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In Übereinstimmung mit der Verordnung (EWG, Euratom) Nr. 354/83 des Rates vom  1. 
Februar 1983 über die Freigabe der historischen Archive der Europäischen 
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COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COM(83) 229 final  
Brussels, 25. May 1983
INTERIM REPORT
REALITIES AND TENDENCIES IN EUROPEAN TELEVISION :
PERSPECTIVES AND OPTIONS
(Report from the Commission to the European Parliament)

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES
COM( 83) 229 final  
Brussels, 25· May 1983
INTERIM REPORT
REALITIES AND TENDENCIES IN EUROPEAN TELEVISION :  
PERSPECTIVES AND OPTIONS
(Report from the Commission to the European Parliament)
COM(83) 229 final

C O N T E N T S
Page
Summary and conclusions 5
I  Introduction 7
I I  European television and the challenge of the new technologies 9
Consequences on programmes 10
Technical standards 1 1
D BS regulations in Europe 1 1
III National and international actions and projects - the European
scene 1 5
National satellites 15
International satellites in Europe 16
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) 1 7
Other initiatives 19
I V  The current situation of television in Europe and options for 
the future
Specific nature of the situation in Europe 
The Community : its interest and role 
The EBU and the EURIKON experiments 
Advent of D B S
Possible forms of cooperation 
Opinion poll among Community citizens 
Final considerations21
21
23
26
27
28 
30 
32

- k -
Page
ANNEXES
1. Resolution on radio and television broadcasting in the
European Community, passed by Parliament on 12 March 1982 33
2. Technological developments 4 1
3. Ariane launch programme 5 1
4. U S space shuttle launch programme 55
5. International organizations and initiatives 59
6. Council of Europe 79
7. National activities 99
8. Table of D B S satellite projects in Europe 143
9. Maps of D B S reception areas in Europe 149
10. National broadcasting legislation in the European 1 6 1
Community
11. Euro-Barometer survey of European attitudes to
transnational television 1 9 1

- 5 -
SUM M ARY AND CONCLUSIONS
1 .
The new telecommunications technologies, and especially direct broadcasting by 
satellites (DBS), will inevitably lead to a proliferation and an internationalization 
of television broadcasts in Europe by the end of the decade.
The situation now emerging, though certainly not without its risks, will afford 
the citizens of Europe greater opportunities to learn about, appreciate and 
participate in the cultural unity of our continent.
In global terms, the new technological developments will enable Europe, to make 
a greater impact, compared with its major competitors, both industrially and 
culturally - provided a common policy is launched without delay.
2.
Faced with this development the European Community and its Member States 
will have to take the initiative and act in various fields :
O n the institutional front, they will have to devise and put in place a general 
framework for the "European system" with will be constituted by the satellite, 
cable and traditional network, and to examine the economic and financial 
aspects of the new situation, including the question of advertising.
In industrial policy, the aim must be to adopt uniform technical standards and to 
support European industry.
A s regards programme production, no European country will be able to satisfy on 
the enormous needs of tomorrow on its own. The integration at European level of 
the programme market, in terms both of production and of demand - including 
the integration of cinema and video production, in both technical and commer­
cial terms, will become imperative.
And, last but not least, action will be needed in order to maintain the pluralism 
of national identities that go to make up the cultural unity of Europe.
In this context, the creation of a common television programme constitutes a 
first step towards a more European perception of the prospects and problems of 
tomorrow.

- 6 -
3.
The prospects have already given rise to several national and international 
projects in Europe, devised by both public and private bodies. Within the 
European Broadcasting Union (EBU) a number of public television organisations 
are already trying out, among other projects, the production of a common 
television programme - a full programme featuring news, education, entertain­
ment and sport. The purpose of these multilingual experiments started in 1982 
and designed for the 300 million television audience in Western Europe, is to 
identify the technical, economic, political and legal problems involved. In the 
future, this new venture could be transmitted direct to the European public 
especially when the European Space Agency's L-Sat becomes operational in 1986. 
This project, initiated by an autonomous decision of the public broadcasting 
authorities involved paves the way for the first steps in the areas mentioned in 
point 2.
4.
The Commission is therefore prepared to provide political and material support 
and a reference framework for this initiative by the EBU and its members. To 
preserve the independence of the broadcasters and promoting the interests of the 
European public, an appropriate body, bringing together representatives of the 
broadcasters, the governments of the participating countries and if 
appropriate, the Institutions of the European Community could be set up.
5.
An initial public opinion poll conducted by the Commission among the citizens of 
the ten Community countries has shown that a majority (57%) of Europeans are 
interested in a European television channel.
6.
This is only an interim report and its conclusions must therefore be regarded as 
tentative. They will be subject to regular review, to adapt them in the light of 
the unprecedented rate of change in the technological, economic and political 
fields.

- 7 -
I. ·  INTRODUCTION
1.
On 12 March 1982 Parliament adopted the resolution on radio and television 
broadcasting in the European Community (1), which calls on the Commission "to 
submit a report on the media giving assistance to the Community institutions in 
preparing the decisions to be taken by them in this field" and to "create the 
political and legal basis for the realization of a European television channel".
Point 8 of the explanatory statement (2) to the resolution states that the report 
should contain information on the following :
(a) the legislation relating to the media in the Member States;
(b) the legal basis for action by the Community in this field;
(c) the matters in respect of which legal provisions should be laid down;
(d) whether a convention on the media drawn up within the Council of Europe is 
advisable and, if so, what form it should take; and
(e) the legal requirements and pratical possibility for the creation of a 
European television channel.
2.
In this report the Commission understands the term "media" as referring 
exclusively to television, which is the field where the new technologies - 
satellites, cables and video - will have by far the heaviest impact on existing 
structures. This will demand a radical reappraisal of public, professional and 
political attitudes, but will at the same time, open new and unprecedented 
vistas.
(1) Resolution on radio and television broadcasting in the European Community 
(OJ C 110, 5 April 1982); reproduced at Annex 1 .
(2) Published in the report on behalf of Parliament's Committee on Youth, 
Culture, Education, Information and Sport on radio and television broadcas­
ting in the European Community. Rapporteur : M r W . Hahn. Doc. 1-1013/81, 
23 February 1982 (EP 73.271 final).

-  8 -
3.
The report itself is to be regarded as an interim statement, for two basic 
reasons :
the technical and statutory framework is still in a state of flux in all the 
Member States and in the international organizations operating in the field 
of telecommunications. If the Commission and Parliament consider it their 
task to keep up with medium- and long-term developments in order to define 
their role in this field, the data and facts contained in this report will have 
to be systematically updated;
the Commission is preparing a "Green Paper" on the progressive 
establishment of a common market for television, especially 
considering the freedom to provide television services within 
the Community and to receive television programmes transmitted 
from one Member State to another.
Meanwhile the Council of Europe's Steering Committee on the Mass Media is still 
collecting documents, comparing data, studying solutions and drawing up recom­
mendations concerning satellite broadcasting within a broader context. The 
Commission will keep abreast of this activity so that efforts can be coordinated 
to the maximum extent possible.
i
Considering the purpose of the report, to which both the Commission and 
Parliament attach the same importance, it has been decided to give first 
consideration to the practical possibilities of getting a European television 
programme onto the screen in the situation which the new technologies will 
_ _  Create.
7
5.
The data regarding the plans of the various European countries for broadcast 
satellites and cable networks were checked with the International Institute of 
Communications (IIC) in London which was also consulted on developments in 
video reception and recording equipment.
Contact has also been established with the Council of Europe, the European 
Space Agency and the European Broadcasting Union.

- 9 -
II. EUROPEAN TELEVISION AND THE CHALLENGE OF N E W  TECHNOLOGIES
6.
The eighties will be a critical period for the telecommunications industry and 
thus also for the national and international bodies responsible for telecommuni­
cations planning and supervision. Experts believe that the pace of technical 
progress in the coming decade will be greater than in the whole of the preceding 
hundred years. It is only twenty-five years since the launching of the first 
sputnik on 4 October 1957, yet already people depend on satellites for countless 
essential services in their daily lives. The "electronic village" which Marshall 
McLuhan spoke of in the sixties is already a reality.
7.
The new prospects opening up for television are due to developments in three 
fields : satellites and optical-fibre cables for the transmission and distribution of 
programmes, and domestic T V  receivers and video-recorders.
The combination of these developments will have far reaching effects on the 
programme market. Experts have speculated that by the end of the eighties 
European countries would, on average, have 30 cable television channels, 3  
television channels for direct broadcasting by satellite (D B S) and 3  traditional 
television channels, with 10 hours of transmissions a day on each channel. 
Altogether that would amount to some 1  million to \\ million hours of 
broadcasting a year in Western Europe. Assuming that films and similar 
productions would occupy somewhere between a third and half of total broadcas­
ting time, one arrives at some 500,000 hours a year for this type of production. 
Considering that film production in the four leading European countries in this 
field (Germany, France, Italy and the United Kingdom) at present stands at 
around 1,000 hours a year, it can easily be seen that output will have to expand 
enormously. In the absence of sufficient European production, the gap would be 
filled by non-European material.
8.
The new European broadcasting system will comprise satellites, optical-fibre 
cable networks and video receivers.
In the light of the recent decision by a number of European governments to set 
up cable networks, the outlines of the situation by the end of the eighties are 
beginning to emerge in the following form s

-  10 -
the domestic receiver (today's television set) will be linked to a keyboard 
unit to provide a terminal giving access to a wide range of services 
(telecommunications, data banks, etc.), of which television will be only one;
reception will be via cable networks (primarily in urban areas) or via aerials 
which will capture the signals from satellites or land-based transmitters 
(primarily in rural areas).
9.
The introduction of direct broadcasting by satellite (D BS) will accentuate the 
major influence of technology on programming. Programmes will inevitably 
become more international and this will directly affect cultural developments 
for the people of Europe and hence the future of the Community.
Even if most D B S programmes are distributed by cable networks, the result will 
still be the same, provided the States do not place barriers in the way of free 
movement of programmes.
In this respect optical-fibre cables, although representing, as mentioned above, a 
major technological advance which is of great importance for the expansion of 
programme production as well as for a wide range of other communications 
applications, will not have, at the international level, such a revolutionary 
impact as D B S satellites. The installation of cable networks on a large scale now 
being planned by a number of European countries remains, by its very nature, a 
national activity.
The new systems for the transmission, distribution, reception and recording of 
images are already available. But changes and developments within the systems 
themselves are proceeding at such a pace that the scope and significance of the 
technical standards laid down are already being changed. Future national and 
international decisions will have to take such changes into account if they are 
not to be out of date before they come into effect, with the consequent danger 
that they may act as a barriers or causes of delay
The consequences on programmes
10.
Europe is in a special position : by reason of its geography and the density of its 
population, direct broadcasting by satellite will be able to reach more viewers 
outside the country of transmission than inside it. Inevitably the greatest impact 
will be on programmes.
The emerging prospect of larger and larger audiences who will be able to receive 
these progammes across traditional boundaries has given rise to two opposing 
points of view :

- 1 1  -
that it is an opportunity not to be missed for spreading a particular culture 
or message more widely; or
that it poses a threat of "invasion" by a foreign culture.
A  third possible view point would be to consider the future prospects as a 
challenge and incentive to produce new programmes for a new audience on a 
continental scale. In this way a new domestic European market could be borne 
which would develop an increasing ability to resist outside influences and a 
renewed ability to compete on the world market for television programmes.
Technical standards
11.
The countries of Europe, despite having been unable to agree on common 
technical standards for 625-line television, now have a new opportunity to 
standardize their satellite services. This would help to achieve rationalization on 
the internal market and to ensure an effective European presence at world level 
in terms of industry, commerce and exports.
The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is currently preparing common technical 
standards which are due to be ratified in April 1983 (1). Significantly, European 
industry has been consulted by the EBU  and has expressed its approval of 
common European standards for DBS. The first direct broadcasting satellites are 
scheduled for launching in 1985. It is therefore essential to begin at once drawing 
up the timetable of decisions to be taken and then to keep to it, since it will take 
about three years to develop receiving equipment that complies with the new 
standards and bring it onto the market.
D B S regulations in Europe
12.
In 1977 the World Administrative Radio Conference of the International Tele­
communications Union, held in Geneva, adopted rules for Europe, Africa and 
Asia (2) concerning the allocation of frequencies and orbital positions for 
geostationary D BS satellites capable of transmitting a signal powerful enough to 
be received directly in the home with individual or (in the case of an apartment 
block, for example) communal dish aerials.
(1) Annex 2, point 21.
(2) Originally the Conference in Geneva was due to adopt D B S standards for 
North and South America too, but pending further technological develop­
ments the American countries, including the United States, chose not to sign 
the final agreement and to hold the question over for a new Regional 
Conference scheduled for 1983.

-  12  -
An earth station transmits the signal up to the satellite, which then transmits it 
back to the target area. Frequencies and orbital positions for the European 
region have been allocated on a national basis (1), each country being authorised 
to use up to five television channels.
The 1977 conference also laid down the technical parameters for signal reception 
in the target area using "standard" equipment, comprising a dish aerial 90 cm in 
diameter. On the basis of these parameters (signal strength and bandwidth), it is 
possible to show on a map the eliptical area (the "footprint") in which the 
satellite's transmissions can be received with the standard aerial. That part of 
the "footprint" which lies beyond the boundaries of the actual target area is 
defined as the technically inevitable overspill area (2)
The first D B S satellites in Europe are due to be launched in 1985-86 (3).
13.
At present television transmissions via satellite are made only from "point to 
point", i.e. from a transmission station to one or more receiving stations which 
then distribute the programm to domestic receivers via cable or ground 
transmitters.
At the world level - excluding the Soviet Union and Eastern Europe, which 
operate their own "Intersputnik" system (4) - a monopoly of international 
satellite communications was, in principle, granted by governments to Intelsat. 
Intelsat rules stipulate that the creation of any other organization in the same 
field must be approved by Intelsat's Board of Governors. The establishment in 
Europe of Eutelsat comprising the telecommunications authorities of 26 coun­
tries, to manage European communications satellites, has given rise to some 
tension in relations with Intelsat. The situation is further complicated by the 
fact that the Eutelsat countries also belong to Intelsat.
The conflict was temporarily resolved in September 1982, when Intelsat granted 
Eutelsat a concession until 1988 for specific European services.
(1) Except for the five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway 
and Sweden), which were authorized to use eight of their channels for a joint 
regional service (Annex 7, point 115).
(2) Annex 9.
(3) Annexes 5  and 7.
(4) Annexe 5, points 14 and 24.

- 13 -
In Europe "point-to-point" satellites, which also relay telephone and other 
communications, are developed by the European Space Agency. The working life 
of the preoperational O TS satellite (Orbital Test Satellite) in orbit since 1978, 
will run out by the end of 1983. The first two operational satellites in the ECS 
(European Communication Satellites) series will be launched in 1983.
Ilf.
The overspill beyond target areas from future national satellites, significant 
enough at the time of the 1977 decisions, is steadily increasing as progress is 
made in receiver aerial technology. Paradoxically, the original situation is now 
being turned upside-down, with the potential audience in the overspill areas 
exceeding the audience in the target areas.
In theory a government could prohibit its citizens from watching foreign 
transmissions, although this would be unthinkable in the Western démocraties. 
Indeed, the European Convention on Human Rights, ratified by all the Member 
States of the Community, guarantees every person the freedom to receive and 
impart information and ideas without interference by public authority and 
regardless of frontiers (1).
(1) The full text of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights is 
as follows :
"1. Everyone has the right to freedom of expression. This right shall 
include freedom to hold opinions and to receive and impart informa­
tion and ideas without interference by public authority and regardless 
of frontiers. This Article shall not prevent states from requiring the 
licensing of broadcasting, television or cinema enterprises.
2. The exercise of these freedoms, since it carries with it duties and 
responsibilities, may be subject to such formalities, conditions, restri­
ctions or penalties as are prescribed by law and are necessary in a 
democratic society, in the interests of national security, territorial 
integrity or public safety, for the prevention of disorder or crime, for 
the protection of health or morals, for the protection of the reputation 
or rights of others, for preventing the disclosure of information 
received in confidence, or for maintaining the authority and impartia­
lity of the judiciary".
The Convention, drawn up by the Council of Europe, was signed on k 
November 1950 and entered into force on 3  September 1953. All 21 Member 
States of the Council of Europe have signed it, and all but Liechtenstein 
have ratified it.

- l(f -
The imposition of barriers to the distribution of television transmissions from 
one country to another could also be held to be incompatible with the rules laid 
down by the Treaty of Rome concerning freedom to provide services within the 
Community (1).
The reception areas for television programmes will, then, go far beyond 
traditional boundaries; the necessary technical conditions exist therefore for the 
birth of a pan-European television service.
15.
Under the 1977 Agreement no frequencies were allocated for a pan-European 
television service. To establish such a service would therefore require :
the use of a number of national frequencies on the basis of an ad hoc 
agreement; or
the use of an international experimental satellite such as the European 
Space Agency's L-Sat (2), which is due to be launched in the spring of 1986 
and will be powerful enough for its two television channels to be received by 
standard D B S aerials. To use the L-Sat would, of course, require the prior 
consent of the countries participating in its launching and management.
16.
Although each European country may use frequencies for five D BS television 
channels, none of the satellites currently planned will have more than three 
channels. It will be some time before precise details of the way in which these 
channels will be used by the countries concerned are defined, but it appears 
highly unlikely that the governments involved will be prepared to give up all 
claim to one of their channels in favour of a joint programme.
For the present, the option preferred by the experts for an experimental pan- 
European channel - both for technical and economic resons, and because it is the 
most realistic solution in political terms - would be use the ESA's L-Sat.
(1) Articles 59 et seq of the EEC Treaty.
(2) Point 21.

-15-
III. NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL ACTIONS AND PROJECTS - THE 
EUROPEAN SCENE
17.
The current situation on the United States and Canada, large countries without 
internal frontiers, shows how rapidly satellite and cable networks can expand in 
just a few years. The expansion of the cable networks, linked with satellite 
broadcasting, is being held back - at least until 1986 - both by a shortage of 
satellites, and by economic factors inherent in the sheer size of these countries. 
Only direct broadcasting by satellite D B S will make it possible to reach the 
entire population.
The situation is entirely different in Europe : densely populated, criss-crossed by 
national boundaries, it is a patchwork of national and regional languages, 
traditions and cultures. That, beyond any technical or economic factors, will 
have a major influence on decisions regarding satellite broadcasting.
National satellites
18.
Following the decisions of 1977, the D B S satellites of eight European countries
(1) will share the orbital position at 19° West; five countries (2) share the 
position at 31° West; and five smaller states (3) 37° West. The orbital position of 
each satellite determines the orientation of the viewers' television aerials.
The pressures that powerful business interests could bring to bear on the smaller 
countries entitled to the position at 37° West are easy to imagine. International 
conglomerates are prepared to spend money on advertising their products on the 
European market, and the arrival of D B S is seen as an opportunity not to be 
missed by what has been called "thwarted capital" (thwarted by the restrictions 
currently imposed on advertising in Europe). Pressure of this kind is particularly 
to be expected in the cases where the country concerned is unlikely to exploit 
the orbital position and frequencies itself.
(1) Austria, Belgium, France, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, 
Netherlands, Switzerland.
(2) Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, United Kingdom.
(3) Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino, Vatican.

