sou · GSB339 · 2005-01-01 00:00:00 — into Legislation governing Radio and Television has been instructed to analyse and consider the need for various alterations principally to the Radio and Television Act (1996:844) and the Television License Fees Act (1989:41) and then to propose the amendments to laws that are occasioned by its deli- berations. In this interim report the Inquiry presents its deliberations on questions related to the proposals of free-standing commercial operator, licensing by a government authority and the duration of the license period as well as on the parts of the Committees remit that deal with jurisdiction over television broadcasts in the terrestrial network and action when broadcasters fail to provide certain information to the Broadcasting Commission. The remit of the Committee Last year the Riksdag (the Swedish Parliament) decided that ana- logue terrestrial broadcasts will end completely by 1 February 2008, after being phased out gradually. Digital broadcasting technology is already being used for broadcasts in the terrestrial network. However, the new technology is changing the conditions for broadcasting. Issues such as how to use the available broadcasting capacity, what principles will apply to licensing, the extent of the licensing requirement and who will issue licences therefore need to be regulated. In its final report Digital TV –modernisation of the terrestrial network (Swedish Government Reports 2001:90) proposed that an external actor, a com- mercial operator, would be licensed to use part of the total trans- mission capacity in the digital terrestrial network, that broadcasters to be included in the range of services offered by the commercial operator should be approved and be granted broadcasting licenses by a public authority and that licensing should be delegated from the Government to a public authority. We have had the task of considering these and other parts of the proposals of and of assessing what statutory amendments are needed to implement them. The Inquiry has also had the task of considering the need for legislation to ensure that television broadcasts in the Swedish ter- restrial network fall under Swedish jurisdiction. In this context, the Inquiry is to analyse the scope available for national legislation within the framework of European Community law. The Inquiry is to present the proposals occasioned by its deliberations. In addition, the Inquiry has had the task of presenting proposals that give the Broadcasting Commission an effective means of ob- taining the information needed to carry out its supervisory duties, such as the use of orders that can be combined with a conditional penalty. A free-standing commercial operator The starting point for the Inquirys choice of operator model has been to select the model that best promotes the maximum possible freedom of expression, freedom of information and diversity, that makes effective use of the limited broadcasting capacity available and that can best contribute to making the digital terrestrial network a consumer-friendly, competitive and cost-effective alternative in the television market. Following a concerted assessment of the various considerations and interests that are relevant for operator choice the Inquiry concludes that the model chosen should give the com- mercial operator the right to use the part of the broadcasting capa- city in the digital terrestrial network that is not allocated to public service programme services and other programme services to which the authorities wish to guarantee broadcasting capacity. This means that the commercial operator would be granted its own broad- casting capacity in the terrestrial network and would be able to make this capacity available to broadcasters and to supply television programmes and other services to the public in return for payment. Under present conditions, the Inquiry considers that the market will only bear one commercial operator in the terrestrial network. In the future, however, there may be room for more. As the broadcasting capacity in the digital terrestrial network is a limited resource and the question of what areas and what broad- casting capacity should be made available to digital television broad- casts involves strategic media policy considerations, we propose that the Government should decide what areas and what capacity will be made available for digital television transmissions. The Government should also decide how this capacity is to be distri- buted between broadcasts that can be received without the need for any separate payment (free-to-view TV) and broadcasts for which such a separate payment may be charged (pay TV). In principle all pay TV services should be restricted to the broadcasting capacity made available