1. Regulation of Public Service An EPRA Inquiry
Erik Nordahl Svendsen
Director of Danish Board for Radio and TV

2. National and (West-)European trends in regulation since 1970
Market situation
National regulation (PSB)
European regulation
1970’s
PSB monopoly
Internal control, direct political participation
None
1980’s
Dual system (deregulation)
Satellite and cable
Trans national channels
PSB gets professional freedom to compete with new private stations
New PSB-services are launched
Less political control.
Longer settlements of the license fee
TWF (1989/1997)
free reception
jurisdiction
quotas
advertising
minors
·   

3. National and (West)European trends in regulation since 1990
Market situation
National regulation (PSB)
European regulation
1990’s
Multichannel
(proliferation)
PSB holds a good market share (~ 40 %)
Is the PSB-mission fulfilled?
Distinctiveness
Accountability
Amsterdam protocol (1997)
State aid rules, and control of PSB-performance (2001)
2000’s
Convergence and DTT
Re-regulation of PSB?
Service contracts.
License fee or tax?
New TWF?

4. How are PSB/Non PSB supervised towards TWF/ECTT?
Uniform supervision
About 22 countries
Mainly by RA
A few self regulations
Police/Court on discrimination
Separate supervision
About 10 countries
Several combinations
PSB: Self (+ ministry)
Non-PSB: RA

5. A scale of regulation
Autonomy Control of Service
SR > RA > Ministry > Parliament

6. Relative autonomy for PSB in the same country (TWF/ECTT)

7. How are national PSB demands laid down?

8. Control of PSB, and Parliament debate?

9. Trends in PSB-regulation
Text
Style
More detail
None
More general
More strict 12 1 4 9
More ’soft’ 2 3

10. Index of regulation of PSB, from autonomy (low) to service control (high)

11. Two models for regulation of PSB
Autonomy model
Service model
key value for regulation
Freedom
Accountability
regulatory instrument
Act of Broadcasting 
+ Service Contract
mode
of control 
Self regulation 
Control of performance
competence to sanction 
None (Ministry) 
Regulatory Authority
finance 
License fee (+ adv.)
Several years 
Tax or earmarked license fee (+ adv.)
EU 
State aid 
Compensation

12. Discussion about PSB regulation
Outcome of different regulatory instruments?
Is contract a clever supplement to Act?
Is RA the best solution to ensure balance between stations and political powers, for PS-performance?
Content or market regulation for PSB?