-16-
1 9 .
As things stand at the moment, five to ten national D B S satellites should be in 
orbit by 1990 (1), provided, among other things, that a sufficient number of 
launchers is available. The German satellite, scheduled for early 1985, would 
probably be the first in orbit, followed by a French satellite later that year; in 
1986 the second French satellite should be launched, as well as the two British 
and a Swedish one. The Luxembourg satellite will probably not be launched 
before 1987. Switzerland and the Nordic countries will follow in 1987 and 1988 
respectively (2). All these dates are indicative and subject to change, depending 
in particular on the availability of launchers (Ariance and U S space shuttle).
The Italian Government, which has no plans to put a national satellite into orbit, 
has reserved one of the two television channels on the ESA's L-Sat for D B S 
broadcasts to Italy, thereby ensuring access to a D B S channel through a European 
project rather than by launching its own satellite. The Italian authorities have 
furthermore offered time on this channel to the European Broadcasting Union 
(EBU ) for a European programme (3).
International satellites in Europe (4)
20.
In 1978 the ESA, which has eleven European countries as members and is 
responsible for developing the Ariane rocket, launched the OTS satellite (Orbital 
Test Satellite) which is used, among other things, for "point-to-point" television 
transmissions.
(1) France 2, Federal Republic of Germany 1, Luxembourg 2, Scandinavian 
countries 1, Sweden 1, Switzerland 1, United Kingdom 2. See annex 8 for 
details. (If the Austrian satellite project is approved it will be put into 
effect after 1990).
(2) Annex 7.
(3) Point 21.
(4 ) The structure of the world network of communications satellites, the role of 
Intelsat and its relation to the European organization Eutelsat are mentio­
ned at point 1 3  above. Further details can be found in Annex 5, points 16 to 
23.

- 17 -
OTS will be followed by the ECS series (European Communication Satellite), 
planned for launching in June 1983 and March 1984. These satellites will each 
have nine channels for "point-to-point" television transmissions and telephone 
communications. ECS (like OTS) will be managed by the European Post and 
Telecommunications Services represented in Eutelsat (1)
21.
The launching of L-Sat (Large Satellite) by Arianespace (2), on behalf of the 
ESA, is scheduled for 1986. It is an experimental platform which will serve a 
number of purpose and will be equipped with two D B S television transmitters. 
One transmitter will be permanently beamed at Italy (3), the other has been 
offered by the ESA to the European Broadcasting Union free of charge for three 
years for experimental broadcasts to Europe. L-Sat management will be in the 
hands of the ESA itself. Since the Italian Government has also offered the first 
channel to the EBU, these two L-Sat D B S channels will be able between them to 
cover most of the EBU's member countries; reception would generally be possible 
with individual dish aerials with a diameter of about 90 cm or in outlying areas, 
with larger communal owns (200 cm in diameter) (4).
The activities of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU )
22.
The EBU, which links together European broadcasting organisations (5) has its 
headquarters in Geneva, and it is better known to the European public under the 
name Eurovision.
(1) Annex 5, point 27.
(2) "Arianespace" is a private-sector company set up in France on 26 March 
1980 for the management and commercial exploitation of the Ariane 
launcher. It has its headquarters in Paris and was created by the eleven 
members of the ESA, the (French) National Centre for Space Studies 
(CNES), 3 5 industrial companies and a number of banks.
(3) Point 19 above and Annex 5, point 27.
(4) Annex 9, map 3.
(5) Annex 5, points 32 et seq.

-18-
"Eurovision" is best known to the general public for such programmes as "It's a 
knock-out", the "Eurovision Song Contest", and so on, although these transmis­
sions are only a marginal activity for the EBU. The Olympic Games, the World 
Cup, the European elections, etc. are also transmitted simultaneously throughout 
all of Europe by the EBU. Its most important activity is the management of the 
news exchange system through which its member stations exchange news 
pictures between them three times each day. In addition all trans-border 
television circuits in Europe are managed by the EBU's Technical Centre in 
Brussels.
To adapt to the situation created by the indroduction of new national D B S 
services and the possible future joint satellite television services the EBU  has 
adopted a new constitution which came into force in 1982.
23.
In addition to the studies which are being made by the various EBU bodies of the 
technical, legal and financial aspects of a European channel, it produced a five- 
week series of experimental programmes in 1982 called "EURIKON". Five 
member organizations (1) each produced a week of experimental programmes 
totalling 35 hours (5 hours a day for 7 days), which were transmitted by the O TS 
satellite to 15 stations (2). The object of the operation was to test in practice 
the sort of problems that would be raised by the content, style, organisation, 
coordination and translation of a European programme, broadcast simultaneously 
in several languages and devised by a multinational editorial team. For legal and 
technical reasons these programmes had to be shown on closed circuit ahd were 
not seen by the general public, though audience panels were organized in the 
various countries to get an initial impression of viewer reactions.
Although the final report on these experiments is not yet available, it is already 
decided that new experiments will be made along different lines in the future. In 
particular, Dutch television has offered to make available to EBU member 
stations both studios and the channel allocated to the Netherlands on the new 
ECS satellite for more ambitious experiments which, in certain conditions, could 
be received by the public via cable networks (3).
(1) IB  A, United Kingdom; RAI, Italy; ORF, Austria; NOS, Netherlands; ARD, 
Federal Republic of Germany.
(2) The stations producing the broadcasts plus the television authorities of the 
following countries : Algeria, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, Portugal, 
Spain, Switzerland, Tunisia, Yugoslavia.
(3)Annex 5, point W 7 .

- 19 -
2k.·
In 1982 furthermore the EBU  signed a contract with Eutelsat for the exclusive 
full-time lease of two ECS television channels for ten years. They will serve to 
complement the land-based networks used for existing international 
transmissions.j
The aim of the EBU's experiments is to be ready for D B S in 1986 - and 
particularly for the possibilities which L-Sat will offer of direct access to a 
European public - with a practised "European" infrastructure, even if major 
political, legal and financial questions remain to be solved. The use of a 
European beam via L-Sat - to transmit a jointly-produced EBU  programme - 
will require a modification of the 1977 regulations according to the procedures 
under article k of Appendix 30. These procedures are under way.
Other initiatives
25.
The initiatives discussed so far have all been taken by public-service television 
organizations, controlled by the public authorities of the countries concerned. 
The EBU  itself was also set up by these public-service organisations.
However, the ongoing structural reform of the EBU, begun in 1982, will have to 
take account of a changing situation in Europe where, beside traditional public- 
service television, the private sector is becoming increasingly important.
Private international satellite television ventures are already under way (1). 
They are financed either by traditional advertising or by the sponsoring of 
programmes. It is of interest to note that in Europe advertising accounts for 
approximately a third of the aggregate income of all television stations. It 
seems, according to the business interests involved, that a large amount of 
private capital could be available for investment here.
In addition, the European space industry, associated industries and the audio­
visual industry are looking for new markets both in Europe and elsewhere.
(1) Annex 5, point 52.

-20-
It is clear therefore that pressure is building up for a substantial expansion in 
both technical equipment and programmes for satellite and cable television in 
Europe. The combination of new systems of television production, transmission 
and distribution and strong commercial pressures for the extension of television 
productions is already then a reality. And this trend cannot but increase on the 
years to come (1).
(1) Point 7  : future requirements for television programmes in Europe.

-  21  -
IV . THE CURRENT SITUATION OF TELEVISION IN  EUROPE AND OPTIONS 
FOR THE FUTURE
Specific nature of the situation in Europe
26.
As already stated, the situation in Europe is considerably different from the 
situation in continents where countries covering a large area have few problems 
concerning the "overspill" of satellite broadcasts beyond the target area. In 
Europe, geography and population density combine to make this overspill a factor 
of major importance. Consequently television broadcasts will become "interna­
tionalized" from the second half of the eighties.
27.
Several bodies in Europe and elsewhere have already become aware of the 
situation which is emerging. Various private and public service initiatives 
(described in the Annexes to this report) are based on the possibility of reaching 
more viewers outside national frontiers than inside.
It seems clear that, when all the national and international projects involving 
direct broadcasting by satellite (D B S) have been implemented and are fully 
operational, there will be a wide range of channels in Europe. A  similar situation, 
structural differences apart, is already envolving in North America.
It is also evident that some of these channels will be international in the sense 
that they will broadcast programmes designed for a multinational and multilin­
gual audience from the Arctic Circle to North Africa. Some promotors of D B S 
projects are already proposing to give their programmes a "European" character 
(1)
28.
From the legal angle, the systems governing the electronic media in the Member 
States are protected by national legislation. The very fact that broadcasters 
need a licence from the State - and this condition is contained in all legal 
systems (2) - is significant : broadcasting is somehow seen as one of the 
attributes of national sovereignty. The latest laws on broadcasting, such as the 
French law, uphold this principle. This fact has still to be reconciled with the 
fondamental requirement of freedom of information. This freedom must be 
guaranteed in an entity like the European Community, especially as we are 
heading for a time when, because of DBS, reception areas will no longer coincide 
with national borders.
(1) For example, ZDF in the Federal Republic of Germany, RTL in Luxembourg 
and Eurosat in Andorra (Annex 7, point 10; 58 et seq; 89 and 90).
(2) Annex 10, point 6.

-22-
In view of the medium-term prospects outlined above - all of which will offer 
European viewers a large number of television channels and programmes 
originating in different countries - the question whether the existing legal 
principles need to be reviewed in the light of a completely changed situation will 
have to be considered by the end of the decade.
For the moment, however, the active role played by the public authorities in all 
the Member States in radio and television must be considered as an established 
fact of the European scene. Account must also be taken of the "paramount 
importance" of publicly controlled broadcasting corporations in the Member 
States (underlined by the European Parliament's resolution of 12 March 1982 (1) 
on which this report is based) in "ensuring the development of appropriate 
policies and initiatives in the interests of the people of the Community".
29.
All the initiatives and policies which are being developed for D BS in the interest 
of the people of Europe, will have to take account of the fact that, because of 
the geography and population density of Europe (2), D B S will become a powerful 
unifying factor. Viewers in one country will be able to share television 
programmes with viewers in other countries and will thus acquire a new feeling 
of belonging and involvement. This sharing of pictures and information will be 
the most effective means of increasing mutual understanding among the peoples 
of Europe, and will give them a greater sense of belonging to a common cultural 
and social entity. The development of a truly European spirit will therefore 
become possible in national audiences, who will still, of course, retain their full 
cultural identity.
This European audience will develop new aspirations which cannot be fully 
satisfied by either national initiatives or initiatives by private commercial 
bodies, since both propose to use this European audience created by satellite 
television for their own ends.
Initiatives based on language, like the common French-language proposal, 
launched jointly by France, Belgium and Switzerland, only confirm and reinforce 
a cultural reality which has existed for a long time. By their very nature, they 
cannot come to grips with this new multilingual European reality.
That is why the expectations and demands of the new European audience can 
only be fully satisfied by an initiative which is itself European in its structure 
and objectives.
(1) Annex 1, last recital.
(2) Point 26.

- 23 -
The Community : its interests and role
30.
Parliament's Resolution of 12 March 1982 (1) already contains a number of 
considerations concerning the Community's interests :
- if the Community is not involved in decisions on the utilization of new 
techniques "developments might take place which would not be in the interests 
of the Community";
reporting of Community problems in the past "has been inadequate";
public opinion polls conducted among the citizens of Europe show 
"disappointment with the development of the Community and, at the same 
time, a lack of information as to what is actually going on".
In addition, it should be pointed out that there is no systematic European news 
which is complete and objective, since there is no European television program­
me directed to a European audience.
It is entirely natural that national broadcasters should give priority to national 
subjects or, when they deal with other subjects, to those aspects of relevance to 
their country : this is precisely what happens with European matters. A  national 
view on European and international questions is thus presented to the public.
the Community must take account of the more general interests already outlined 
in Parliament's resolution, calling for a balanced and all-round European pro­
gramme of news, politics, education, culture, entertainment and sport, in which 
the European viewpoint would be based on the ideals and realities of the cultural 
f unity of Europe. Such programme should give equal weight to all regions of the 
Community to increase European awareness and account of the "essence of 
European culture, namely diversity in unity" and, finally, ensure "the 
involvement of people in the regions concerned and their organizations in the 
preparation of appropriate programmes" (2).
31.
A  new service at European level would not of course aim to replace national 
programmes. People in each country would continue to watch programmes from 
their national and regional stations which cater for the interests and culture 
which are close to.them and cover the subjects which affect their everyday lives. 
The role of a common European programme would therefore be to complement 
national programmes'; expanding horizons towards a broader reality and promo­
ting increased awareness.
32.
The Community's role in DBS in Europe would be to facilitate the trans- 
border transmission of national and international programmes within the 
Member States.
(1) Annpx 1 .
(2) Annex 1 .

-24-
, v in doing this, the respect of the EEC treaty rules on the free flow of 
services, in the television field, must be guaranteed and certain 
aspects of television and copyright law coordinated. As indicated above
(1) a Commission "Green Paper" on the gradual establishment of a common, 
market in the television field is being prepared.
It has already been stated (2) that harmonization of technical standards is 
desirable. W ith the introduction of D BS, it should be possible to overcome the 
difficulties encountered in the past as a result of the coexistence of different 
standards (PAL and SECAM ) in Europe.
The question of the harmonization of technical standards particularly concerns 
European industry and will influence its prospects in the Community and outside. 
The industries concerned have moreover expressed their support for the principle 
of standardization. The Community should play the role of a catalyst in this field 
and thus promote the removal of technical barriers to the unification of the 
internal market. The EBU  is drawing up recommendations on this subject and its 
decisions are expected shortly (3).
33.
On the basis of these considerations (4), the objectives of Community action may 
be defined as follows :
the use of a D B S channel specifically reserved for European programmes 
aimed at a European public in general;
maintenance on these programmes of an overall view of the interest of the 
European public.
The problem thus arises of choosing an effective strategy for achieving these 
objectives.
34.
From the second half of the eighties, D B S in Europe will see a variety of 
different initiatives existing side by side and exerting a mutual influence on each 
other (5):
(1) Point 3.
(2) Point 11.
(3) Annex 2, point 21.
(4) Point 29, last paragraph, and point 30.
(5) Annex 7.

-25-
a) programmes transmitted by national satellites which, because of the techni­
cally unavoidable overspill, will be received in substantial areas of neighbou­
ring countries;
b) national programmes which will deliberately use overspill to address audien­
ces in neighbouring countries : examples are the programmes planned by 
RTL (Luxembourg), ZDF (Germany), SSR (Switzerland), ORF (Austria) and 
Eurosat (Andorra);
c) regional programmes of the type to be developed by the Nordic countries 
with the Nord-Sat and Tele-X satellites;
d) programmes based on shared languages, such as the French-language pro­
grammes on which France, Belgium and Switzerland will collaborate from 
1983;
e) programmes made by private commercial bodies (e.g. SA TV  in the United 
Kingdom and Euro-TV in the Netherlands).
Considering the expansion of cable networks planned in some countries (1), all 
these programmes will be received both by means of individual D B S aerials and 
through mixed - D B S plus cable distribution - systems.
35.
This large number of initiatives confirms the internationalization of television 
broadcasting in Europe which will be an acomplished fact by the end of the 
eighties (2).
Faced with this situation and the objectives set out at point 33, the Community 
can choose between three options :
do nothing, leaving it to the various broadcasters to use the opportunity 
presented by D BS and the emergence of a European audience in whatever 
way suits them;
/
encourage a joint initiative by public and, possibly, private stations in 
Europe;
set up an independent European organisation.
36.
The first option would entail giving up the objectives indicated. If the third 
option was selected, a large organization would have to be set up entailing 
serious financial, legal and political problems.
(1) Points 7 and 8.
(2) Point 26.

-26-
These problems have already been set out at point 6 of the explanatory 
statement to the Hahn report (1), which describes this option as "not very 
realistic". The Commission can only share this opinion, at least at the present 
time.
There thus remains the second option, which is also the one recommended in 
Parliament's resolution of 12 March 1982 (2) : to collaborate with the stations, 
especially those belonging to the EBU.
This is the course which the Commission considers appropriate to follow , a n d  
it w ill take all the initiatives w h ic h  m ay  prove necessary for that 
purpose.
The EB U  and the EURIKON experiments
37.
The existence of a common initiative by certain European television stations in 
the form of the EURIKON experiments (3) offers a concrete basis for possible 
Community action.
The 15 participant countries in EURIKON (4) did not include all the Community 
countries, since Belgium, Denmark and Luxembourg did not take part. On the 
other hand two countries outside Europe (Algeria and Tunisia) were involved.
The European idea behind these experiments is in the broadest sense, being based 
on criteria such as geographical proximity, cultural unity and historical heritage. 
Indeed, satellites will not respect Community boundaries any more than national 
ones.
38.
The main aims of the EURIKON experiments can be summarized as follows :
to develop a truly pan-European service to reach out beyond the traditional 
barriers of nationality and language to a new audience more than 300 million 
strong;
(1) Point 1  (footnote 2)
(2) Annex 1 .
(3) Points 23 and 2^.
(4) Point 23 (footnotes 1  and 2).

- 27 -
- to establish the nucleus of a European editorial structure, i.e. a team of highly 
qualified broadcasters who, with the support of the organizations they come 
from, are convinced of the value of their work and believe in its future;
- to identify the proposed project's inherent technical, legal, cultural, linguistic 
and economic problems.
Representatives from the five coordinating stations (in United Kingdom, Italy, 
Austria, Netherlands and Germany) set up a joint working group to direct the 
experiment; Parliament and the Commission were represented by observers. This 
group provided on operational testing ground for the international editorial team 
producing a real common programme.
39.
A  report on the EURIKON experiments will be presented to the EBU  by the 
coordinators in the spring of 1983. This report will also contain the results of the 
audience research carried out to test reactions to the programmes produced
The confidence of the participants in the EURIKON experiment as regards the 
value of their initiative is illustrated by their decision in principle to conduct 
new experiments in 1983. These will take different forms, since their aim is to 
study the widest possible range of technical options and cultural concepts, but 
the basic objective remains the same : to be ready for the advent of D B S in 
Europe, in the latter half of the eighties, equipped with a professional and 
technical machinery developed to meet the needs of the new European public.
Advent of D B S
4 0 .
The EBU members feel that the first major date with the D B S will be the 
launching of L-Sat by the ESA which, as from 1986, will provide the means for 
far-reaching experiments before a European public. As already mentioned (1), 
these experiments could make use of the satellite's two television channels. The 
two channels will allow programmes to be received in most Western European 
countries with individual dish aerials about 90 cm in diameter and, in outlying 
areas, with communal aerials of 200 cm (2).
(1) Point 21.
(2) Annex 9.

- 28 -
As for the alternative possibility (l)of using different channels on the national 
satellites simultaneously to reach a Europe-wide audience, the EBU  feels, quite 
apart from the comments already put forward (2), that this would be a waste of 
resources since the areas covered by the channels used (their footprints) would 
overlap in most cases. Several channels would thus be used to broadcast the same 
programme to the same area. A  pan-European reception would be possible, 
however, by using a limited number (4 or 5) of satellites.
41.
Decisions as to the best time to launch a Community action must be taken
quickly for two reasons :
- firstly, a technical point : L-Sat, which will go into orbit in 1986, will have a 
useful life of six to ten years. The follow-up to these experiments, which may 
take the form of a European D B S system, will be determined by decisions 
taken now as to how it should be used;
- secondly, as underlined at the very beginning of this report (3), the eighties 
will be a critical period for telecommunications. Given the enormous number 
of D B S initiatives in the offing, the developpment of a European service and 
its acceptance by the viewing public will become progressively more difficult 
as other new programmes come to occupy the satellite channels.
Possible forms of cooperation
42.
If European television channel by satellite is to be set up, the Community's 
cooperation with European television organisations working together on it within 
the EB U  framework should be based on three main criteria :
- to provide the organisations taking part with material support, a reference 
framework and, if necessary, a legal basis;
- to safeguard the independence of the professional broadcasters in performing 
their duties and producing programmes;
- to ensure an overall view of the interests of the European viewing public (4).
(1) Point 4  of Parliament Resolution of 12 March 1982 (Annex 1).
(2) Points 15 and 16.
(3) Point 6.
(4) Point 33.