to a commercial operator. We propose that a permit under the Radio and Television Act should be required to operate as a commercial operator. No entity that lacks the financial and technical capability to operate as a commercial operator with good capacity and quality over the long term can be considered for a licence. A licence may not be issued to any entity that can exercise a deciding influence, through owner- ship or in some other way, on another entity that has operations relating to the production and distribution of television programmes or that is under corresponding influence of an entity that has opera- tions of this kind. The assessment criteria for the selection of a commercial operator should be set out in the Radio and Television Act. Most weight should be attached to objective criteria such as what programme services the operator intends to distribute to television consumers, what coverage will be provided, the technical capacity and quality at which the operator intends to run its operations and, finally, the applicants independence in relation to other actors in the media market. It is proposed that one stage of the licensing process should be a tender procedure. The price that an applicant is willing to pay for the licence should be given decisive importance in the choice between applicants rated equally highly on the objective criteria. The entity that receives the licence should make a payment for the licence in line with the bid submitted by that entity. apply irrespective of whether or not the tender was of importance for the licensing decision. The commercial operator should have an independent right to put together a range of television programmes and other services as well as a right to send as many simultaneous programme services in its specified broadcasting capacity as its transmission capacity per- mits. The commercial operator should, however, only be allowed to make broadcasting capacity available to television programmes covered by a permit to transmit pay TV. The Swedish Radio and TV Authority should determine the maximum number of licenses that may be issued to broadcast pay TV. Licences should be issued to slightly more programme services than can be accommodated in the capacity available for pay TV. It should be possible to attach special conditions to a commercial operators licence. The commercial operator should be obliged to apply non-discriminatory terms in its operations. The licence period for the commercial operator should be six years. Licence conditions may be applicable for a shorter period than the licence period. A change of commercial operator may be considered at the end of the licence period. This may also happen if the licence is revoked or the operator terminates its operations for some other reason. In order to make a change possible with minimum disruption, not least for consumers, the commercial operator whose operations are ending should be required to transfer register data about subscri- bers and programme cards to the new license holder without delay. If the former licence holder owns the programme cards held by subscribers then the ownership rights to these cards should also be transferred on request. The entity whose register data and rights are transferred should be entitled to reasonable compensation from the new operator. The Inquiry proposes that a commercial operator should supply the Swedish Radio and TV Authority with a backup copy of its register data on subscribers and programme cards. Coordination of the common services and functions of free-to- view TV and pay TV is needed in order to secure accessibility, quality, competitiveness and cost-effectiveness in the terrestrial network. The Inquiry considers that this coordination should be arranged through agreements between the parties in the terrestrial network and through licence conditions. We take the view that all broadcasters – irrespective of whether they offer free-to-view TV or pay TV – should have licences in order to be considered for broadcasts. Licences for public service broad- casts should be issued by the Government. Other licences should be issued by Swedish Radio and TV Authority. Licensing should take particular account of whether broadcasting capacity can be used for different complementary programme services so that, as a whole, the broadcasts will appeal to different interests and tastes and whether it can be used for local and regional programmes and by as many independent broadcasters as possible. The criteria that will steer the selection of broadcasters should be stated in the Radio and Television Act. A licence to broadcast television programmes should be for either free-to-view TV or pay TV. Licences to broadcast free-to-view TV entitle the holder to simultaneously