European production of programmes are usually exceeded Calls for independent quotas to be increased and enforced Unclear how quotas could apply to non-linear services: perhaps apply by size of operator Objective to defend European model

TELEVISION WITHOUT FRONTIERS STAKEHOLDERS MEETING 27 OCTOBER 2005 Outcome of Liverpool conference Commercial communications – Broadcasters keen to see minutage rules on advertising relaxed Consumer groups more protective Product placement a major issue Possible rules for food advertising to address obesity

TELEVISION WITHOUT FRONTIERS STAKEHOLDERS MEETING 27 OCTOBER 2005 Outcome of Liverpool conference Protection of minors and human dignity Support in principle, but non-broadcasters advocate use of self- or co-regulation Context can be as important as content Labelling schemes can have value Extension of TVWF rules on right of reply to non- broadcasters may be impractical

TELEVISION WITHOUT FRONTIERS STAKEHOLDERS MEETING 27 OCTOBER 2005 Next steps – short term Commission publish ‘legislative proposal’ – - January or February? Co-decision procedure –Council of Ministers –Parliament Education and Culture Committee? Industry Committee?

TELEVISION WITHOUT FRONTIERS STAKEHOLDERS MEETING 27 OCTOBER 2005 Next steps – longer term New ‘Audio-Visual Content’ Directive by mid- 2007? Into UK law by 2010?

Recommendation on the protection of minors and human dignity and the right of reply in relation to the competitiveness of the European online and audiovisual information services industry.

TELEVISION WITHOUT FRONTIERS STAKEHOLDERS MEETING 27 OCTOBER 2005 Recommendation Commission published May 2004 –European Parliament September ’05 –Council of Ministers November ’04 Still under discussion

TELEVISION WITHOUT FRONTIERS STAKEHOLDERS MEETING 27 OCTOBER 2005 Recommendation Aimed at Member States and the audio-visual & online content industries -promote young peoples’ access to quality content -protect them from harmful content -rights of reply or equivalent in the online media -encourage industry to tackle discrimination (= stereotyping).

TELEVISION WITHOUT FRONTIERS STAKEHOLDERS MEETING 27 OCTOBER 2005 Recommendation – next steps Problems -right of reply on online media? -editorial independence? UK statement November 04 Conciliation likely Austrian or Finnish Presidency

TELEVISION WITHOUT FRONTIERS STAKEHOLDERS MEETING 27 OCTOBER 2005 Recommendation Not legally binding A ‘supplement’ to TVWF or ‘Audio-Visual Content Directive’? –2004/0117 (Commission) –11955/05 (Parliament)