- 29 -
43.
Given these aims, and following a thorough examination of responsibi lities 1  
in the field, the Community could decide to encourage the creation of an 
ad hoc organization by the members of the EBU, and under the auspices of 
the EBU itself, or to participate in a project of this kind at the invi­
tation of its initiators.
The major part of the financing for this initiative would probably have to come 
from the companies involved.
As for advertising, there is reason to believe (as already mentioned (1)) that 
extensive funds are available for financing television programmes in Europe - 
even up to 100 %. However, any decision to make use of this source of financing 
would have complex political and cultural implications and cannot be taken 
without agreement between the participant companies, on the one hand, and the 
Community and national authorities involved, on the other (2).
In terms of financial participation by Community Institutions a distinction 
has to be m ade between the experimental period involving the prepariion 
of such broadcasts and the creation of a permanent body to run a joint 
European service.
The willingness of the Institutions to lend their support, even financial support, 
to the experimental phase presents no apparent problems. A  direct and regular 
contribution from the Community budget to cover the cost of a joint service 
might on the other hand be seen by the broadcasters as an undesirable factor of 
political control of programming. But one of the basic principles of any 
Com m unity support - as outlined in the point above - is precisely t o 
safeguard the broadcasters' independence : for this reason the creation 
of an appropriate mechanism could be envisaged (point 45).
The Community will therefore have to find, in consultating the television 
organisations, and in the light of the role which it is willing and able to play, the 
most appropriate form for its involvement.
44.
The European service should have a permanent structure as simple and as 
flexible as possible . It might consist of four components :
- an international programming team made up of professionals seconded from 
the participant stations. This team would be responsible for programme 
shedules, based either on contributions devised and produced in a European 
perspective by participant stations or on original productions;
(1) Point 25.
(2) For details of EBU and Council of Europe action in this field, see Annex 5, 
point 35, and Annex 6, point 7, respectively.

-3 0 -
- an editorial team responsible for news and magazine programmes, likewise 
international and made up of television journalists from participant companies, 
who would be guaranteed complete independence in their work;
- a translation and interpreting service covering the languages used. There is 
little need to underline the complexity, delicacy and importance of this 
(highlighted by the EURIKON experiments);
- the requisite administrative and technical infrastructures. ,
These four components would be provided for the most part by the participating 
television companies, although the possibility of Community participation should 
not be ruled out. This could be limited to special operations on specifically 
Community projects, and to observer status.
45.
An appropriate body consisting of representatives of the b ro a d c a ste rs ,
the governments of the countries involved, and, if appropriate, the
Com m unity Institutions, could be set up with three main functions :
- to define the framework for the activities of the new organization on the basis 
of principles accepted by all concerned, and to ensure that these principles are 
respected;
- to ensure that the independence of those responsible for programming and 
news broadcasting is protected against unwarranted interference;
- to arbitrate in any disputes and problems raised by members of the organiza­
tion.
Opinion poll among Community citizens
4 6.
Through its "Euro-Barometer", the Commission has organized a preliminary 
opinion poll in the Community on the public reaction to a multilingual European 
channel (1).
In October-November 1982 six questions were put to 9,600 respondents (aged 15 
and above) who were interviewed in the ten Community countries by professional 
pollsters. The poll was conducted as a supplement to Euro-Barometer No 18.
A  majority of Europeans (57 %) expressed interest in the idea of a European 
television network. The question that was put to them read as follows :
(1) Annex 6.

- 31 -
"With the development in the next few years of satellite TV , you may be able 
to get reception on your own T V  set, as well as the programmes you get now 
from British transmitters, a European T V  channel whose programmes (news, 
entertainment, sport, education, etc.) will be made by several European 
countries working together, including our own. How much does this idea 
interest you ?"
The answers received fall into the following categories :
Community as a whole
(% )
. A  lot 30?). Somewhat 27)
. A  little bit 2 0))
. Not at all 1 9). Don't know 4
100
In addition to this central point (the viewing public's interest in the plan for a 
European television channel) the survey also covered the extent to which viewers 
in the different Community countries watch foreign television programmes, and 
preferences regarding the technical possibilities of solving the language pro­
blems.
47.
The answers to the question about the idea of a multilingual European channel 
are very encouraging and exceed the most optimistic forecasts. Even if, not 
surprisingly, greater interest is shown in the more highly educated sector of the 
population, whose attitude towards the Community is also more favourable, the 
percentage recorded is extremely positive and favours support for the existing 
projects for a joint European channel and action by the Community institutions 
along the same lines.
(1) Annex 11.

-32-
Final considerations
H 8.
The Commission feels that the creation of a European television service 
of the type envisaged by the EBU and its members is highly desirable. 
It has no ambition to ururp the function of professional broadcasters, 
but believes that such a service would go a long way to making and keep­
ing Europe's citizens aware of the European dimension in their lives in 
political, economic, social as well as cultural areas. It would· thus 
help to attain the primary objective of the Treaty of Rome, which is
"to lay the foundations of an ever closer union among the peoples of
Europe".
The Commission, in conjunction with Parliament, is therefore willing to take 
all the initiatives which may prove necessary in support of the EBU and 
its members in their efforts to establish a European service made pos­
sible by new communication technologies.

ANNEX 1
RESOLUTION ON RADIO AND TELEVISION BROADCASTING IN 
THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY
Adopted by the European Parliament on 12 March 1982 and 
published in the Official Journal of the European Communities
on 5 April 1982

Annex 1
No C 87/110 Official Journal of the European Communities 5.4.1982
RESOLUTION
on radio and television broadcasting in the European Community
adopted on 12 March 1982
The European Parliament,
- having regard to the motion for a resolution by Mr Pedini, Mr Hahn and others 
on radio and television broadcasting in the European Community (Doc. 1-409/80),, 
the motion for a resolution by Mr Schinzel and others on the threat to diver­
sity of opinion posed by commercialization of the new media (Doc. 1-422/80), 
and the European Parliament's resolution of 16 January 1981 on the information 
policy of the European Community, of the Commission of the European Communi­
ties and of the European Parliament (1),
-•having regard to the report of the Committee on Youth, Culture, Education, 
Information and Sport and the opinions of the Political Affairs Committee and 
the Legal Affairs Committee (Doc. 1-1013/81),
- convinced of the need for all citizens of the Member States to receive authen­
tic information on Community policy and thus to be given a share in the poli­
tical responsibility,
- whereas adequate and expert information is essential to the development! of a 
sense of common responsibility and willingness to take joint political action,
- whereas radio and television are today the chief media for informing and shap­
ing public opinion,
(1) 0J No C 28, 9.2.1981, p. 74; Schall report (Doc. 1*596/80).

5.4.1982 Official Journal of the European Communities N o  C  87/111
- whereas reporting of European Community problems in the past has been inade­
quate and in many cases negative,
- having regard to the public opinion polls recently conducted among the citi­
zens of Europe, which show an alarming disappointment with the development of 
the Community and, at the same time, a Lack of information as to what is ac­
tually going on,
- having regard to the unsatisfactory results of the latest European Council 
summit with regard to the solution of existing urgent problems.
- whereas the introduction of transmission by satellite, which may be expected 
in the years ahead as a result of new technologies, and the different cable 
systems, will vastly increase broadcasting capacity via the additional chan­
nels and make it possible to reach all regions of Europe simultaneously,
- whereas the anticipated media revolution in the Member States is causing in­
creasing discussion of the reorganization of television broadcasting and 
whereas a large number of different proposals have been made on the use of the 
new facilities and in some cases far-reaching decisions are about to be taken,
- concerned that if the European Community and its institutions do not partici­
pate in this decision-making process, developments might take place which 
would not be in the interests of the Community,.
- convinced that the timely intervention of the European Community in the deci­
sion-making process will help to achieve an appropriate solution,
- convinced tfiat the role and involvement of publicly controlled broadcasting 
corporations in the Member States is of paramount importance in ensuring the 
development of appropriate policies and initiatives in the interests of the 
people of the Community,
1. Calls on the Commission to submit within six months a report on the media 
giving assistance to the Community institutions in preparing the decisions to 
be taken by them in this field and containing in particular the information 
mentioned in paragraph 8 of the explanatory statement and, on the basis of this 
report, to create the political and legal basis for the realization of a Euro­
pean television channel;

No C 87/112 Official Journal of the European Communities 5.4.1982
2. Regards it as essential for the European Community to encourage the national 
television companies and the European Broadcasting Union in their plans to esta­
blish a European television channel and for it to take part in the related dis­
cussions and decisions;
3. Considers close cooperation with the European Broadcasting Union to be impe­
rative;
4. Calls on the Community institutions to ensure that the Member States make 
the fifth channels of the national satellites available for a European channel, 
or to see that one channel of the L-satellites to be launched by the European 
Space Agency in 1986 is reserved for this purpose;
5. Proposes that the European television channel should provide a full range of 
programmes, covering news, politics, education, culture, entertainment and sport 
and that it should be European in origin, transmission range, target audience 
and subject matter;
6. Expects that equal weight will be given to all regions of the European Commu­
nity to increase European awareness and recommends that account be taken of the 
essence of European culture, namely diversity in unity; and that initiatives will 
be undertaken to ensure the involvement of people in the regions concerned and 
their organizations in the preparation of appropriate programmes;
7. Considers that outline rules should be drawn up on European radio and tele­
vision broadcasting, inter alia with a view to protecting young people and esta­
blishing a code of practice for advertising at Community level;
8. Instructs its own television service to make available all technical facili­
ties possible for Eurovision broadcasts, and urges the Commission to do likewise;
9. Instructs its President to forward this resolution and the report of its 
committee to the Council and the Commission.

ANNEX 2
TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS 
Contents
The satellite systems :  launchers, spillover and reception 
Launchers
Satellites and their footprints 
Reception
Optical fibre cables 
Video equipment 
Video cassettes 
Videodiscs

43
TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS
1. The new horizons opened up to television are the outcome of progress in 
three sectors - satellites, optical fibre cables and video receiving and 
recording equipment.
The satellite systems :  launchers, spillover and reception
2. Satellite television broadcasting systems (together with radio and other 
communications systems, of course) depend on the availability of, first, a 
space launcher to place the satellite in a geostationary orbit approximately 
36 000 km (1) above the equator, second, the satellite itself, capable of 
transmitting amplified signals received from ah earth station towards 
the relevant reception area; and third, equipment for receiving such 
signals.
Launchers
3. The European countries now possess the Ariane rocket to put satellites into
orbit. Plans for developing Ariane 1, 2 and 3 involved an operational launch
programme running from 1982 to 1986 (2).
4. The payload of Ariane 1  and 2 is 1  700 kg; Ariane 3 should bring this up to
2 400 kg and it is scheduled to be available for the end of 1983 or 
beginning of 1984. Development of Ariane 4 with a payload of 4 200 kg was 
authorized last January, and it should be available for operation at the 
beginning of 1986.
5. Ariane at present has to face competition from the United States space
shuttle, which can carry a 29 500 kg payload to low orbit (3) and also 
launch such a payload towards the ultimate geostrationary orbit approxim­
ately 36 000 km above the equator. It also has to face competition from the 
United States Delta rocket. The space shuttle's launch schedule is very full 
at the moment. (4)
(1) 35 785 km.
(2) Annex 3.
(3) The orbit which can be reached by the first two shuttles (Columbia and 
Challenger) is approximately 250 miles (402.3 km), but Columbia has not yet 
exceeded altitudes of between 155 and 170 miles (250 and 273.5 kms).
(4) Annex 4.

6. During its fifth flight, which took place between 11 and 16 November 1982, 
the first American space shuttle, Columbia, placed two satellites in geo­
stationary orbit. One, the SBS-3, is the third in a series of business 
communication satellites for Satellite Business Systems (1); the other, Anik 
C-3, belongs to Telesat Canada (2) and is intended for commercial 
communications - direct broadcasting, telephone circuits etc. within Canada, 
operating in a frequency range of 12 to 14 GHz.
After Columbia released the two satellites into space at 250 km altitude, 
the SBS-3 and Anik C-3 came under the direct control of their owners, who
transmitted the radio signals (from Washington DC for the SBS and from
Ottawa for Telesat Canada) needed to activate the propellant systems in the 
two satellites and guide them to their final position in geostationary orbit 
36 000 Km above the equator.
7. Where cost is concerned, the price of launching Ariane was, in March 1982, 
between % 20 and 22 million. The declared cost for the Delta rocket at the 
same was % 25 million, whilst NASA gave figures of % 32 and 38 million, at 
1975 prices, for the space shuttle for missions in 1982 and in October 1985
(3). It should be remembered, however, that the cost of a shuttle space 
mission can be spread over a number of users.
8. The world requirement for satellite launches between now and 1990 is
assessed at 200.
Satellites and their footprints
9. Technical advances are more and more tending to blur the basic distinction 
between satellites used for "point to point" transmission (i.e. fixed 
services between a broadcasting station and one or more receiving stations, 
but not involving direct reception by the general public) and direct broad­
casting satellites, whose signals are to be received by the general public. 
Recently even the legal distinction, which nonetheless remains valid in 
principle, has been called into question. (4)
(1) A company formed by International Business Machines (IBM), Consat General 
and Aetna Life and Casualty.
(2) Established by the Canadian Parliament on 1  September 1969, this is a 
semi-public company formed by Canadian telecommunications firms and the 
Canadian Federal Government.
(3) But NASA only charged SBS and Telesat Canada M  to 9 million for launching 
their satellites in November 1982, on the basis of prices set several years 
ago in order to attract customers for the shuttle.
(4) There are plans for "hybrid" satellites which would be used for broadcasting 
either point to point or direct to the public. Such flexibility in use would 
have obvious technical and economic advantages. In addition, it is 
recognized that signals broadcast from a direct broadcasting satellite could 
legally be received by a communal aerial servicing a group of users. At the 
moment no accurate definition of the size of a communal group has been 
provided. Should the communal aerial service a cable network for a entire 
city, the difference between this service and point-to-point satellite 
broadcasting would in practice be difficult to ascertain.
Conversely, if a large number of aerials able to receive the signals trans­
mitted by point-to-point satellites were used (assuming the necessary 
licences were granted) by blocks of flats or hotels, what difference would 
there be between this and direct satellite broadcasting 7

45
10. The "Direct Broadcasting Satellite" (DBS) is a powerful, geostationary 
satellite whose signals can be received by domestic television sets either 
via an individual dish aerial of 90 cm diameter (1) or via a communal 
aerial. „An earth station beams a signal up to the satellite, which 
amplifies and broadcasts it towards the target area.
11. Each satellite, consisting of a platform and payload, can be expected in the 
present state of the art to have a ten-year working life. A DBS system is 
held to be operational when two satellites are in orbit and able to 
function, one being immediately available if the other breaks down, and when 
a third is held in reserve on the ground ready for launching.
12. The World Administrative Radio Conference (WARC) organized by the 
International Telecommunications Union (2) in Geneva in 1977 set basic 
standards for DBS in Europe, Africa and Asia. These came into force in 1979 
and apply for at least 15 years.
The national DBS reception areas were defined by WARC as areas in which the 
quality of the signal received via a standard 90 cm diameter aerial is 
acceptable. These areas (the footprint of the satellite) are strictly 
defined using two parameters, the strength of the signal and the width of 
the beam, determined by the Conference in direct relation to the surface 
area of the country involved (3). It should be added that as a result of 
technical progress the size of aerials is being reduced. In the maps at 
Annex 9, the central area of each footprint where reception would be 
possible with a 60 cm aerial is delineated.
13. Frequency ranges were set at between 11.7 and 12.5 GHz for Europe and 
Africa and 11.7 - 12.2 Ghz for Asia, and the Conference reaffirmed the 
principle that satellite services should be aimed at the national territory
(4).
14. As stated in the Report (5), the divergence between the reception area in 
which DBS broadcasts may be received via the standard aerial and the 
national territory involved is defined by the ITU as the technically 
unavoidable spillover area.
15. The positions in orbit over the equator of the satellite which each European 
country is entitled to launch were determined by the Geneva Conference, 
which also decided to grant each country a maximum capacity of five 
television channels.
(1) Para. 12.
(2) Annex 5.
(3) France and Italy were granted wide beams and power ratings up to 320 watts. 
Germany and the United Kingdom have narrower beams and power ratings up to 
230 watts. Switzerland and Luxembourg have respective narrow beams, and 
power ratings of 100 watts and 40 watts respectively.
(4) The exceptions to these rules are s  the countries too small to comply with 
the norm (Andorra, Liechtenstein, Monaco, San Marino and the Vatican); the 
five Nordic countries (Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden), which 
have been authorized to use 8 of their 25 channels for a joint regional 
channel; and the Islamic countries, which were given a similar 
authorization.
(5) Para. 12.

46
Reception
16. For the direct reception of satellite transmissions viewers will need to 
obtain special equipment in addition to his or her present receiver. This 
equipment consists of two main items ;
a) a parabolic areal of around 90 cm. diameter which will have to be 
installed securely and aimed towards a precise orbital position (in which 
several satellites can be located);
b) a converter/decoder which will feed the signals direct to the normal 
receiver. Init.ial L y  this will take the form of an additional item (the 
so-called "black box") but in later models may be integrated in the 
receiver.
The cost of this additional equipment is likely to be similar to that of a 
modern colour TV set or home video recorder, the areal and its installation 
being much more expensive than the black box.
17. Were sound is concerned, it was unanimously agreed at the beginning of 1982 
within the EBU that a digital encoding system would be adopted to replace 
the analog systems used hitherto. However, a decision still has to be 
reached on which of the various digital techniques for TV sound transmission 
should be chosen.
18. As for colour picture transmission, the British Government recently (on 29 
November 1982), came out in favour of adopting the MAC (Multiplexed Analogue 
Component) system perfected in the United Kingdom by the Independent 
Broadcasting Authority (IBA).  The Part Report (1) on choosing a new DBS 
standard whose recommendations were accepted by the Government, proclaims 
the technical superiority of the MAC system over the other systems proposed. 
This report also states that the MAC system is the only possible basis for a 
broad European agreement on a single video standard.
19. The Part Report explicitly recommended adoption of the MAC system with 
system C for sound. In this connection, whilst expressing a preference for 
the British "structure map" system, the Home Office Committee stated that 
the French system (packet multiplexing) should not be opposed if it was 
generally preferred and might promote the adoption of a single European 
standard.
20. The EBU's Technical Committee, consisting of representatives of member 
broadcasting organizations, has been following the development of the new 
systems from their inception. In December 1981 the Administrative Council of 
the EBU labelled the definition of broadcasting standards for DBS satellites 
in Europe as urgent and invited the Technical Committee to increase its 
efforts towards recommending a single standard for satellite broadcasting at 
European and possibly world level during 1983.
(1) Produced by the Home Office Committee consisting of Sir Anthony Part 
(Chairman),  Professor Alan Day of the London School of Economics and 
Professor Roy Griffiths, Professor of Electronics at Loughborough 
University.

47
21. From 10 to 15 january 1983 a week of technical demonstrations was organized 
in London in order to compare the various systems. At the beginning of 
February, the Bureau of the Technical Committee recommended to the Committee 
the adoption of a system of the C-MAC-packet type, as the only possible 
candidate for a common European standard. System specifications will be 
approved by the Committee at their plenary session in Copenhagen, on 18-22 
April next.
Optical fibre cables
22. The main advantages of optical fibre cables are their massive transmission 
capacity and their particular suitability for transmitting digitally encoded 
information (in line with the world trend towards dropping the analogue 
method used hitherto).
Unlike coaxial cables, optical fibre systems have capability for trans­
mitting sound, pictures and data, for providing interactive services 
including video telephone and videoconferencing, and for remote document 
copying (telefax).
23. Optical fibres fit in well with all the components of a telecommunications 
network and have even greater advantages :
- their material is readily available and cheap (sand instead of copper);
- they are cheap to manufacture, since only one process is involved;
- they are light (ten times lighter than copper);
- they are small bore cables, so little space is required for installation. 
In addition, optical fibres are not subject to electromagnetic interference.
24. The converter, which converts the signals from the cable into UHF signals 
for the television screen, could be' made into a terminal which the 
subscriber could use to select programmes, information services etc, with a 
capacity of up to 50 channels.
25. In several European countries there have recently been decisions to expand 
utilization of cables; these decisions are summarized in Annex 7.
26. The basic observation to be made with regard to the potential of optical 
fibre cables is that their characteristics make it technically and 
economically possible to boost television transmission capability 
tremendously throughout Europe. This is therefore a powerful factor which 
alone, or in conjunction with satellite broadcasts (and particularly those 
which could be transmitted from point-to-point satellites), enhances the 
prospects for cross-frontier broadcasting and for European channels.
Video equipment
27. The term video is used with reference to a whole range of equipment for 
receiving and recording programmes, development of which rapidly increased 
from the mid-seventies with significant repercussions on all visual media.
The biggest boom was in the "home-video" sector, equipment for private, 
non-professional use, stimulating the expansion of the manufacturing 
industry.