broadcast the number of pro- grammes in each area during the part of the day that is specified in the licence. A licence to broadcast pay TV entitles the holder to broadcast the programmes specified in the licence. Unless the licence states otherwise, however, this broadcasting right may only be exer- cised if an agreement is reached with a commercial operator to form part of that operators range of services. In contrast to the regulations currently applicable, we propose that the length of the licence period should be stated in the Act. Licences issued by the Government should be valid for six years. Other licences to broadcasters should be valid for two years with a right to two extensions of two years each, unless special reasons indicate otherwise. Special considerations concerning programme services covered by the must carry obligation under Chapter 8 Section 1 of the Radio and Television Act A programme service should only be covered by the must carry obligation under Chapter 8 Section 1 of the Radio and Television Act if a declaration to that effect has been included in its licence. Such a declaration may only be introduced if the broadcasting right is exercised in an impartial and objective way and broadcasts con- tain a diverse range of programmes that must include news coverage. The declaration must contain information about these require- ments. A must carry declaration of this kind can be withdrawn in certain cases, including significant failure by the licence holder to observe the circumstances on which the declaration was based. We propose that a delivery obligation be introduced for broad- casters; this obligation would mean that a licence holder whose broadcasts are covered by the must carry obligation under Chapter 8 Section 1 of the Radio and Television Act shall provide on request the programme-bearing signal for a programme service to an entity that is obliged under Chapter 8 Section 1 of the Radio and Tele- vision Act to carry this service or would probably be covered by such an obligation within a reasonable amount of time, if the programme service was distributed in the network without any charge for the actual reception. Licensing by a public authority The Inquiry proposes that all licensing for digital terrestrial tele- vision, except for licensing of the operations of public service broadcasters, be delegated from the Government to the Swedish Radio and TV Authority. Appeals against decisions of the Autho- rity concerning a licence to broadcast television programmes, a declaration of must carry status, licences to operate as a commercial operator and amendments of licences should be to an administrative court. In the view of the Inquiry both the interest of maintaining demo- cratically decided rules on, for instance, advertising in broadcasts intended for Swedish viewers and the interest of a similar com- petitive situation for broadcasters in the terrestrial network provide arguments for requiring that broadcasts directed towards follow the provisions of the Radio and Television Act. The Inquiry considers, however, that both Community law aspects and market assessments provide arguments against placing requirements on broadcasters to the effect that they must be established in in order to be able to obtain a licence to broadcast in the terrestrial network. do we consider that there are any other possibilities of using legislation to secure that TV broadcasts in the Swedish terrestrial network are sure to fall under Swedish jurisdiction. How- ever, we propose an amendment to Chapter 1 Section 2, paragraph 2 of the Radio and Television Act so that the scope of the regu- lation is not limited to situations in which a broadcaster that has established itself in another EEA country in order to avoid Swedish legislation must first have had been established in this country. However, in the view of the Inquiry, the Television Without Fron- tiers Directive would have to be amended to bring about other changes concerning broadcasts in the terrestrial network from broadcasters that are established in another state in the EEA area but that only or mainly direct their broadcasts at . Supervision, etc. in the radio and television area In order to promote effective and appropriate supervision the Inquiry proposes that the provisions in the Act on the right for supervisory authorities to obtain information in certain, special cases is replaced by a more generally worded provision. The new provision gives the Broadcasting Commission, the Swedish Radio and TV Authority and the Consumer Ombudsman the right to order an entity that has operations that are covered by the Act to supply the authorities with information and documents that are needed to control that its operations are being conducted