Stuart Thomson Stuart Thomson Capacity squeeze is one of the major problems faced by international programmers in gaining access to cable in Europe. A growing tendency exists amongst operators in certain parts of continental Europe, particularly in Scandinavia, to put the matter to the vote of subscribers. Unfortunately, the extension of local democracy thus far has held little comfort for the internationals.
Voters seem to prefer the local, national channels.
The jury is still out on whether this is a peculiarity of the Scandinavian market, but the signs do not look good. However, the Scandinavian cable vote is not an exercise in perfect democracy. The selection system adopted by Telenor Avidi , which will axe six out of 23 channels in its basic package from January 2000 in order to pave the way for digital, has several stages. Channels have had to compete within certain categories in order to achieve a balanced line-up. This led to a scramble by channels such as National Geographic and Discovery's Animal Planet to categorise themselves as 'general entertainment' channels rather than the documentary channels that they are.