*8
Towards the end of 1982, expert forecasts were hinting that the growth in 
the world market for such equipment might decrease and even fall off 
altogether in 1985, following the arrival of DBS and cable networks. The 
trend towards a fall-off would be more marked in countries in which pay-TV 
was introduced.
At present, the market is flooded by Japanese products whose production 
figures have exceeded all targets. To meet a demand estimated at 11 million 
units in 1982, Sony and JVC (Japan Victor Company) alone produced 
approximately 14 million units.
Videocassettes
28. The three systems for recording pictures on magnetic tape cassettes 
(European, American and Japanese) which now share the world market are 
technically incompatible with each other (and also with the other Japanese 
system, U-Matic, which is for professional use). Approximately 60 makes and 
models using one or other of the three systems are on offer to the consumer.
Videocassettes for non-professional use now play a part in two fields - 
recording by private individuals of programmes received either off air or 
via cable on their personal television set for timeshift viewing, with the 
possibility of recording one programme while watching another; and 
specialized firms supplying the public with pre-recorded videocassettes. The 
breakdown of these various types of use varies from one country to another 
(1).
Videodiscs
29. The videodisc is only just coming onto the market. The equipment needed for 
playback costs half the price of the cassette recorder and is less fragile 
and easier to use. The picture quality is better and it can be linked to a 
hi-fi system. The long-playing disc itself, approximately 30 cm in diameter, 
costs a third of the price of a videocassette and is far easier and cheaper 
to manufacture. The two sound channels can either be used together (stereo 
effect) or separately, which means that two different language versions of 
the same recording can be made available. It is also possible to add 
sub-titles.
However, unlike videocassettes, videodiscs cannot be used to record 
television programmes. The number and quality of recordings available on 
disc are therefore decisive factors for the success of the system; it is the 
problem of software availability which has put a brake on sales.
(1) Annex 7.

49
The three systems available - Philips Laservision, RCA Selectavision and 
JVC’s VHD - are incompatible. This first system uses a laser beam and the 
tow others a stylus on a plane disc (1).
There are three sectors in which future expansion of videodiscs could take 
place :
1. TV and cinema programmes, exhibiting excellent picture quality and stereo 
sound characteristics;
2. Data files for companies and research institutes;
3. Educational programmes.
(1) The RCA system was launched on the American market in March 1981 with a 
stock of 100 disc titles available. It is to be marketed under licence in 
Europe in 1983 by European firms (in Japan the licences have been granted to 
Hitachi and Toshiba).
Sales in the United States were 2.9 million discs in the first 9 months; 
this did not meet RCA’s expectatioriS/but the firm is still convinced that the 
product is viable.

A N N E X  3
IA N E  L A U N C H  P R O G R A M M E

A nnex 3
Ariane Launch Programme
(announced by Arianespace (1) on 28 February, 1983)
Transition phase (ESA -CN ES) C Z )
Date Launch Transported sate llites
3 June 1983 
26 August 1983
4 November 1983 
January 1984L 6
L 7
L 8
L 9EC S-1 and A M S A T  
Intelsat-5 F 7  
Intelsat-5 F 8  
Intelsat-5 F 9
Commercial phase
1984
March
M a y
July
September
NovemberL10 
Li 1
L12
L13
L14ECS-2 and Westar-6
Telecom-la or 
M A R E C S -b2 and Spacenet-1
Gstar-1 and Arabsat-1 
or M A R E C S -b 2
Spacenet-2 and Gstar-2 
or Telecom-1b
M A R E C S -b2 or Arabsat-1 
and " slìc o r-'r G r.r.a —2
(1) Report, point 21, footnote 2.
(2) During the transition phase, the launches will s til l be mainly the 
responsibility of the European Space Agency and of the (French) Centre 
National des Etudes Spatiales. During the commercial phase, the 
management of the rocket will be entirely entrusted to Arianespace.

1985
January
February
April
M a y
June-July
July-August
August-September 
OctoberL 15
L16
L17
L18
L19
L20
L 2 1
L 22Spot-1 and Viking
SB TS-1 and ECS-3
Intelsat-5A F14 or 
TV-Sat
TV-Sat or Intelsat-5A 
F14
Intelsat-5A F15 or 
T D F-1
Giotto
SBTS-2 and . . .
TD F-1 or Intelsat-5A 
F 15
December L 23 Ariane-4-01
Satellites to be launched in 1986 :
STC-1, Anik, CLT-1, Unisat-1 and 2, Skynet-1 and 2, L-Sat, D B S  Corp.-1 .and 
2, Tele-X, Intelsat-6, Spot-2, Postsat.
O n  28 February 1983, the press release from Arianespace said that the 
technical problems which caused the failure of 10 September 1982 were 
solved. Construction of the second launching pad ELA -2 at Kourou was 
progressing and its completion will permit up to 10 launchings per year, 
starting in 1985.

A N N E X  A
U S  S P A C E  S H U T T L E  L A U N C H  P R O G R A M M E

-  57 -
Annex 4
U S  S P A C E  S H U T T L E  L A U N C H  P R O G R A M M E
Dates N am e of s a te llite s
October 1984 - January 1987 A  to tal of six Intelsat s a te llite s  
are scheduled for launching
1984 M ay
July
OctoberWestar 6 
Westar 7
R C S  Domestic s a te llite
1985 M ay R C A  Domestic s a te llite
1986 January 
Apri l
Apri l
August
NovemberS T C  Corporation D B S  s a te llite  
S T C  Corporation and R C A  D B S  
s a te llite
R C A  Domestic s a te llite  
S T C  D B S  s a te llite  
S T C  D B S  s a te llite  and R C A  D B S  
s a te llite
1987 February 
Apri lS T C  D B S  s a te llite  
R C A  Domestic s a te llite

59
ANNEX 5
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND INITIATIVES
Summary
Page
World-wide 51 
United Nations 51 
UNESCO 5r 
International Telecommunications Union (ITU) 62 
Other international organizations 64 
International Satellite communications systems 64 
Intelsat 64 
InterSputnik
Inmarsat 66 
Europe 67 
European Space Agency (ESA) 67 
Eutelsat 69 
European Broadcasting Union (EBU) 69 
The EBU and the prospects for pan-European television programmes 70 
EURIKON experimental programme within the EBU 71 
Conference on European Cooperation in Broadcasting 72 
Private initiatives 73
UNITED NATIONS RESOLUTION
on international cooperation in the peaceful uses of outer space

61
INTERNATIONAL ORGANIZATIONS AND INITIATIVES
World-wide
United Nations
1. A number of international organizations, both governmental and non-govern­
mental, have responsibilities in the field of DBS. At world level, the 
United Nations is mainly concerned about the peaceful use of outer space; it 
held its second conference on this subject in Vienna from 9 to 21 August 
1982. The UN’s ad hoc Committee and its Legal Sub-committee, after fourteen 
years of work, have prepared a resolution on the principles governing direct 
broadcasting by satellite, which states that the prior consent of a country 
was required only when satellite broadcasts were deliberately beamed to it 
by another country.
The solution was adopted by the General Assembly in December 1982 by 109 
votes to 13, with 13 abstentions. Nine European countries (Belgium, Denmark, 
Germany, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Norway, Spain and the United 
Kingdom) voted against; seven (Austria, Finland, France, Greece, Ireland, 
Portugal and Sweden) abstained.
The text of the resolution is reproduced at the end of this annex.
UNESCO
2. UNESCO is responsible for the "new world information order", cultural 
policies, problems concerning authors’  rights and the development of 
communications. The Council of the International Programme for the Develop­
ment of Communications (IPDC) held its second meeting in Acapulco in January 
1983 to establish priorities for its own activities and for projects to be 
supported. Fifteen projects were approved in the basis of these priorities; 
they will be financed from the IPDC's special fund and partly from other 
sources.
3. A large symposium on regional and international mechanisms for the 
dissemination and exchange of information was organized by UNESCO from 27 to 
30 October 1981. It was attended by regional associations of radio and TV 
broadcasting authorities, international and regional press agencies, and a 
large number of observers from other international organizations, notably 
the western and eastern organizations responsible for the Intelsat and 
Intersputnik systems (1). A joint committee of the two working groups in the 
symposium (press and radio and television broadcasting) asked for an urgent 
investigation into the world satellite system so that this could be used for 
distributing information world-wide. The symposium unanimously passed a 
resolution calling for investigation into the permanent rental of half the 
time on three channels, one on each of the Intelsat satellites serving the 
Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans, for the exchange of televised 
information and cultural programmes.
The study would be based on the experience of the regional broadcasting and 
press associations. The symposium decided that direct negotiations with 
Intelsat should be conducted by a delegation consisting of representatives 
of the regional broadcasting unions and press agencies, assisted by UNESCO.
(1)Point 14.

62
4. The direct contacts between the symposium delegation and Intelsat in 
November 1981 constitute a departure from the principle that media 
organizations can only use the Intelsat system via their national post and 
telecommunications authority (1). The symposium expressed the hope that the 
UN Secretary-General or the Director-General of UNESCO would approach 
national governments secure preferential tariffs from the authorities for 
the planned world service.
5. Participants in the UNESCO symposium clearly agreed that, if the world-wide 
exchanges to which the resolution referred could in fact be organized, the 
whole organization would be managed by the staff of broadcasting and press 
organizations. UNESCO would act singly as a catalyst and as a source of 
finance.
International Telecommunications Union (ITU)
6. The ITU, which has 157 member countries, is the oldest of the UN specialized 
agencies. Its main responsibility is the international regulation of 
frequencies.
The governing body of the ITU is the Plenipotentiary Conference, which at 
each meeting revises and renews the International Telecommunication 
Convention on which the ITU is based. There have been six Plenipotentiary 
Conferences since the second world war :
Atlantic City, 2 July - 2 October 1947
Buenos Aires, 3 October - 22 December 1952 1
Geneva, 14 October - 21 December 1959
Montreux, 14 September - 12 November 1965
Malaga-Torremolinos, 14 September - 25 October 1973
Nairobi, 28 September - 5 November 1982.
About 900 delegates from 147 countries took part in the Nairobi Conference 
which culminated in the signing of the new ITU Convention. The next 
Plenipotentiary Conference will be held in Paris in 1989.
7. The International Telecommunications Convention sets out both basic and 
general rules. The basic rules enunciate the fundamental principles on which 
the ITU operates; the general rules are supplementary to them, and more 
easily amended.
The third section of the basic rules concerns radio communications. It lays 
down that radio frequencies and the orbital positions of communications 
satellites are limited natural resources which should^, therefore, be used in 
the most economic and efficient manner so that all countries have equal 
access to both according ,to their needs and the technical resources they 
have available.
8. The ITU Convention also contains administrative rules (Telegraph, Telephone 
and Radio Regulations) which are drawn up by separate World Administrative 
Radio Conferences (WARC).
(1)Point 18.

63
As stated in the Report (1), the 1977 WARC laid down rules for satellite 
radio broadcasts (2) for Europe, Africa and Asia on the 11.7 - 12.2 GHz 
frequency bands. Originally, it was also to fix rules for the Americas (on 
the 11.7 - 12.5 GHz bands) but the countries concerned, including the United 
States, decided not to sign the final agreement and to defer a decision to 
the 1983 Regional Administrative Radio Conference.
9. The 1979 WARC drew up new rules for telecommunications on a world scale and 
reallocated frequencies among the various radio services in the ITU’s three 
regions :  Region I, Europe (including the USSR)and Africa ;  Region II, the 
Americas; Region III, Asia, Australia and Oceania. The Final Acts of the 
Conference came into force on 1  January 1982 for a period of at least 
fifteen years; Annex 30 contains the decisions of the 1977 WARC on satellite 
broadcasts in Europe, Africa and Asia.
10. The 1979 WARC also approved a resolution calling for guarantee to all 
countries of fair access to the allocation of orbital positions and 
frequency bands for space services. This will be the main task of the World 
Broadcasting - Satellite Administrative Radio Conference which will take 
place in two parts, one in 1985 and the other in 1987.
11. In addition to conferences of its member countries, the ITU has four other 
parts to its structures :
- an elected Administrative Council of thirty-six members, which meets in 
Geneva for three weeks every spring;
- two Consultative Committees comprising all the members (as do the 
Conferences, but the Committees do not have the power to draft treaties): 
the International Radio Consultative Committee and the International 
Telegraph and Telephone Consultative Committee;
- the International Frequency Registration Board, which has five members;
'  - a General Secretariat.
The most specialized component of this structure is the International 
Frequency Registration Board. Its five experts are responsible for
registering the radio frequencies assigned by national authorities to 
stations and the geostationary orbits allocated to satellite communication 
systems. The Board is also asked by national authorities for its opinion on 
how frequencies may best be allocated (so as to cause minimum interference) 
and on the fairest, most economic and most efficient use of satellite 
orbital positions. The members of the Board are regarded as being 
independent, not as representing their countries.
(1) Point 12.
(2) Defined as a broadcast service whose transmissions are intended to be 
received by the public at large. This may include radio, television or other 
types of broadcasting (extract from the Final Acts of the 1979 WARC).

64
0 ther_ interna. tiorial_or ganizat ions
12. The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) has a 
general responsibility for information technology policies.
13. The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) is concerned with 
authorsr rights”
International satellite communications systems '
14. At world level, the operational responsibility for communications satellite 
system is, in principle, shared between two organizations :  Intelsat and 
Intersputnik (1). Both organizations are exclusively concerned with 
geostationary "point to point" communications satellites and have no DBS 
projects. A third organization, Inmarsat (International Maritime Satellite 
Organization) (2), is responsible for navigation satellites. It was set up 
to manage a system of communications satellites for ships and rigs.
15. The regional systems have a special position because, as noted in the 
report, (3) they constitute a derogation from the principle of Intelsat's 
global monopoly. The main ones are :
- Eutelsat; (4)
- Arabsat, an organization established in September 1978 by twenty-two 
countries of the Arab League to set up a satellite communications system 
meeting the needs of its members; (5)
- international use of national satellite communication systems, such as 
the Indonesian Palapa system (6) and the planned French and British 
systems (Télécom and Unisat) (7).
Intelsat
16. According to the rules of Intelsat (International Telecommunications
Satellite Organization), the establishment of any other organization in the 
field -of international satellite communications systems management must be 
approved by Intelsat's Board of Governors. ·  .
The organization was set up in Washington in 1964 when an agreement was 
signed between Comsat (8) and thirteen countries, most of them European. Its 
final statutes were adopted in Washington in 19^1 and became binding on the 
then seventy-seven Members (vAio comprise the Assembly of Parties) in 1973.
(1) Point 24.
(2) Point 25.
(3) Report, point 7.
(4) Point 30. '  .  .
(5) In October 1982 Arabsat signed agreements for the launching of its first two 
satellites :  ArabsatA should'be launched by Ariane in February 1984 and 
Arabsat B by the US shuttle in October 1984.
(6) The Palapa system, based on two satellites and fifty earth stations, started 
on 8 July 1976 with the launch of Palapa 1  by the United States. The second 
satellite, Palapa 2, was launched on 10 March 1977.
(7) Annex 7 ·
(8) Comsat (Communication Satellite Corporation) was set up in 1962 by the US 
Congress on the basis of President Kennedy's Communication Satellite Act. 
Comsat was intended to meet the United States' needs for communications with-  
other countries but was not concerned with domestic space communications.

65
In April 1965, Intelsat put into orbit Early Bird, the first commercial 
geostationary satellite (the very first had been the US Syncom 2, launched 
in July 1962). Early Bird had a capacity of 240 telephone circuits (an 
increase of 50% on existing transatlantic capacity) or one television 
channel.
17. Today Intelsat has 106 member countries and manages a system including 260
earth stations and eight satellites in the Intelsat 4, 4A and 5 series,-. 
The latest series, launched in 1980, 1981 and 1982, provides 12 000
telephone circuits and two television channels. Series 5A, which will be 
ready in 1983, will provide 15 000 telephone circuits and two television 
channels.
The fifth satellite in the Intelsat 5 series was launched on 28 September 
1982 and has been commercially operational since the beginning of December. 
It is situated over the Indian Ocean.
Intelsat’s 1982 Annual Report records a 24% increase in telecommunications 
traffic in 1981 and estimates that it will double by 1985. There are options 
to increase to fifteen the number of satellites in series 5 and 5A and add a 
further eleven satellites to the original contract for five series 6 
satellites.
18. The members of Intelsat are the national post and telecommunications 
authorities (except for the United States which is represented by Comsat, 
which is a commercial company);. As was noted above (1), this means that the 
international broadcasting bodies cannot contact Intelsat directly - all 
approaches must be made through the appropriate national authorities!
19. The Intelsat 6 series, which will replace series 5 and 5A from 1987, will 
have a number of new technical features, requiring adaptations to be made to 
the earth stations if they are not to be forced to continue using Intelsat 
5A. Intelsat 6 will have 33 000 telephone circuits and four television 
channels, so doubling the capacity of satellites 5 and 5A. If the option for 
eleven.further satellites mentioned in the previous paragraph is taken up, 
series 6 will consist of sixteen satellites - this reflects the explosion in 
demartd for satellite communications forecast for the nineties.
20. Intelsat is not undertaking any DBS projects, but in March 1982 it announced 
the introduction of new television services. Although so far it has provided 
only occasional use, on the basis of ad hoc reservations by minute of 
satellite time, a permanent round-the-clock service will be available in 
future for television transmission on a network reserved for that purpose.
21. As stated under point 16, the 1971 basic agreement between Intelsat members 
confers on the Board of Governors the power to decide whether or not to 
authorize the setting up of any new body. Under this agreement, 
international satellite systems set up by member countries outside the 
Intelsat structure' must not cause significant economic harm to Intersat.
22. Naturally, the new national and regional projects which are being added to 
existing national systems (2) come into competition with Intelsat since they 
are taking away its traffic. This conflict of interest exists for all the 
members of Intelsat who also have an interest in the success of their own 
parallel ventures.
(1) Point 4.
(2) In the USSR, the USA, Canada and Indonesia.

66
23. This problem was discussed with particular reference to the situation in 
Europe at the end of September 1982 when the Intelsat Board of Governors met 
in Washington. There was no official communique but the specialist press 
noted that the Board had decided to make Intelsat's global infrastructure 
services available to the European Eutelsat system (1) and the French 
Télécom system for only five years (2).
After the December 1982 meeting, the Board's spokesman stated that the 
activities of Intelsat and Eutelsat were well coordinated and that Intelsat 
has no objections to Eutelsat being used to meet the needs of those European 
countries which has also signed the Intelsat agreement.
24. Intersputnik (3) was set up in 1971. Its members are Bulgaria, Cuba, 
Czechoslovakia, the German Democratic Republic, Mongolia, Poland, Romania 
and the Soviet Union. The first series of Molyniya satellites (from 1965 to 
1981) was followed from 1975 by the Raduya/Statsionar and Gorizont 
satellites. The projected global telecommunications satellite system will be 
based on seven geostationary Stationär satellites - numbers 4 and 5 are now 
in orbit over the Atlantic and Indian oceans.
Inmarsat
25. The intergovernmental organization Inmarsat (3) (International Maritime 
Satellite Organization) was set up in 1979 to provide a satellite system for 
ships and rigs. In February 1982 it took over the three Marisat satellites 
from the United States, each of which had ten channels, and Marecs A from 
the European Space Agency. Today, thirty-^seven countries, including the 
Soviet Union, are members of Inmarsat.
The loss of Marecs B when an Ariane L-E rocket failed on launching will not 
reduce Inmarsat's capacity because it has extended its lease of the Marisat 
satellite from Comsat. In addition, the maritime communications capacity of 
the Intelsat 5 satellites will add from next December a further thirty-two 
two-way communications channels to enable ships at sea to communicate with 
almost anywhere in the world. ·  .
(1) Point 30.
(2) It should also be noted that, besides the regional international bodies, 
there is international utilization of national systems, such as the 
Indonesian Palapa satellites (third indent of, and sixth footnote to., point 
15) and the future French (Télécom) and British (Unisat) systems.
(3) Point 14.