in accor- dance with the Act and the conditions and regulations issued under the Act. An order of this kind may be combined with a conditional penalty. It is proposed that the authorities are given a right to enforce- ment by the of decisions that refer to action under the Radio and Television Act. The Broadcasting Commission should also exercise supervision that the operations of commercial operators are in line with the Radio and Television Act and the licence conditions issued for their operations. The Broadcasting Commission is given the right to order commercial operators, under a conditional penalty, to follow regulations that they have not complied with. In addition to current revocation possibilities, it should also be possible to revoke a licence to broadcast television programmes or to conduct operations as a commercial operator or a licence issued by the Government to broadcast radio programmes if the licence applicant has provided incorrect information of importance for the licence. In addition, the Inquiry proposes that it should be possible to revoke a licence to conduct operations as a commercial operator if the licence holder has committed a significant breach of the statutory obligation to apply non-discriminatory terms or has not paid for the licence. As regards the licence types mentioned above, the Inquiry also proposes that it should be possible to amend the licence during the licence period. Entry into force and transitional provisions The Inquiry considers that the new regulations should enter into force no later than 1 2005. Older provisions in the Radio and Television Act should remain in force both for broadcasts of tele- vision programmes using analogue broadcast technology and for other radio and television broadcasts that have taken place before the new regulations enter into force. For both the Swedish Radio and TV Authority and the Broad- casting Commission the proposed amendments to the Radio and Television Act entail new tasks and the expansion of existing tasks. This is expected to lead to increased resource needs corresponding to two full-year equivalents for the Authority and to three full-year equivalents for the Commission. The Swedish Radio and TV Autho- ritys costs for processing licence applications will be financed by charges. will receive income because the entity that obtains a licence to operate as a commercial operator will have to pay for the licence. As this income is dependent on the tender submitted by the applicant it cannot be estimated in advance. The commercial operators cost for the licence is not so large that it is expected to have any negative effect on that entitys possibilities of operating as a commercial operator. Under the Inquirys proposals, broadcasters that want to broad- cast pay TV will only be able to broadcast if they reach an agree- ment with a commercial operator. The actual costs implications are related to commercial considerations taken into account by the commercial operator and the broadcaster. lag om ändring i radio- och TV-lagen (1996:844) Härigenom föreskrivs i fråga om radio- och TV-lagen (1996:844) dels att 9 kap. 7, 9 och 10 §§ skall upphöra att gälla, dels att nuvarande 9 kap. 11 och 12 §§ skall betecknas 9 kap. 10 och 11 §§, dels att nuvarande 3 kap. 1-4, 7 och 8 §§ skall betecknas 3 kap. 7– 10, 20 och 21 §§, dels att de nya 3 kap. 7–10, 20 och 21 §§ skall ha följande lydelse, dels att 1 kap. 1, 2 och 5 §§, 2 kap. 1 och 2 §§, 3 kap. 5 och 6 §§, 6 kap. 8 §, 7 kap. 1 §, 8 kap. 1 §, 9 kap. 2, 4 och 5 §§, 10 kap. 5, 8 och 9 §§, 11 kap. 1 och 2 §§, 12 kap. 1 och 2 §§, 13 kap. 1 och 3 §§ samt rubrikerna till 3, 11 och 12 kap. skall ha följande lydelse, dels att det i lagen skall införas 22 nya paragrafer, 1 kap. 1 a §, 3 kap. 1–4, 11–19, 22 och 23 §§, 9 kap. 7, 9 och 12 §§, 10 kap. 13 §, 11 kap. 7 och 8 §§, av följande lydelse. I denna lag finns föreskrifter Denna lag gäller sändningar av om sändningar av ljudradio- och ljudradio- och TV-program som TV-program som är riktade till är riktade till allmänheten och allmänheten och avsedda att tas avsedda att tas emot med tek- emot med tekniska hjälpmedel. En sändning anses riktad till allmänheten endast om den och utan särskild begäran är tillgänglig för vem som helst som vill ta emot den. Såvitt avser frågor som regleras i rådets direktiv /552/EEG av om sam- ordning av vissa bestämmelser som fastställts i medlemsstaternas lagar och andra författningar om utförandet av sändningsverksam- het för television1, ändrat genom och rådets direktiv /36/EG2, gäller lagen endast för sändningar av TV- program, om sändningen kan tas emot i någon stat som är bun- I lagen avses med fri-TV: sändning av TV-pro- gram, som skall kunna tas emot utan krav på särskild betalning utöver allmän TV-avgift, betal-TV: sändning av TV- program, för vilka särskild betal- ning får tas ut, programföretag: den som har det redaktionella ansvaret för sammansättningen av TV-pro- gram och som sänder dem eller låter sända dem genom annan, och operatörsföretag: den som på annat sätt än såsom program- företag bedriver verksamhet av- seende betal-TV, innefattande upplåtelse av sändningsutrymme till programföretag samt tillhanda- hållande av TV-program och andra tjänster till allmänheten mot betalning. 