67
Europe
European Space Agency (ESA)
26. The European Space Agency took over on 31 May 1975 from the European Space 
Research Organization (ESRO), in which the activities of CECLES (Conference 
Européenne pour la mise au point et la Construction de Lanceurs d'Engins 
Spatiaux, set up in 1962) and CETS (European Conference on Satellite 
Communications, established in 1964) had previously been regrouped in 1973.
The ESA now works on the basis of an agreement signed by eleven European 
countries (1), which came into force in October 1980. This provides for a 
scientific programme in which all the member countries participate and 
satellite utilization projects which are agreed and financed on an "à la 
carte" basis by interested countries.
27. Besides the Ariane rocket development programme (2), the ESA has two main 
communications satellite projects :
- The OTS (Orbital Test Satellites) and ECS (European Communications 
Satellites) series of satellites for "point to point" transmissions. The 
OTS-2 (3) has been in orbit since 1978 and is expected to reach the end 
of its useful life at the end of 1983.
The new system will hot become operational until ECS-1 and 2, which will 
be launched by Ariane in 1983^84^ are functioning.. Three other satellites 
are planned for the period from 1983 to 1985. The first two ECS 
satellites will have twelve channels each, of which nine will be capable 
of operating simultaneously and three will be kept in reserve.
- The L-Sat (Large Satellite) which was. finally authorized at the end of
1981 by the eight participating countries.
• * ·
The project is financed as follows :  Austria, 0.75%; Belgium, 3.7%; 
Canada, 9%; Denmark, 1.3%; Italy, 32.8%; Netherlands, 11.8%; Spain, 2.6%; 
United Kingdom, 34.3%; other contributions, 3.75% (4).
L-Sat is a multi-purpose experimental platform for telecommunications and 
DBS which will be launched in 1986 by Ariane. One of the DBS channels 
will be aimed at Italy and the other has been offered by the ESA to the 
European Broadcasting Union (EBU) free of charge for three years so that 
it can make test transmissions to the whole of Europe.
Italian television has also offered the EBU the first DBS channel for a 
European television programme.
(1) Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany, Ireland, Italy, Netherlands, Spain, 
Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Three other countries, Austria, 
Canada and Norway, have observer status.
(2) Ten countries are taking part :  Belgium, Denmark, France, Germany,' Italy, 
Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom.
(3) The first satellite in the series, OTS-1, was lost in September 1977 when 
the Thor-Delta launching /rocket explosed at Cape Kennedy.
(4) This 3.75% will be redistributed among the participating countries on a 
scale to be agreed. None of the existing contributions will rise by more 
than 10% of its present figure. Switzerland, which was one of the initiators 
of the project and has followed developments with keen interest, may also 
thke part.

68
When correctly aimed, L-Sat’s two DBS channels will cover most of the member 
countries of the EBU and reception should generally be possible by means of 
individual aerials (90 cm or even 60 cm diameter) (1). In peripheral areas, 
communal aerials will be needed.
28. The new  programme of Ariane LaunchesCafter the failure of 10 September 1982) 
was adopted in February 1983 (2). This programme is prepared '.by agreement 
between the E SA , governments and other bodies (including In te lsat, which has 
m ade reservations before the loss of Ariane L-5). The current .  d.iscussions 
will also determine the date on which Arianespace, a commercial company cre­
ated to finance, produce and launch the Ariane rocket and market its  services
(3) will become fully operational.
The E S A  now  is also facing the problem of relations between the European sa­
te llite  services and the Intelsat world coordination system (A). A s already 
stated, Intelsat has agreed to recognize the European spacialized satellite 
systems as international services for only five years, that is until 1988
(5). The European governments have to reconcile their participation in the 
Intelsat global system, in the E S A  and in Eutelsat (6), with their ow n na­
tional projects, which could, in som e cases, have international- ramifi­
cations (7).
It has yet to be decided whether the Intelsat system will take over the 
European tra ffic  or whether this will be done by the new European, interna­
tional and national systems.
29. As regards current programmes, the ESA is assured of the research budget 
required for the projects which will follow the current development of 
Ariane 4, which will have a payload of 4 200 kg. Future projects include the 
establishment of a space station in collaboration with NASA, and the 
additional orbital infrastructure which would be required if Europe has to 
operate outside the Intelsat system.
(1) Annexes 2  and 9 (m ap N o  3).
(2) Annex 3.
(3) Report, point 21, footnote 2.
(4) Points 16 and 21.
(5) Point 23.
(6) Point 30.
(7) For example, the French Télécom 1  system will provide telephone c ircuits' 
and television programmes to the French te rrito rie s of Central America 
and the Carribean, and the British Unisat system will be able to send 
signals as far as Chicago.

69
Eutelsat
30. The intergovernmental agreement on the establishment of Eutelsat, a 
permanent international organization based in Paris, was signed on 28 
September 1982 by the 26 member countries of the European Conference of 
Postal and Telecommunications Authorities.
Its purpose is to set up and manage the space section of a European 
satellite telecommunications system.
31. It was preceded from June 1977 by a Interim Eutelsat in which the nineteen
countries taking part in the ESA's MAROTS, (1) OTS and ECS programmes 
participated. Eutelsat has received twenty-nine requests to use the channels 
in ECS-1 from bodies in Belgium, France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, 
Norway and the United Kingdom. There are nine channels available in ECS-1 
and the Eutelsat Board is now engaged in preparing criteria for
consideration of the applications.Eutelsat does not offer a priority service 
to television broadcasters; channels must be made available on request for 
telecommunications purposes. Television signals must be coded so that they 
can only be received by bodies authorized by the governments.
Of the nine channels on ECS-2, which was originally intended to be launched 
in September 1983, two have been allocated to the EBU Eurovision broadcasts 
and seven have been provisionally earmarked for commercial 
telecommunications purposes.
European Broadcasting Union (EBU)
32. The EBU, comprising European radio and television broadcasting
organizations, acquired new rules in June 1981, which came into force on 1
January 1982. These are regarded as the first step in a process of reform 
which will follow considerable changes foreseen in radio and television. In 
particular, the structure of the EBU will have to be adapted to cope with 
the advent of national DBS services and possible joint European services by 
satellite.
33. An interdisciplinary study group within the Administrative Council monitors 
the activities of international organizations with responsibilities in the 
field of broadcasting (ITU, UNESCO, Council of Europe, the institutions of 
the European Community).
34. The Technical Committee of the EBU and its working parties are mainly
concerned with the question of common standards for DBS. As indicated in
Annex 2, the Technical Committee's recommendations are expected by April 
1983.
(1) Maritime OTS. Later the MAROTS programme and the subsequent MARECS programme 
were taken by Inmarsat (see point 25 above).

70
35. The problems of advertising in DBS television are also being studied. 
General guidelines for a "declaration of principle" concerning advertising 
matter transmitted by DBS were approved by the EBU Administrative Council 
meeting in Tunis on 3-4 December 1982. The final text of the declaration is 
due to be approved by the Council in May 1983, after consultation of the TV 
Programme Committee, and submitted then to the General Assembly in 
Luxembourg in July. The declaration is essentially a summary of the general 
rules which the EBU’s member organizations consider they should apply to 
limit possible difficulties concerning advertising, especially as a result 
of technically unavoidable overspill.
36. In January 1982 the EBU signed a contract with Interim Eutelsat for the 
exclusive round-the-clock rental for ten years of two television channels on 
ECS-2 (1). The contract will be implemented when at least five earth 
stations in ECS system are operational, that is, probably not before 1985 
(the establishment of earth stations is the responsibility not of Eutelsat 
but of the member country concerned).  Until then, the EBU will have only its 
existing landlines to use for programme exchanges.
The E B U  and the prospects for pan-European television programmes
37. A s already noted (2), the E S A  offered in December 1981 to m ake available to 
the E B U  the second D B S  channel on L-Sat for a pan-European programme. This 
channel has been designed to beam  signals to any m em ber country of the E B U .
A t the sam e time, as was also mentioned, the RAI, which has exclusive use of 
the firs t L-Sat channel (which is permanently beamed at Ita ly ), .also,., m a d e  
this available for the E B U  to use it for a· "European programme" coordinated 
by the E B U  itse lf.
38. The-joint European programme, which implies a request for a "European w ave- 
band" on L-Sat, could constitute the firs t amendment to the plan of the 1 9 7 7  
W A R C . For this purpose, the necessary procedures are under w ay (3).
The E B U  T V  Programme Committee is currently studying the various opferational 
and financial aspects of the programme and a joint working party on whichthe 
ESA , the R A I and the permanent services of the E B U  are represented is consi­
dering the technical aspects of this project.
(1) Point 31.
(2) Point 27.
(3) Report, point 24.

71
EURIKON test transmissions within the EBU
39. In 1982 the EBU ran five weeks of test transmissions under the title EURIKON 
to look into the problems of content, style, organization, coordination and 
financial and legal matters which would be raised by a European television 
programme.
40. The weeks were coordinated and transmitted by different stations as follows:
24- 30 May IBA, London
19-25 July RAI, Rome
27 September-3 October ORF, Vienna
25- 31 October NOS, Hilversum
22-28 November ARD, Munich
41. Each week consisted of some 35 hours of broadcasts (5 hours a day for 7 
days) which were sent in code to the OTS-2 satellite for relay still in code 
(so that no non-participating body could receive them) to the 15 
broadcasting organizations taking part (1) for closed circuit use (that is, 
only by the stations staff).
42. An operating group of representatives of the five coordinating stations drew 
up a programme schedule for each day of the experiments, using contributions 
from all the participating stations, to test the concept of a programme 
designed by broadcasters from a number of European countries and directed to 
a Europe-wide public (2).
43. The most difficult technical problem was that of language, where a variety 
of solutions were tried (simultaneous interpreting, dubbing, sub-titling).  
There was also the problem of the general design of the programme and the 
balance between the various elements (news, education, culture, entertain­
ment). Editorial responsibility for news programmes, which, by definition, 
cannot be jointly prepared in advance, was given to the coordinating 
station, thus permitting an assessment of the problems which would be used 
by a future "European" news services. These experiments also looked at 
questions relating to the central machinery, technical, legal and financial, 
which would be required.
44. Preliminary research by the coordinating station into reactions to the 
EURIKON programmes among the sample audience groups in each country is under 
way.
(1) In Algeria, Austria, Finland, France, the Federal Republic of -  Germany, 
Greece, Ireland,' Ita ly ,'th e  Netherlands, Portugal·, Spain, Switzerland, Tu- 
nisia, the United Kingdom and Yugoslavia.
(2) Parliament and the Commission were represented as observers in the 
operations group.

72
45. An audiovisual summary of the programmes of the first* three weeks was 
presented to Parliament on 13 October. The final report, which the stations
taking part in the experiments will submit to the E B U  during Spring 1983, 
obviously be of crucial importance for future decisions, and particularly for 
the EBU's reply to the ESA's offer of the L-Sat for a European programme.
46. It is now certain that experiments with a European television programme
involving a number of members of the EBU will, be continued,: New "active"
participants will probably join the original group, either as technical 
coordinators of broadcasts or as programme suppliers.
47. It is also clear that the new experiments will be different in both form and 
detail from those mounted in 1982. The project now under study by some 
members of the EBU would involve the use of the Netherlands ECS channel for 
twelve or more hours per day on a permanent basis (1). The aim is to provide 
from the beginning of 1984 an experimental but full pan-European television 
service that could be made available, via land-based transmitters and/or 
cable systems, to the public in the countries of the participating 
broadcasters. The service would include a breakfast time "good morning 
Europa" programme and blocks devoted to music and the arts, sport, European 
cinema and regional and minority interests. It is intended that the service 
would eventually be self-financing through advertising and cable 
subscriptions and produce revenue for programme production by the time DBS 
services such as L-Sat are operational.
In the meantime the material broadcast would remain under the control of the 
participating national broadcasters, who, according to their own national 
circumstances, would be able to opt in or out of any part of the programme 
-  offered and, if they wish, to exclude advertising.
Conference of European Cooperation in Broadcasting
48. At the' suggestion of the French Government, an Intergovernmental Conference 
on European Cooperation in Broadcasting met in Paris on 19 and 20 July 1982. 
It was attended by representatives of Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, 
Luxembourg and the Netherlands. It was decided .to request the French 
Government to convene a new conference, to which all the members of the 
Council for Cultural Cooperation of the Council of Europe (2) would be 
invited. It was originally planned to hold this in Paris, but it was 
postponed and will now probably take place in spring 1983.
(1) Report, point 23.
(2) The 2 1  m em ber countries of the Council of Europe (Annex 6, page 1, footnote 
1) plus Finland, the Holy See and Yugoslavia.

73
49. The text approved by those attending the July conference noted that new 
communication techniques offered Europe new possibilities but also raised 
new problems. It affirmed the need to lay foundations for European 
cooperation in broadcasting based on the following principles :  freedom of 
movement of information, respect for cultural diversity within Europe, 
respect for the various expressions of this diversity, and the development 
of all forms of cooperation in broadcasting. It was also stated that this 
initiative should in no way affect the work being undertaken by other 
bodies, in particular the Council of Europe, the European Economic Community 
and the EBU.
50. The Paris Conference decided to set up three working parties to prepare for 
the enlarged conference. These were to look into general policy on the media 
(chaired by Belgium), advertising and finance (chaired by the Netherlands) 
and relations between television and the cinema (chaired by Germany).
The group under German chairmanship met in Berlin on 28 and 29 October, that 
under Dutch chairmanship in The Hague on 2 and 3 November and that under 
Belgian chairmanship in Brussels on 9 and 10 December.
51. The Commission of the European Communities has been invited by the French 
Government to participate as an observer at the future intergovernmental 
conference on European cooperation.in broadcasting.
Private initiatives 5
52. Two private projects for the international use of the European satellite 
system should also be mentioned :
- Satellite Television pic (SATV), a British company set up in 1980 to 
offer a commercial satellite television service financed from 
advertising, which would be free to subscribers to cable networks
t carrying SATV programmes transmitted by OTS-2 (covering the whole of 
Europe from Finland to North Africa) .  SATV operates on the basis of an ad 
hoc agreement between British Telecom and Interim Eutelsat.
At present SATV programmes (two hours a day of programmes already shown 
on British television) are distributed to some 300 000 households in 
Norway, Finland and Switzerland. The aim of the .company, which expects to 
start producing its own programmes in 1983, is to reach within 5 years 
the 4 500 000 subscribers to 400 European cable distributers capable of 
installing receiving aerials. About 80% of these viewers are in Belgium 
and the Netherlands.
- Euro-TV, a Dutch group which is at the initial organizing stage, intends 
to use a pay-TV scheme either through individual subscriptions or cable 
distribution. In November 1981 the company announced that it had bought 
an option on the services of ECS-1.

75
UNITED NATIONS GENERAL ASSEMBLY 10 DECEMBER 1982
INTERNATIONAL CO-OPERATION IN THE PEACEFUL USES OF OUTER SPACE
PREPARATION OF AN INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION ON PRINCIPLES 
GOVERNING THE USE BY STATES OF ARTIFICIAL EARTH SATELLITES 
FOR DIRECT TELEVISION BROADCASTING
Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Egypt, India, Indonesia, Iraq, 
Kenya, Mexico, Niger, Nigeria, Peru, Phillippines, Romania, Uruguay, and Venezuela :  
revised draft resolution.
The General Assembly
Recalling its resolution 2916 (XXVII) of 9 November 1972, in which it stressed the 
necessity to elaborate principles governing the use by States of artificial earth satellites 
for international direct television broadcasting, and mindful of the importance of 
concluding an international agreement or agreements,
Recalling further its resolutions 3182 (XXVIII) of 18 December 1973, 3234 (XXIX) of 12 
November 1974, 3388 (XXX) of 18 November 1975, 31/8 of 8  November 1976, 32/196 of 20 
December 1977, 33/16 of 10 November 1978, 34/66 of 5 December 1979, 35/14 of 3  
November 1980 and 36/35 of 18 November 1981 in which it decided to consider at its 
thirty-seventh session the adoption of a draft set of principles governing the use by States 
of artificial earth satellites for international direct television broadcasting,
Noting with appreciation the efforts made in the Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer 
Space and its Legal Sub-Committee to comply with the directives issued in its resolutions 
mentioned above,
Considering that several satellites direct broadcasting experiments have been carried out 
and a number of direct broadcasting satellite systems are operational in some countries 
and may be commercialised in the very near future,
Taking into consideration that the operation of international direct broadcasting satellites 
will have significant international political, economic, social and cultural implications,
Believing, that the establishment of principles for international direct television broad­
casting will contribute to the strengthening of international co-operation in this field and 
further the purposes and principles of the Charter of the United Nations,
Adopts the Principles Governing the Use by States of Artificial Earth Satellites for 
International Direct Television Broadcasting set forth in the annex to the present 
resolution.

76
A/SPC/37/L.5/R8V.1
English
Annex
PRINCIPLES GOVERNING THE USE BY STATES OF ARTIFICIAL EARTH SATELLITES 
FOR INTERNATIONAL DIRECT TELEVISION BROADCASTING
Purpose and objectives
1. Activities in the field of international direct television broadcasting by satellite 
should be carried out in a manner compatible with the sovereign rights of States, 
including the principle of non-intervention as well as with the right of everyone 
to seek, receive and impart information and ideas as enshrined in the relevant 
United Nations instruments.
2. Such activities should promote the free dissemination and mutual exchange 
of information and knowledge in cultural and scientific fields, assist in educational, 
social and economic development particularly in the developing countries, enhance 
the quality of life of all peoples and provide recreation with due respect' to 
the political and cultural integrity of States.
3. These activities should accordingly be carried out in a manner compatible with 
the development of mutual understanding and the strengthening of friendly 
relations and co-operation among all States and peoples in the interest of maintaining 
peace and security.
Applicability of international law
Activities in the field of international direct television broadcasting by satellite should be 
conducted in accordance with international law, including the Charter of the United 
Nations, the Treaty on Principles Governing the Activities of States in the Exploration 
and Use of Outer Space, including the Moon and Other Celestial Bodies, of 27 January 
1967, the relevant provisions of the International Telecommunications Convention and its 
Radio Regulations and of international instruments relating to friendly relations and co­
operation among States and to.human rights.
Rights and benefits
Every State has an equal right to conduct activities in the field of international direct 
television broadcasting by satellite and to authorise such activities by persons and entities 
under its jurisdiction. All States and peoples are entitled to and should enjoy the benefits 
from such activities. Access to the technology in this field should be available to all 
States without discrimination on terms mutually agreed by all concerned.

77
A/SPC/37/L.5/Rev.l
English
International co-operation
Activities in the field of international direct television broadcasting by satellite should be 
based upon and encourage international co-operation. Such co-operation should be the 
subject of appropriate arrangements. Special consideration should be given to the needs 
of the developing countries in the use of international direct television broadcasting by 
satellite for the purpose of accelerating their national development.
Peaceful settlement of disputes
Any international dispute that may arise from activities covered by these principles 
should be settled through established procedures for the peaceful settlement of disputes 
agreed upon by the parties to the dispute in accordance with the provisions of the Charter 
of the United Nations.
State responsibility
1. States should bear international responsibility for activities in the field of inter­
national direct television broadcasting by satellite carried out by them or under 
their jurisdiction and for the conformity of any such activities with the principles 
set forth in this document.
2. When international direct television broadcasting by satellite is carried out by an 
international intergovernmental organisation, the responsibility referred to in the 
above paragraph should be borne both by that organisation and by the States 
participating in it.
Duty and right to consult
1
Any broadcasting or receiving State within an international direct television broadcasting 
satellite service established between them requested to do so by any other broadcasting or 
receiving State within the same service should promptly enter into consultations with the 
requested State regarding its activities in the field of international direct television 
broadcasting by satellite without prejudice to other consultations which the States may 
undertake with any other State on that subject.
Copyright and neighbouring rights
Without prejudice to the relevant provisions of international law States should co-operate 
on a bilateral and multilateral basis for protection of copyright and neighbouring rights by 
means of appropriate agreements between the interested States or the competent legal 
entities acting under their jurisdiction. In such co-operation they should give special 
consideration to the interest' of developing countries in the use of direct television 
broadcasting for the purpose of accelerating their national development.
Notification to the United Nations
In  order to promote international co-operation in the peaceful exploration and use of 
outer space, States conducting or authorising activities in the field of international direct 
television broadcasting by satellite should inform the Secretary-General of the United 
Nations to the greatest extent possible of the nature of such activities. On receiving this 
information, the Secretary-General of the United Nations 3houd disseminate it 
imrriediately and effectively to the relevant United Nations specialised agencies, as well 
as to the public and the international scientific community.

78
A/SPC/37/L.5/Rev.l
English
Consultations and agreements between States
1. A State which intends to establish or authorise the establishment of an international 
direct television broadcasting satellite service shall without delay notify the 
proposed receiving State or States of such intention and shall promptly enter into 
consultation with any of those States which so requests.
2. An international direct television broadcasting satellite service shall only be 
established after the conditions set forth in paragraph 1  above have been met and on 
the basis of agreements and/of arrangements in conformity with the relevant 
instruments of the International Telecommunication Union and in accordance with 
these principles.
3. With respect to the unavoidable overspill of the radiation of the satellite signal, the 
relevant instruments of the International Telecommunication Union shall be 
exclusively applicable.

ANNEX 6
THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE
Contents
Substance of the Report
COUNCIL OF EUROPE - STEERING COMMITTEE ON THE MASS MEDIA 
(CDMM) AND COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS O N  MEDIA POLICY (MM-PO) :  
Excerpt from the "Final activity report on the possibility 
of reaching agreement on a legal instrument relating to 
direct broadcasting by satellite (DBS)"
Declaration on the freedom of expression and information 
adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 29 April 1982

81
Annex 6
THE COUNCIL OF EUROPE
1. The Council of Europe's activities (1) concerning the media were 
reorganized in 1981. Initially, from 1976, under the wing of the 
Directorate for Legal Affairs, matters concerning the media are now the 
responsibility of the Directorate for Human Rights, under the Council's 
second medium-term plan (1981-85). The main responsibility lies with the 
Steering Committee on the Mass Media (CDMM) and with two other Committees 
that report to it, the Committee of Experts on Media Policy (MM-PO) and 
the Committee of Lfgal Experts in the M edia Field (M M -JU ).
2. The study of the problems of DBS was assigned by the CDMM to the MM-PO,
which in December 1981 proceeded to draft a long lists of questions to be 
considered and then formed a working party of seven experts (one each 
from the Federal Republic of Germany, France, Luxembourg, the 
Netherlands, the United Kingdom, Sweden and Switzerland). This group was 
then instructed to gather technical data on DBS, analyse all the aspects, 
positive and negative, consider what might and should be done at European 
level and give an opinion on the legal form and substance of an
appropriate legal instrument.
3. On 29 April 1982 the Committee of Ministers, meeting in Strasbourg,
adopted a Declaration on'freedom of expression and information (2), ^hich 
stipulates that the Member States have a duty to foster diversity of 
means of communication and the plurality of sources of information. Their 
policies should be based on the absence of any arbitrary censorship, 
control or constraint on the substance, transmission or dissemination of 
information and should strive to ensure the individual's freedom of 
access to information.
4. To attain these objectives, one of the decisions by the Committee of
Ministers was to speed up the work of the CDMM on the problems of direct
broadcasting by satellite (DBS) with an instruction to report on "the 
possibility of reaching agreement on a legal instrument" in this field.
(1) The Council of Europe, set up in 1949, consists of 21 member countries :  
Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Denmark, France, the Federal Republic of 
Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Luxembourg, 
Malta, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, 
Turkey, the United Kingdom. Its aim is to achieve greater unity between 
its members and is pursued through discussion and common action in 
economic, social, cultural, educational, scientific, legal and 
administrative matters and in the maintenance and furtherance of human 
rights. These main sectors are cited in Article 1  of the Statute, but the 
list is not exhaustive.
(2) Reproduced in full at the end of this annex, page 95.

si
On the basis of this brief the MM-PO and its working party compiled the 
report (1). The final text was approved by the MM-PO at its fourth 
meeting held in Strasbourg from 21 to 24 September 1982. The opinion in 
the report is reproduced in full below (page 85).
On 10 November 1982 the Committee of Ministers, on the basis of the 
report, considered that it was not only possible but also a matter of 
urgency to conclude a European agreement on DBS and instructed the CDMM 
to carry on with this work.
5. The CDMM held its fifth meeting in Strabourg from 8 to 11 February 1983.
In the DBS field it instructed the Committee of Legal Experts in the 
Media Field (MM-JU) to deal with copyright problems and the question of 
satellite-to-cable services. The Committee of Experts on Media Policy 
(MM-PO) was asked by the CDMM to deal with the following questions :  
advertising, leasing of DBS channels to European and non-European users; 
contacts between countries affected by DBS; co-operation between
broadcasters and European programmes; protection of individual rights; 
industrial consultations.
6. The MM-PO met in Strasbourg from 21 to 25 March 1983 to continue its work 
on the basis of its mandate from the CDMM. Basing themselves on 
preliminary texts prepared by 6 groups from the CDMM which had met on 11 
February, three working groups of the MM-PO looked into the following 
questions :  leasing of DBS channels, contacts, cooperation and European 
programmes; and protection of individual rights. The question of 
industrial consultations will be dealt with by written procedure.. The 
next meeting of the MM-PO is scheduled for 25 to 28 October 1983.
7. Concerning advertising, the Council of Europe's Parliamentary Assembly 
adopted, on 2 October 1982 during its 34th ordinary session, Recommend­
ation 952(1982) on international means to protect freedom of expression 
by regulating commercial advertising. On this bdfeis, the Committee of 
Ministers instructed the CDMM to examine these questions.
At its March 1983 meeting the MM-PO received the final report on 
principles concerning advertising by satellite, prepared by the group 
designated by the CDMM. This group had met at the headquarters of the EBU 
on 15, 16 March for an exchange of views and information with the EBU. 
The text presented to the MM-PO in Strabourg in March, and discussed at 
length, was largely inspired by the EBU's draft for a "Declaration of 
principles" on the field of advertising by DBS. (2)
SUBSTANCE OF THE REPORT
8. As regards the legal instrument for an agreement on DBS within the 
Council of Europe - an agreement which the report considers to be both 
"possible" and "urgent" - the Committee, in its final report, does not 
suggest a Convention, but "for the moment" proposes "recommendations",
(1) At the same time a working group of the MM-JU has drafted a report on the 
legal problems of intellectual property and transfrontier television.
(2) Annex 5, point 35.

83
which it regards as effective "instruments for action on specific 
problems by all Council of Europe Member States, leaving scope for 
implementation in accordance with the specific situation of each 
country". The report also recommends that "the CDMM should continue its 
work and be considered as continuously entrusted with DBS matters and 
thus be allowed to take up any questions brought to its knowledge in this 
field".
9. Stressing the urgency of a European agreement the "proposals" in the 
report express the Committee's surprise at the "contrast between the 
intensive cooperation between European countries for the planning, 
foltowed by tireedcasting satellites,_ and, onjthe other hand, an .apparent 
lack of a  similar close cooperation between European countries about the 
programmes to be broadcast by D B S ".
10. For the rest, the report considers that "the circle of Europe of the 21 
constitutes a sensible basis" for such cooperation, which "should in no 
way constitute an obstacle to", but "could on the contrary contribute to 
other frameworks of cooperation either between countries among the "21", 
such as the Nordic countries or the Ten of the EEC, or to interregional 
cooperation, for example between European and non-European countries in 
the Mediterranean".
11. Following this annex the following texts are reproduced :
an extract from the Final Report of the CDMM. This extract contains 
sections C. Opinion of the Committee, and D. Proposals, which conclude 
the report; ....
the complete text of the "Declaration on freedom of expression and 
information" adopted by the Council of Europe's Committee of Ministers on 
29 April 1982.

-8 5 -
COUNCBL OF EUROPE
STEERING COM M ITTEE ON THE M A SS M EDIA (CDM M ) 
COMMITTEE OF EXPERTS ON M EDIA POLICY (M M -PO)
' EXCERPT FROM  THE
"Final activity report on the possibility of reaching agreement 
on a legal instrument relating to direct broadcasting by 
satellite (DBS)"
Adopted by the MM-PO at its fourth meeting from 21 to 24 September 1982
A. THE FACTUAL SITUATION
B . ANALYSIS

-  86  -
C. THE COM M ITTEE'S OPINION
I. Impact of D B S on national media structures
59. The following concerns have been expressed to the Committee :.
- the risk of a decrease in advertising revenue for the daily and 
periodical press, as a result of increased competition on the part of 
D B S;
- the risk that the media as a whole of a country will lose advertising 
to D B S stations of other countries;
- the risk that programme quality will suffer due to loss of revenue and 
competition from commercially oriented D B S stations, especially in 
countries which do not have such stations;
- the risk that Pay-TV would make it more difficult to sustain licence 
fees as a source of financing.
60. On the first concern, the representative of the newspaper publishers has pointed 
out to the Committee that though trends varied from one country or region to another, 
there might indeed be a loss of advertising revenue for the newspapers, for which direct 
compensation might not be forthcoming. On the other hand, the press, having an 
important regional and local mission, and D B S which was national and supra-national in 
character might play a complementary role. It is essential, according to the above 
representative, that the written press should not be kept away from the possibility of 
participating in the new media which would enhance their role (cable, "narrowcasting", 
etc.).
61. Different submissions were made to the Committee on the second concern. 
According to the European Advertising Tripartite the national market is the natural limit 
for the advertising of most products whereas only a few products are suitable for 
advertising by DBS. The EAT believes that D B S opens up new markets which will 
increase the total amount of advertising. Existing media might not lose revenue 
substantially, though they would face more competition of advertisers.
The Committee notes that two problems in particular require attention at the 
European level, both in connection with advertising via D B S which is specially addressed 
to the public in other countries :
- the situation in countries having no advertising and/or a relatively small 
supply of home-originated programmes;
- non-conformity of the foreign advertising with the national rules on 
advertising of the receiving country.

-8 7 -
62. Also on the third concern different views have been expressed to the 
Committee. The EAT stated that it is the advertisers who are attracted by 
broadcasting stations and not vice versa.
Others fear that prospective D B S stations in search of advertising 
revenue will seek to please the taste of advertisers who are pincipally guided 
by considerations of commercial profit.
Opinion of the Committee
63. The Committee recalls that every State freely determines, in conformity with 
the applicable international regulations and especially with Article 10 of the European 
Human Rights Convention, its own media structures and the use of D B S which is at its 
disposal.
64. Since it is a question of future developments it is difficult to predict what 
impact one country's advertising may have on another country but there is some doubt 
that this impact will be as great as it is feared by some. In any case, so far as the EEC 
countries are concerned, the principles of the freedom of establishment and freedom to 
provide services set out in the Treaty establishing the European Economic Community 
create an obligation to take measures to facilitate the exchange within the Community 
of television programmes, including advertising messages.
65. The Committee would like to call attention, however, to the principle of good 
neighbourly relations according to which each country generating D B S programmes 
should have due regard to the effect which its programmes are likely to produce on 
receiving countries.
The Committee will come back to this question under the next heading.
II. D B S and national laws applicable to broadcasting
66. This problem, which existed already before the advent of DBS, is becoming 
more acute as a result of it.
Starting from the assumption that every country has positive standards (a high 
level, a proper balance and a wide range of programmes) and negative standards 
(prohibition of certain types of advertising or programmes, incitement to violence, crime 
etc.) and that it will maintain these standards also in the case of broadcasts specifically 
meant for a foreign public, two types of problems arise :

-8 8 -
- divergencies between the standards of the country of origin and the 
receiving country;
- even where the standards are the same s
i. different impact of the programme on the receiving country
ii. difficulty or even impossibility of implementing one country's 
standards into another.
67. The French and Netherlands experts, and a number of Belgian experts, 
would add to this a problem which results from the many ways in which D B S 
transmissions can take place and from the diversity of legislations of the 
various countries concerned. Generally speaking, these factors create risks
such as non-compliance of D B S broadcasts of one country with the legislative
requirements imposed on broadcasting in all the countries affected. This may 
occur :
- inevitably, because spillover of D B S transmissions cannot technically 
be avoided;
- deliberately when D B S transmissions from one country are directed to
another.
Three situations may occur :
- programmes and/or advertising messages from abroad which do not
comply with the regulations of the countries into which they spill 
over;
- programmes and/or advertising messages from abroad
i. specially directed to, or
ii. also addressed to
other countries but which do not comply with the legislation applicable to 
broadcasting of the receiving countries.
- a (prospective) broadcaster going abroad to a country with the least stringent 
criteria for admission to the broadcasting system.
This infrigements, which might in certain cases become veritable breaches of 
the law, might become particularly serious if they would adversely affect legislation of 
"ordre public" or, more generally, the fundamental rules of the national life of the 
countries receiving the broadcasts.
In their opinion, it is therefore legitimate for those receiving States to wish to 
make sure that their law, particularly their criminal lawand broadcasting law, will not be 
ignored or evaded by States or by persons, whether or not these are under their 
juridiction, who are carrying out D B S activities.

-89 -
Opinion of the Committee ·  *  ·
68. Attempts at harmonisation should be welcomed for such attempts would 
certainly contribute to encouraging the development of D B S broadcasts. This 
would particularly be welcomed in the field of advertising on television.
It should also be possible to harmonise rules in certain other fields 
such as the protection of health and of youth, the prohibition of incitement to 
crime, disorder, violence, intolerance, etc.
69. Finally, some countries may be sensitive to foreign broadcasts which 
are regarded as a direct interference with their political life, but in this 
field great caution is required because regulatory measures might enter into 
conflict with the freedom of expression and information.
70. It is desirable that a general agreement should be reached between the 
member States on certain board principles which should be included in the 
conditions for the issue of licences given by each country to its D B S stations.
In the absence of such measures of harmonisation, it will clearly be 
desirable - and in the interest of the broadcasters themselves - for those 
responsible for D B S broadcasts not to give avoidable offence to countries where 
the broadcasts might be received, even if unintentionally. It is a question how 
far D B S broadcasters should be under a formal obligation to comply with broad­
casting legislation of all countries which their transmissions might reach, 
unavoidably or deliberately. The Committee identified but did not reach a 
conclusion on these questions, which merit further urgent study. *
71. The French and Netherlands experts addet that it is necessary that the 
European States give an undertaking not to permit the avoidance or evasion by 
their D B S activities of provisions of "ordre public" of States receiving their 
broadcasts. The conclusion of binding legal instruments obliging the States 
concerned with D B S activities appears to these experts to be a matter of 
urgency.
72. The Committee considers that a Convention is not necessarily, at least 
not in the short term, the most effective way of formulating common basic 
standards.
It has noted in this respect:
- that the conclusion and entry into force of a convention is time- 
consuming. Even with the greatest measure of good will on the part of 
the member State it might not be possible to conclude one before 1987 
or 1988; however, D B S is expected to become operational at the latest 
in 1985 or 1986 and important decisions are already being taken;

-90-
- that conventions bring together and bind only those States which want to be a 
party; there would be a risk that some States would remain outside such a 
convention, at least for some time;
- that a convention must lay down a modicum of definite legal rules. However 
it is still very difficult at the present moment to reach agreement on the 
rules which should be codified;
- finally, that it would be arduous to find formulas which would not be 
incompatible with the independence of broadcasters.
For these various reasons, the Committee is inclined to prefer for the moment 
"Recommendations" of the Committee of Ministers which are more suitable instruments.
73. Advertising standards should be elaborated in close co-operation with 
organisations such as the European Broadcasting Union, the International Chamber of 
Commerce and the European Advertising Tripartite.
With regard to standards on matters other than advertising (prevention of 
crime, protection of morals, etc.), guidance would be taken from paragraph 2 of Article 
10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
It will be a matter for further discussion to which specific questions relating to 
standards priority should be given at the European level.
7  k. The protection of the rights of persons (natural or legal persons) who are 
affected by a programme of foreign origin broadcast by DBS raises a special problem.
Arrangements made at national level, for example to guarantee the rights of 
reply, the protection of privacy or of one's reputation, and of copyright may prove 
inadequate in the international context. The same applies to the protection of consumers' 
rights.
Solutions for these problems (1) might be sought in the framework of the 
Council of Europe. It is recalled that work is also in progress relating to copyright and 
broadcasting within the MM-3U Committee.
III. DBS and cultural values
75. The advent of DBS offers new prospects for the enhancement of cultural values 
of European countries, but may also produce an adverse effect on them. On the positive 
side, DBS will offer countries new possibilities to share each other's cultural values, to 
search for common values and to cater to the needs of special interest groups.
(1) Only those relating to rights and interests of private persons and bodies 
not those of States.

- 91 -
On the negative side, there are fears about (a) lowering of the quality 
of programme content, (b) undue increase of entertainment at the expense of 
other types of programme and (c) countries having no advertising and/or 
producing few programmes nationally being at a disadvantage.
76. Different views have been expressed to the Committee on the question of 
programme quality and the scope in this connection, of any European agreement to 
safeguard quality.
The view was expressed that it is very difficult to ensure the good 
quality of programmes within a single country and that it would be all the more 
difficult to require programme-makers to comply with the appropriate norms of 
neighbouring countries. To this objection some experts have replied that it is 
out of the question to require programme-makers of one country to comply with 
standards applied in the neighbouring countries.
Many are of the opinion that while it is impossible to establish direct 
control over the concept of quality, it could be influenced indirectly. It has 
been argued by the Consumers Unions that special attention should be given to 
minority interests and that there might be some sort of system of "proportional 
representation"of the various interests that DBS should cater for.
Opinion of the Committee
77. The Committee fully subscribes to the concern of member States about the 
respect of cultural values, the maintenance of high standards and of plurality 
and diversity.
This objective should be a constant for each member State in its DBS 
policy and in its co-operation with other States.
78. The promotion of diversity and plurality and the enhancement of choice 
should not be confined to the national framework and should take into account 
the new possibilities which DBS offers to member countries of the Council of 
Europe for mutual cultural enrichment.
79. The Committee notes that DBS will lead to an increase in the number of 
available channels. It emphasizes that member States might want to size this 
opportunity of seeking means to develop the plurality and diversity of program­
mes beyond what exists already, in order to promote the cultural values of the 
countries of Europe.
To achieve such diversity and plurality on a larger scale, close European co-operation 
appears most desirable.