2 § Lagen gäller för sändningar av TV-program, om sändningen kan tas emot i någon stat som är bunden av avtalet om Europeiska ekonomiska samarbetsområdet (EES-stat) och den som be- driver sändningsverksamheten 1EGT L 298, 17.10.1989, s. 23 (Celex 31989L0552) 2EGT L 202, 30.7.1997, s.60 (Celex 31997L0036) 1. är etablerad i enligt definitionen i artikel 2.3 i och rådets direktiv /36/EG om ändring av rådets direktiv /552/EEG om samordning av vissa be- stämmelser som fastställts i med- lemsstaternas lagar och andra författningar om utförandet av sändningsverksamhet för televi- sion, den av avtalet om Europeiska ekonomiska samarbetsområdet (EES-stat) och den som be- driver sändningsverksamheten 1. är etablerad i enligt definitionen i artikel 2.3 i direk- tiv 89/552/EEG, 2.varken uppfyller kriteriet under 1 eller är etablerad i någon annan EES-stat, men använder sig av en frekvens som har upplåtits här i landet, 3.varken uppfyller något av kriterierna under 1 och 2 eller använder sig av en frekvens som har upplåtits av någon annan EES- stat, men använder sig av en satellitkapacitet som tillhör , 4.varken uppfyller något av kriterierna under 1, 2 och 3 eller använder sig av en satellitkapacitet som tillhör någon annan EES- stat, men använder sig av en satellitupplänk belägen i , eller 5.varken uppfyller något av kriterierna under 1, 2, 3 och 4 eller använder sig av en satellitupplänk belägen i någon annan EES-stat, men är etablerad i enligt artikel 52 och följande i Fördraget om upprättandet av Europeiska gemenskapen. Den som, efter att ha varit etablerad i , etablerar sig i en annan EES-stat i syfte att kringgå svensk lagstiftning när verksamheten huvudsakligen riktar sig till skall vid tillämpningen av denna lag anses etablerad i . Oberoende av vad som före- skrivs i första stycket gäller lagen den som är etablerad i en annan EES-stat om syftet med etable- ringen är att kringgå svensk lagstiftning när verksamheten huvudsakligen riktar sig till . Andra föreskrifter än 3 kap. Andra föreskrifter än 3 kap. 3 § första stycket 1 avseende vill- 9 § första stycket 1 avseende vill- kor om förbud att sända reklam kor om förbud att sända reklam och 7 kap. 11 § om förbud att sända reklam gäller inte för ljud i TV-sändning, om ljudet helt stämmer överens med en ljud- radiosändning som sker med stöd av tillstånd enligt denna lag eller för vilken den sändande låtit registrera sig. och 7 kap. 11 § om förbud att sända reklam gäller inte för ljud i TV-sändning, om ljudet helt stämmer överens med en ljud- radiosändning som sker med stöd av tillstånd enligt denna lag eller för vilken den sändande låtit registrera sig. För att sända ljudradio- eller För att sända ljudradio- eller TV-program med hjälp av radio- TV-program själv eller genom vågor på frekvens under 3 giga- annan med hjälp av radiovågor hertz krävs tillstånd enligt denna på frekvens under 3 gigahertz eller bedriva verksamhet som sändningar krävs tillstånd enligt Tillstånd krävs inte för sändningar av sökbar text-TV som sker från radiosändare som används för andra sändningar med stöd av tillstånd enligt denna lag. Tillstånd krävs inte heller för sändningar som är särskilt anpassade för syn- eller hörselskadade och som äger rum under högst från en sådan radio- sändare. Föreskrifter om tillstånd att inneha eller använda radiosändare finns i lagen (2003:389) om elektronisk kommunikation. Tillstånd att sända TV-program meddelas av regeringen, om sänd- ningsverksamheten finansieras genom medel från TV-avgiften enligt lagen (1989:41) om TV- avgift, och i annat fall av Radio- och . Tillstånd att bedriva verksam- het som operatörsföretag meddelas av Radio- och . Tillstånd att sända TV-pro- Tillstånd att till hela landet gram och tillstånd att till hela eller till utlandet sända ljudradio- landet eller till utlandet sända program meddelas av regeringen. Regeringen meddelar också till- stånd att bedriva lokala digitala också tillstånd att bedriva lokala Tillstånd att sända närradio enligt 4 kap. meddelas av Radio- och . Tillstånd att sända lokalradio enligt 5 kap. meddelas av Radio- Radio- och får vi- Radio- och får vi- dare meddela tillstånd att under dare meddela tillstånd att under en begränsad tid om högst två en begränsad tid om högst två veckor sända TV-program eller ljudradioprogram som inte är