-9 2 -
IV. Independence of programme makers from commercial and political forces
80. Different views have been presented to the Committee on the question 
whether the independence of programme makers will be enhanced or jeopardised by 
D B S.
These views relate to uncertainty about the extent to which DBS might be 
undertaken outside broadcasting frameworks. If there were to be a greater share 
of commercial advertising in the financing of programmes and if important 
national and industrial interests are involved in DBS there has been concern 
that the independence of programme makers might suffer.
81. Furthermore, the use of satellites for point-to-point communication
opens the prospect of being able to dispose on an economic basis of a large
number of channels feeding cable networks. This prospect might according to some 
lead to an excessive penetration of non-European cultural industries. Others,
on the contrary, stress that the same possibilities will also be available to 
European programme-makers.
82. With regard to the job market, some fear that the scale-enlargement of
audio-visual activities resulting from the introduction of DBS system may swiden 
the gap between the top artists and programme-makers and those of the second 
level. Others believe that DBS, as every new technique, will open new
possibilities for these professions and that its international scale may make
them more independent of national interests.
Opinion of the Committee
83. If DBS develops within existing broadcasting frameworks the present 
safeguards for the independence of programme makers will continue to apply.
There appears to be very little scope for new European instruments, but 
the further developments in this field should be closely kept under review 
within the Council of Europe.
D. PROPOSALS 
Possibility of a legal instrument
84. With regard to the possibility of reaching agreement on legal 
instruments relating to direct broadcasting by satellite, the Committee is of

-93-
the opinion that such an agreement is possible and urgent. The Committee was 
struck by the contrast between the intensive co-operation between European 
countries for the planning, construction and launching of communication
satellites, soon to be followed by broadcasting satellites, and, on the other
hand, an apparent lack of a similar close co-operation between European 
countries about the programmes to be broadcast by direct broadcasting satelli­
tes, save for some projects at a regional level (France, Germany, Nordic
countries) or between countries sharing the same language (notably the French- 
speaking countries).
85. Closer co-operation between the Council of Europe's member States will 
help to enhance the positive aspects of DBS and to prevent or attenuate possible 
negative effects.
86. The Committee believes that the circle of "Europe of the 21" constitutes 
a sensible basis for such co-operation, having regard to the fact that these 
countries constitute a compact region, share common values and principles and 
co-operate within the Council of Europe whose Statute enables them to have 
regard to all aspects of DBS : financial, social, legal, cultural, etc.
87. Such co-operation should in no way constitute an obstacle to, but could 
on the contrary contribute to other frarrieworks of co-operation either between 
certain countries among the "21", such as the Nordic countries or the Ten of the EEC, or 
to inter-regional co-operation, for example between European and non-European 
countries in the Mediterranean.
88. The instrument should in any case deal with advertising and, according to some 
experts, also with standards for programme content. With regard to the latter point, 
however, other experts have expressed reservations since agreements on programme 
content might enter into conflict with the principle of the free flow of information.
Type or legal instrument
89. Turning to the question of what type of legal instrument (or instruments) would 
be appropriate in the present case, the Committee is of the opinion that this choice is 
guided by the nature of DBS which is characterised by its rapid development, its broad 
geographical and economic scale and by uncertainties about expected short-, medium- 
and long-term effects.
A further factor to be taken into account is that the member States of the 
Council of Europe, though determined to co-operate in this field, as in other fields, have 
developed a variety of approaches to DBS, a variety which is to some extent the 
unavoidable consequence of differences between their geographical and linguistic 
situation, and their cultural, social and economic conditions.

-94-
90. In the preceding paragraphs a number of indications have been given for 
such steps :
- the consistent application of existing instruments and notably the 
European Human Rights Convention (Article 10) and the Declaration on 
the Freedom of Expression and Information to DBS;
- the drawing up of recommendations on advertising rules and rules on 
other criteria for programme content, having regard to the considera­
tion laid down in paragraph 84;
- the examination of legal problems such as copyright, the status of 
point-to-point transmissions, the right of reply to individuals, the 
liability of programme-makers, etc.
91. It does not appear to the Committee that to conclude a European 
Convention would be the most efficient way in the near future of achieving this, 
and this for the reasons stated in paragraph 72 above. The Committee would 
propose for the moment recommendations which are instruments for timely action 
on specific problems by all Council of Europe member States and leave scope for 
implementation in accordance with the specific situation of each country.
s
The Steering Committee on the Mass Media (CDMM), its subordinate 
Committees and Working Parties set up by these could be entrusted with the 
drafting of these recommandations.
92. Furthermore, the Committee recommends that the CDMM should continue its 
work and be considered as continously entrusted with DBS matters and thus be allowed to 
take up any questions brought to its knowledge in this field.

-95-
DECLARATION
ON THE FREEDOM OF EXPRESSION AND INFORMATION
adopted by the Committee of Ministers at its 70th Session 
on 29 April 1982
The member States of the Council of Europe,
1. Considering that the principles of genuine democracy, the rule of law and 
respect for human rights form the basis of their co-operation, and that the freedom of 
expression and information is a fundamental element of those principles;
2. Considering that this freedom has been proclaimed in national constitutions and 
international instruments, and in particular in Article 19 of the Universal Declaration of 
Humain Rights and Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights;
3. Recalling that through that Convention they have taken steps for the collective 
enforcement of the freedom of expression and information by entrusting the supervision 
of its application to the organs provided for by the Convention;
k. Considering that the freedom of expression and information is necessary for the
social, economic, cultural and political development of every human being, and 
constitutes a condition for the harmonious progress of social and cultural groups, nations 
and the international community;
5. Convinced that the continued development of information and communication 
technology should serve to further the right, regardless of frontiers, to express, to seek, 
to receive and to impart information and ideas, whatever their source;
6. Convinced that States have the duty to guard against infringements of the 
freedom of expression and information and should adopt policies designed to foster as 
much as possible a variety of media and a plurality of information sources, thereby 
allowing a plurality of ideas and opinions;
7. Noting that, in addition to the statutory measures referred to in the second 
paragraph of Article 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights, codes of ethics 
have been voluntarily established and are applied by professional organisations in the 
field of the mass media;

- 96 -
8. Aware that a free flow and wide circulation of information of all kinds
across frontiers is an important factor for international understanding, for bringing 
peopies together and for the mutual enrichment of cultures,
I. Reiterate their fitm attachment to the principles of freedom of expression and 
information as a basic element of democratic and pluralist society;
II. Declare that in the field of information and mass media they seek to achieve 
the following objectives :
a) protection of the right of everyone, regardless of frontiers, to express himself, 
to seek and receive information and ideas, whatever their source, as well as to 
impart them under the conditions set out in Article 10 of the European 
Convention on Human Rights;
b) absence of censorship or any arbitrary controls or constraints on participants in 
the information process, on media content or on the transmission and 
dissemination of information;
c) the pursuit of an open information policy in the public sector, including access to 
information, in order to enhance the individual's understanding of, and his ability 
to discuss freely political, social, economic and cultural matters;
d) the existence of a wide variety of independent and autonomous media, 
permitting the reflection of diversity of ideas and opinions;
e) the availability and across on reasonable terms to adequate facilities for the 
domestic and international transmission and dissemination of information and 
ideas;
f) the promotion of international co-operation and assistance, through public and 
private channels, with a view to fostering the free flow of information and 
improving communication infrastructures and expertise;
III. Resolve to intensify their co-operation in order :
a) to defend the right of everyone to the exercise of the freedom of expression and 
information;
b) to promote, through teaching and education, the effective exercise of the 
freedom of expression and informations;

-97 -
c) to promote the free flow of information, thus contributing to interna­
tional understanding, a better knowledge of convictions and traditions, 
respect for the diversity of opinions and the mutual enrichment of 
cultures;
d) to share their experience and knowledge in the media field;
e) to ensure that new information and communication techniques and 
services, where available, are effectively used to broaden the scope of 
freedom of expression and information.

99
ANNEX 7
NATIONAL ACTIVITIES
contents
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
Satellites
Cable
VideoPage
107
107
108 
110
FRANCE
Satellites
Cable
Video111
111
112
113
BELGIUM
Satellites
Cable
Video115
115
115
115
DENMARK
Satellites
Cable
Video116
116
116
116
GREECE
Satellites
Cable
Video117
117
117
117
IRELAND
Satellites
Cable
Video118
118
118
119
ITALY
Satellites
Cable
Video120
120
121
121

101
Page
LUXEMBOURG 122
Satellites Ί22
Cable - j  2j
Video - j  23
THE NETHERLANDS 124
Satellites 124
Cable 124
Video 125
UNITED KINGDOM 127
Satellites 127
Cable 128
- The Hunt Report 129
Video 131
ANDORRA 132
AUSTRIA 133
Satellites 133
Cable 134
Video 134
SWITZERLAND 135
Satellites 135
Cable 137
Video 137
THE NORDIC COUNTRIES : FINLAND, ICELAND, NORWAY AND SWEDEN 138
Satellites 138
- The Nordsat Project Involving Finland, Norway, Sweden and
Iceland 138
- The Tele-X Project involving Sweden, Finland and Norway 138
Finland 139
Norway 140
Sweden 140

ANNEX 7
NATIONAL ACTIVITIES
The following section summarises the various European countries'  
projects with regard to satellites, cable TV and video equip­
ment. It does not limit itself to the European Community but 
also, the other European countries with projects in the field 
of DBS: Austria, Switzerland and the Nordic countries (Finland, 
Sweden and Norway). In addition, reference is made to a study of 
Andorran DBS projects.
Firstly, the plans of the 10 Community Member States are exa­
mined. French alphabetical order has been used, except that 
France is examined immediately after the Federal Republic of 
Germany because of the close links between the two countries' 
satellite projects.
A table summarizing national DBS satellite projects and the 
European Space Agency L-Sat project has been added to the end of 
the list (Annex 8).
With regard to the cable TV coverage, present estimates place 
the number of households served by such systems at approximately 
30 000 000 in the 16 countries examined. This means therefore - 
if the figure of 3 to A inhabitants per household is taken - 
that more than 30% of the total population (approximately 300 
million) are involved. Approximately 8.44 million subscribers 
are linked up to cable distribution networks, whilst 22 million 
use communal aerials Installed in blocks of flats (as in most 
cases in France and Germany).
The older networks, originally laid in order to provide improved 
reception of national channels, have a restricted four channel 
capacity.
Many assessments of future requirements have been published, but 
they do not tally. The study published in the United Kingdom in 
December 1982 stresses the importance of the present period 
during which each European country is attemting on its own to 
solve the problems of Installation, ownership, management and 
regulation of all the various systems of cable TV distribution. 
The same study estimates that there will be some 42 million 
cable TV subscribers in 198/. Approximately 15.5 million subcri- 
bers to the networks served by a central aerial (CATV, Central 
Antenna TV System). The other 26.5 million would be hooked up to 
communal aerial systems for blocks of flats (MATV, Master 
Antenna TV System) which will provide reception of DBS broad­
casts.

105
It should, however, be stressed that in several countries - as 
mentioned in the following pages - government action is aimed at 
setting up integrated national optical fibre cable networks for 
the distribution directly to the households of a large number of 
different services, including television.(1)
5. At international level, British Telecom is engaged in negotia­
tions with the Post Office authorities of the Federal Republic 
of Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands with a view to in­
stalling the first European optical fibre telecommunications 
network. British Telecom first fully operational optical fibre 
undersea cable will be laid between Portsmouth and the Isle of 
Wight. The planned project could provide significant experience 
for these four countries and, simultaneously, help toward 
reaching a decision on the use of optical fibres for a trans- 
Atlantic telephone cable which British Telecom favors strongly.
6. A statistical analysis of video equipment in Europe, published 
in November 1982 by Screen Digest, gives a total figure of 8.3 
million households possessing such equipment. Of this, Community 
countries account for 7.3 million households. Another estimate 
published during the ITA European Home Video seminar held in 
Cannes in November 1982 puts the value of sales of prerecorded 
video cassettes in 1981 at 385 million dollars in all (37% for 
the United Kingdom, 29% for Germany and 13% for France). 
Equipment of Japanese manufacture accounts for 80% of sales on 
the European market.
7. A certain amount of restructuring is taking place in the Euro­
pean consumer electronics industry. Perhaps the most significant 
is the agreement for the purchase of 75.5% of the shares of the 
German company, Grundig, by the French Thompson-Brandt Group, 
which was signed in November 1982. This agreement is at present 
being scrutinized by the German Monopolies Commission, which is 
concerned at the dominant position, which the French group might 
gain in the German electronics industry, given that Grundig 
holds a 25% share in Telefunken.
In addition, 24.5% of Grundig shares are held by Philips. This 
means that if the Thompson-Brandt-Grundig agreement goes 
through, Philips and Thompson-Brandt will automatically become 
linked. This is what the two groups , which started negotiations 
in Paris in January 1983 with a view to reaching a cooperation 
agreement in all the consumer electronics fields, i.e. tele­
vision, radio and video, are in fact hoping to achieve. It 
would be this new group's aim to stand up to Japanese 
competition. Philips and Grundig in fact brought an anti-dumping 
complaint against Japanese VTR manufacturers in December 1981, 
accusing them of cutting prices by approximately 60% and thereby 
bringing them below production costs in Japan.
(1) Report, point 8.

107
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
Satellites
8. Two pre-operatlonal DBS satellites are under manufacture as a 
result of the Franco-German agreement of April 1980. A semi­
public company, Eurosatellite GmbH, was set up In Munich in July 
1982 to manufacture, launch and test two satellites. The main 
contract for the development of the German TV-Sat and French 
TDF-1 was signed in October by Eurosatellite on the one hand and 
the French CNES (1) and the German Ministry for Research and 
Technology (BMFT) on the other . Eurosatellite GmbH thus assumes 
the main responsibility for delivering TV-Sat in February 1985 
and TDF-1 in April of the same year.
9. The first German TV-Sat, with three channels, will be placed in 
orbit by Ariane, according to the original programme, shortly 
after delivery in Spring 1985. The German Post Office authori­
ties will be responsible for managing it, whereas the political 
decision on the use of the three channels will fall to the 
governments of the nine Lander.
10. TV-Sat will be able to reach 55 million households. At the out­
set, before individual aerials become widespread, its initial 
coverage area will be confined to Belgium, Switzerland and the 
border areas of France, since these have the best cable 
networks.
11. The second phase of the Franco-German project, which will only 
come into effect after 1988, provides for five DBS channels in 
both countries.
12. Unless the Lander rapidly decide otherwise, TV-Sat will be used 
initially to broadcast ARD and ZDF (German first and second TV 
channels). However, since at present the ARD interrupts its 
national programmes between 18.00 and 20.00 hours in order to 
leave the slot free for regional programmes, it will have to 
produce two hours daily of new programmes for DBS needs. The 
ZDF, for its part, is also seeking authorisation to provide 14 
hours of new programmes weekly (2 hours a day or 1 day per 
week). This means that both German stations need to find 
additional financing.
13. With regard to the prospects for a European channel, it should 
be pointed out that the ARD was one of the five coordinating 
stations for the EURIK0N experiments of the EBU in 1982 (2). The 
ZDF did not participate in the OTS (Orbital Test Satellite) 
experiments but put forward a proposal that, once the stage of a 
five-channel DBS system had been reached, each of the major 
European countries should commit itself to producing a programme
(1) Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (National Space Research 
Centre).
(2) Annex 5, point 39 et seq.

108
in the European spirit and broadcasting it oyer one of its
satellite channels. The various parallel programmes, closely 
cross-coordinated, could subsequently be brought together to 
form into a single channel under joint control.
14. More recently the ZDF suggested a new project to the EBU related
to the offer of L-Sat to the EBU for a European channel (1) and
to the EURIKON experiments. The totally new situation which will 
be created by DBS and its repercussions on the concept of natio­
nal boundaries and copyright calls, according to the ZDF, for 
new Eurovision structures and for daily exchanges of material 
between members.
15. Germany is not involved in the European Space Agency's L-Sat
programme. Both ARD and ZDF have held back on a decision to take 
part within the EBU in the three years of experimentation of a 
European channel via L-Sat on the basis of ESA's offer until 
they can come to a better assessment of operating costs and 
programme content.
Cable
16. The Deutsche Bundespost (DBP) has already installed cable net­
works in areas where airborne reception is bad (such as Hamburg 
and Nuremburg) and in new town districts where local authorities 
have banned TV aerials or insist on, and provide funds for, the 
installation of cables. These networks provide ARD and ZDF 
programmes.
Only 5% of TV viewers are at present linked up to the DBP 
network. Approximately 9X subscribe to the Master Antenne TV 
(communal aerials).
17. In October 1982, new programmes were announced including a 1983 
budget increase from DM4‘ Of)-OO0 to DM 1 million for the installa­
tion by the DBP of wide bandwidth cable capable of relaying 
television. Private cable firms would be able to take part in 
the planned national networks, but decisions on how the networks 
should be used would be with the Lander and agreements they 
might reach between themselves.
18. The Federal Commission for the Development of the Technical 
Communications System (KTK), set up in 1974, proposed in 1975 
several pilot cable network schemes. In 1978, agreement was 
reached between the Federal authorities and the Lander for 
networks to be installed in Dortmund, Ludwigshafen, Munich and 
Berlin, managed by the Deutsche Bundespost, and used for trials 
of several new services in addition to radio and television.
(1) Annex 5, point 27.

109
19. For Berlin, Dortmund and Munich, the .existing radio and tele­
vision organisations will be entrusted with providing the cable 
programmes: Sender Freies Berlin (SFB) for Berlin, Westdeutscher 
Rundfunk (WDR) for Dortmund, and Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR) for 
Munich.
20. The Ludwlgshafen experiment is covered by a law passed in 1980 
by the Rheinland-Pfalz Parliament (Landesgesetz iiber einen 
Versuch mit Breitbandkabel of 4.12.1980). The system selected by 
the Land legislature can be described as follows:
- duration of trials: 3 years;
- services provided: transmission of radio and TV channels,
teletext, interactive communications and transmission of 
satellite programmes;
- audience : minimum 30 000 households;
- advertising is allowed, but must be clearly distinct from the 
other programmes and is banned on Sundays and public holidays;
- establishment of an organization governed by public law, 
called the "Institute for Cable Telecommunications"
- anyone wishing to produce a programme has to obtain permission 
from the Land Government and a licence from the Institute for 
Cable Telecommunications;
- programmes must respect the following principles: democratic 
values, international understanding, human dignity and plura­
lism of ethical and religious convictions;
- a right of reply is established for all individuals or orga­
nisations criticised in the programmes.
21. The network will have a capacity of eleven local television and 
radio channels. It will transmit the programmes of the ÂRD and 
ZDF, French channels, AFN (American Forces Network) and other 
programmes. Amongst the offers made for these other programmes 
there were projects from the Catholic and Evangelical Churches, 
from consortia set up by the editors of the Ludwigshafen daily 
newspaper, from a number of Frankfurt banks and from local 
businessmen.
22. The Munich project provides for the gradual installation from 
1983 of an operational network linked by the Deutsche Bundespost 
to 80 000 households. The Bavarian Land radio and television 
licence fee was slightly increased in January 1983 to finance 
the project.
23. At the end of 1982 work began on installing trial multi-purpose 
networks of optical fibre cable in Berlin, Düsseldorf, Hamburg, 
Hannover, Nuremberg and Stuttgart, and this will continue until 
1986.

110
Video
24. There has been a tremendous boom in the sales of video-recorders 
and video cassettes over recent years. At the end of 1982, the 
number of owners was 2.35 million. Demand is mainly centred on 
pre-recorded cassettes rather than on blank cassettes.
Production figures for pre-recorded cassettes in the three 
systems (1) are therefore exceptionally high.
(1) Annex 2, point 28.

111
FRANCE
Satellites
25. France now manages the Symphonie satellite In conjuctlon with 
Germany. This has been In operation since the end of 1974 and Is 
used for scientific experiments due to continue for another two 
years. In addition, French TV programmes are regularly trans­
mitted to Tunisia via ESA's OTS (Orbital Test Satellite). The 
successor to the OTS (ECS-1) will also be used for these 
broadcasts.
26. Two Télëcom-1 satellites for point to point transmission (for 
government and technical telecommunications services), are due 
to be launched by Ariane in July and October 1983. The Télécom 
system with fixed and mobile ground stations should come into 
operation at the end of the year.
The commissioning of the system will have international 
repercussions since it will provide telephone circuits and TV 
programmes for French territories in Central America and the 
Caribbean. The resulting problems which might arise with Intel­
sat were dealt with in Annex 5 (1).
27. The first French DBS satellite, TDF-1, is scheduled, under the 
1980 Franco-German agreement, to be launched in summer 1985. A 
second satellite will go up in the first half of 1986.
28. TDF-1 is a three-channel television satellite, two of whose 
channels were originally to be used for broadcasting the pro­
grammes of TF-1 and Antenne 2, whilst the third was to be allo­
cated to a new organization.'However, no decision has yet been 
taken on how the first two DBS channels are to be used. For the 
third, several potential uses are being considered: commercial 
or pay TV, linkups between local cable networks, or even Euro­
pean channel, to be reserved at the outset for French-speaking 
countries, along the lines of that planned from 1983 for the 
OTS-2 satellite (2).
29. The DBS channels which will come into operation between 1985 and 
1986 are closely linked to the cable programme in the general 
conception of the French plan. The receiving stations will be 
connected to cable networks whose channels will be supervised by 
the Haute Autorité de l'Audiovisuel.
30. France is not participating in the ESA's L-Sat project. TF1-1 
was, however, a passive participant - receiving closed-circuit 
programmes»in the EURIKON experiment under the aegis of the EBU.
(1) Points 21 to 23 and 28»
(2) Point 31.

112
31. A project for satellite and cable broadcasting of French- 
speaking television programmes is shortly to be launched. Three 
hours per day of programmes selected from the French, Belgian 
and Swiss television channels will be broadcast free of charge 
by the OTS-2 satellite to European cable networks starting in 
1983. This agreement, concluded for six months' duration, could 
then be continued and extended to cover the French-speaking 
countries in North America and Africa. This will be a truly 
joint channel produced by a programming team consisting of 
representative of the three television authorities.
32. The commissioning of the fourth French television channel will 
have particular significance O for DBS. The channel is intended to 
be financed - since State financing and advertising have been 
ruled out by a two-tier paymefit system, a basic subscription and 
a specific fee for access to a number of encoded programmes. In 
addition, other programmes would be offered free by sponsoring 
organisations.
33. The French Government would like the fourth channel, "Canal 
Plus", to start operating from 1983. However, as a year will be 
needed to chose the decoder, the channel will have to start 
operating without a pay TV system.
The Government is insisting that the whole national territory 
should be covered and that owners of the old VHF aerials used 
for receiving black and white 819 line TV pictures (none have 
been installed since 19/8), should be assured of receiving 
uncoded, free programmes. This means that the frequencies which 
were originally allocated to the French Post Offices's planned 
radio telephone services will have to be used. However, from 
1986 - when the TDF satellite system will be operational - the
fourth programme can be transmitted via the third channel of the 
TDF-1 satellite. From 1988 onwards it will also be possible to 
use cable networks. The frequency-allocation problems will then 
be solved for both TDF and the postal authorities.
<
34. Starting operation without a payment system will clearly raise 
financial problems. In specific circumstances, sources of 
funding can however be found, via Sofirad (a state-controlled 
company with shares in radio and television broadcasting 
organization such as Radio Monte-Carlo, Europe-I, Somdra, etc..) 
and from various Ministries.
Cable
35. On 3 November 1982, The French Government announced the 
launching of an optical fibre cable network installation 
programme to be carried out by the PTT (Post Office and 
Telecommunications). The initial objective will be to link up 
1 400 000 subscribers between now and 1985. The Government 
confirmed at the same time the decision to launch the TDF-1 
satellite which should be commissioned at the same time as the  
fiFst stage of the cable plan is completed.

113
36. Scheduled investment over three years is FF 5 000 million. From 
1986 onwards the programme will be speeded up and annual invest­
ment of FF 4 000 million is scheduled in order to cable all 
urban households by the end of the century. Coaxial copper cable 
will be used over the first two years in order to give the 
industry time to adapt production capacity to the demand for 
optical fibre cables. The optical fibre network will also be 
used to bolster the telephone system and provide the information 
services which the electronics industry is planning. These 
services will become one of the major financing sources for this 
plan.
37. Cable distribution is at present very limited in France, being 
normally limited to installations of the MATV (Master Antenna 
TV) type. The new law encourages and authorizes local networks 
which will have access to foreign channels and/or satellite 
broadcasts.
38. Two local experiments have already been approved. In Biarritz, 
the French Post Office is to install gradually an optical fibre 
network to provide new services such as telematics, videophone, 
telephone, television and stereo music channels from mid 1983 
onwards.
The other project, relating to the Lille "Urban Community”, is 
now being implemented. The cable network is to be installed and 
managed by a semi-public company made up of Télédiffusion de 
France (TDF), the Post Office authorities and the "Urban Commu­
nity" , whilst the programmes are to be produced by a "groupement 
d'intérêt économique" (ad hoc consortium) of local associations 
and groups. The two parties involved, the semi-public company 
and the consortium entrusted with producing the programmes, 
would provide financing for the project.
Negotiations between the Urban Community and the Post Office 
authorities were successfully completed in October 1982. It was 
agreed that an initial trial network of optical fibre cables, 
capable of serving 3.000 households, will be installed in one 
district of the town in 1984-85.
Video
39. There are now 900 000 videorecorders in France and the total is 
expected to reach 2 million by the end of 1983. Philips V2000 
recorders and Sony videocassettes are manufactured in France. 
New. taxation of videorecorders was introduced from the first of 
January 1983 to the amount of FF 471 per recorder. This 
substantial amount is roughly equal to the 1983 colour TV 
licence fee. From the same date pre-recorded videocassettes are 
subject to 33% VAT. These new taxes will be used to increase the 
revenue of radio and television organizations.

114
This measure is certain to have an influence on sales of 
machines, of which 85% are of Japanese origin and 15% are 
manufactured by Philips.
In addition, the Government decided that all imports of video 
equipment should be processed only at the Poitiers customs 
office. New rules requiring all customs documentation to be in 
French only were also introduced. As a result of these measures, 
only 6 000 VCRs were received by retailers who had orders for 
200 000 sets. Akai (France), which has had 60% of its 1982 
production stopped at customs, halted manufacture in France. 
Sony dropped its planned to construct a factory in south-west 
France.
In December 1982, the European Commission formally notified the 
French Government that it was commencing proceedings in the Court 
of Justice in respect of these restraints on imports, which were 
considered to be protectionist measures incompatible with 
Community rules and harmful to other Community Member States.
Mention should also be made of the establishment, announced at 
the beginning of November 1982, of an "Association pour le 
Développement de l'Audiovisuel” to familiarize producers with 
new techniques - videodiscs, microcomputers, digital processing 
and image synthesizing systems, etc. - and thereby encourage 
production of videoprogrammes in the coming years. The Associa­
tion, set up by the Directorate-General for Telecommunications 
(DGT) of the Post Office, will include the DGT's own engineers, 
engineers from the Centre National d'Etudes sur les Télécommuni­
cations (CNET - National Centre for Telecommunications Research) 
and audiovisual producers.
Where equipment is concerned, 'the DGT will be instructed by the 
Ministry for Research and Industry to stimulate a revival of the 
industrial production of videodiscs, now that Thompson has 
abandoned its project.

115
BELGIUM
Satellites
41· Belgium has no plans for a satellite, because Its territory Is 
very, small and Its population split In two communities,one 
French-speaking, the other Dutch-speaking, which means that new 
channels are not required. Four channels operate at present: the 
RTBF runs two French-speaking channels and the BRT two Dutch­
speaking channels. All the channels of neighbouring countries 
can be received via cable.
Cable
42. In Belgium, more than 80% of households are linked to cable 
networks. As indicated above, nine foreign television channels 
(three French, three German, two Dutch, one from Luxembourg) are 
available In addition to the four Belgian channels (two French- 
speaking and two Dutch-speaking) and they are all distributed 
via cable. Negotiations are continuing with the BBC on distri­
bution of its British channels.
The number of channels available to the Belgian cable networks 
will more than double over the next ten years as a result of the 
commissioning of national DBS satellites belonging to Germany, 
France and the United Kingdom, possibly followed by those of 
Luxembourg, Switzerland and Sweden.
43. At national level the RTBF has requested the Government for 
permission to set up a pay-TV cable channel.
New legislation on cable networks is at present being drafted. 
One of the problems to be solved relates to the banning of cable 
distribution of foreign channels which include advertising. This 
ban is provided for in the Arrêté Royal of 1966 but not 
applied.(1)
Video
44. Belgium, with less than 30 000 videorecorders, is not included 
in statistical analyses of video in Europe.
(1) For the legal rules governing cable distribution in Belgium, 
see Annex 10, points 30 to 35.

116
DENMARK
Satellites
45. Denmark has no national plans as such,but is participating in the 
ESA's L-Sat project and supports the concept of a European tele­
vision channel put forward by the EBU to be received by Danish 
TV viewers; Danmarks Radio (DR), the national broadcasting 
organization, could contribute to this.
In February 1982, after years of study and discussion, Denmark 
formally withdrew from the Nordic countries Nord-Sat project(1)i 
It also declined the Swedish invitation to participate in Tele-X, 
an experimental project for satellite telecommunications, with 
two television channels, to cover the Nordic countries. (2)
Cable * "*
46. Approximately 50% of viewers (or 800 000 households) were 
subscribers to cable TV systems at the end of 1981.
Under the law of 15 June 1973, communal aerial systems and other 
systems designed to distribute programmes to residential acco­
modation can only be used to disseminate the DR programmes and 
those of foreign broadcasting authorities. However, the Ministry 
for Cultural Affairs may authorize the experimental cable 
distribution of local programmes.
This same Ministry recently banned cable distribution of the 
programmes provided by the private British company SATV (3) via 
the 0TS-2 satellite, since that would conflict with the State 
monopoly on broadcasting.
Video
47. Only 5% (70 000 to 80 000 households) of TV licence holders
possess a video recorder. Nonetheless, blank videocassette 
sales are high.
(1) Point 117.
(2) Point 118.
(3) "Satellite Television pic", Annexe 5, point 52.

117
GREECE
Satellites
48. Greece does not have any plans at the present time to use the 
orbital position and DBS frequencies which it has been 
allocated. There is a measure of hostility in broadcasting 
circles to spillover reception of programmes transmitted by 
foreign satellites.
Cable
49. Projects are under examination with regard to a possible State 
initiative regarding information and data transmission 
services.
Video
50. A limited number of video recorders are used to record films and 
for viewing cassettes rented by Athens' video clubs.

118
IRELAND
Satellites
Ireland has not yet announced any plans for DBS although RTE, 
the State-controlled organization which has a broadcasting 
monopoly, is involved In the EBU's EURIKON experiments.
The position at 31° west, suitable for a possible DBS geo­
stationary satellite, is shared by Iceland, Ireland, Portugal, 
Spain and the United Kingdom. This would give an Irish satellite 
access to an extensive market.
The official position as regards possible private initiatives is 
none too clear, as may be judged from the present situation in 
which about one hundred pirate radio stations, and some pirate 
television stations, are illegal but tolerated. (1)
Two parliamentary bills have been introduced; one of them would 
outlaw pirate stations while the other would provide a legal 
status for local radio. There is a possibility that RTE'8 
monopoly may be reviewed, and an injection of private capital 
used to operate the DBS channels to which Ireland is entitled.
Cable
Twenty-one cable networks are centred in the North and East of 
the country where 54% of Irish viewers live. British television 
channels can be received in this area. About 26% of Irish 
television subcribers are linked up to these networks, the three 
largest of which are situated in Dublin (including "RTE Relays", 
which belongs to RTE). Each network must broadcast RTE program­
mes, and is liable to a 15% tax on its revenue to compensate RTE 
for the loss advertising revenue. (2)
The rest of the country receives only, RTE, but in 1982 the 
Minister for Posts & Telegraphs announced the decision to 
authorize cable distribution of various channels in areas where 
only one channel can be received at the moment (the towns of 
Cork and Limerick, and County Galaway).
(1) The private television stations relay British programmes.
(2) Annex 10, point 79.

119
Video
The most recent figures available show that there were 39 000 
video recorders In Ireland at the end of May 1982. However, this 
figure covers only private households. Public places, especially 
public houses, where the majority of prerecorded cassettes are 
viewed, were left out of account.

120
ITALY
Satellites
56. The new space programme, adopted In March 1982, covers the
period from 1982 to 1986 and has been granted a budget of Lit 
513 000 million. This programme Includes: a 32.8% participation
In the ESA's L-Sat programme (1), development of Italsat, a pre- 
operatlonal satellite, by Telespazlo and other related indus­
tries, development of land-based stations for telephone' links, 
data transmission, teleconferencing and telefax, and lastly 
cooperation with NASA for the development of the Tethered 
Satellite System for scientific observation satellites linked by 
cable to the American space shuttle. Launching of Italsat is 
scheduled for 1987 or 1988. There are also plans to set up an 
Italian space agency within the next two years.
57. With regard to the DBS sector, the main point to note is Italy's 
high level of support for the L-Sat project (the Italian contri­
bution is the second largest after Britain's). Italy has 
exclusive rights to one of the channels of the satellite which 
will be beamed towards its territory according to the WARC plan. 
The RAI (Radio Televlsione Italians) has offered this channel to 
the EBU (2) for a European programme.
The agreement reached in April 1982 between the RAI and the 
Italian Post Office authorities grants to RAI exclusive rights 
to all types of broadcasting (radio and television, by airborne, 
cable or other means). Similarly, only the RAI has access to the 
PTT's land-based stations for broadcasting television pictures 
from the Intelsat system. (3).
58. Private radio and television stations are permitted to transmit 
locally. In the absence of a more accurate definition of 
"locally", the Constitutional Court's order is interpreted as 
relating to the area of each of Italy's 21 regions. At the 
present time, the number of television stations has fallen to 
approximately 350, but the private TV scene has been dominated, 
since January 1982, by three networks which cover between them 
approximately f/5 stations. These are Canale 5, Italia Uno and 
Rete Quattro (4).
(1) Annex 5, point 27.
(2) Annex 5, point 37,
(3) In December 1980, however, a private television company was, 
as an exceptional measure, permitted to relay the Mundialito 
football championship from  Uruguay, for which the RAI had not 
planned any live coverage.
(4) Microwave or cable links between the various regional
stations are forbidden, so the large networks operate by
sending pre-recorded tapes for broadcast four days later. 
The regional network agents provide dally programmes to the 
stations in which local advertising is included.

121
The private TV companies appealed to the courts against this ban 
on setting up truly national networks. Canale 5, In anticipation 
of a successful outcome, has already established a network of 
transmitters. The same companies are seeking possible means of 
expansion and new markets; they are very Interested In the 
prospects offered by satellite and cable.
59. The possibility of private organizations availing themselves of 
the orbital position and frequency allocated by the WARC 77 to 
the Principality of Monaco has, however, been blocked by the 
agreement reached In 1982 between the RAI and T€l£montecarlo 
(TMC). TMC has agreed, In exchange for the RAI's financial 
contribution and guaranteed four hours transmission per day, not 
to grant third parties the right to broadcast In Italian towards 
Italy.
60. The publishers Mondadori (which control Rete Quattro) for their 
part hold shares in the British SATV (Satellite TV) company 
which transmits commercial programmes via the OTS-2 satellite. 
(1)
Cable
61. The expansion of private radio and television transmitters has 
caused the small cable networks in blocks of flats to dlssappear 
and prevented any further expansion.
Video
62. The abundant availability of TV channels has naturally brought 
to an almost total halt the spread of video recorders and 
cassettes.
(1) Annex 5 , Point 52.

122
LUXEMBOURG
Satellites
63. The area covered by the Luxembourg satellite (Lux-Sat) would 
take In France (as far as Paris, Lyon and Bordeaux)) three 
quarters of Germany and almost the whole of Belgium and the 
Netherlands.
Estimates put the number of households which Lux-Sat broadcasts 
could reach at approximately 40 million.
However, a final decision to approve the project is far from 
being a foregone conclusion. The feasibility of abandoning the 
plan for an independent Luxembourg satellite and joining France 
in providing programmes for the third channel of TDF-1 (the 
first French DBS satellite) is under examination.
64. Lux-Sat would be a small satellite similar to the ESA's ECS-type 
satellites with DBS transponders added. Options have been taken 
out for a launch in 1986 using a Ariane or the American space 
shuttle. A second satellite would follow almost Immediately, and 
a third would be scheduled to be put into orbit in 1994.
65. Lux-Sat might have four DBS channels, three of which for broad­
casts in German, French and Dutch, respectively. All programmes, 
according to CLT declarations, would be "European" in nature. 
Where advertising is concerned, the CLT would observe the rules 
in force in the target countries and apply the rules of the 
International Chamber of Commerce. In a number of official and 
unofficial statements, the Luxembourg authorities have warned 
against adopting a protectionist stance which would conflict 
with the concepts of free movement of information and freedom to 
provide services.
According to the CLT, 40% of the programmes broadcast by Lux-Sat 
would be produced by its subsidiary Radio-Télé-Luxembourg (RTL), 
while the remaining 60% would originate from foreign producers 
or be co-productions.
4 t
66. In 1982 the shareholders in the Compagnie Luxembourgeoise de 
Télédiffusion (CLT), 47% of whose equity is held by French 
public and private sector Interests, decided to accept in 
principle the Luxembourg government's offer of a DBS service 
managed directly by the CLT (and not by a separate company).
67. Since the Lux-Sat project is mainly aimed at markets outside the 
Grand-Duchy it is obvious that its success or failure will 
depend in part on the attitude of neighbouring countries 
governments.
The hostility of the German government up to November 1982 meant 
that the association of German newspaper ediitors which had 
planned to take a 25% share in the Luxembourg project withdrew 
their support. It is difficult, at the time of writing, to fore­
cast how the new German government will act.

123
68. Pending a dedsini on it* satellite, Hl. aaaooneed pi— * for a
second TV channel In October 1982; In addition to Luxembourg 
this could cover areas o£ France and Germany, Belgium and the 
southern part of the Netherlands. This service would be 
multilingual, similar to the one announced by the CLT for the 
satellite. Programmes would be broadcast in German from 1200 to 
1400, and in English from 1700 to 1900. The news would be in 
French and each evening a film would be shown with subtitles in 
German and Dutch. However, Belgium opposed the plan and its 
implementation, originally scheduled for the end of 1982, has 
been postponed indefinitely.
Cable
69. Approximately 50% of Luxembourg households are on cable, 
particularly in the towns in which the Belgian company Coditel 
operates. The only prerequisite for operation is to broadcast 
RTL.
70. A number of local radio and television cable networks have been 
installed throughout the Grand-Duchy. They are granted by local 
authorities to firms or private interest groups on a conces­
sionary basis. No actual fee is charged, but a number of clearly 
defined charges have to be paid.
These firms and interest groups relay RTL programmes and those 
of official foreign radio and television stations which can be 
received within the Grand-Duchy.
Video
71.Sales of videorecorders are not high in Luxembourg, since all 
neighbouring countries TV programmes can be received there.

124
THE NETHERLANDS
72. The Staatsblad (Official Gazette) of 28 October 1982 published 
the general guidelines adopted by the government on the basis of 
the report submitted by the Scientific Council on Media Policy 
on 7 September last. These are:
- a ban on all advertising specially aimed at the Dutch public 
in cable-distributed foreign programmes (a general policy on 
foreign programme distribution by cable is being defined);
- liberalization to permit the participation of the press, 
publishing and non-profit organizations in local radio and TV, 
whilst ensuring that no commercial pressures are brought to 
bear on the management of broadcasting organizations and their 
programming policies;
- recognition of the press's role in teletext services;
- lowering of restrictions on advertising in sports stadiums.
Satellites
73. The Netherlands have no national projects in the DBS sector. 
They are participating in the ESA's L-Sat project (1) and the 
NOS (Dutch Broadcasting System) is one of the coordinating 
organization for the EBU's EURIKON experiments (2).
Several Dutch organizations have submitted requests, via the 
Post Office authorities, to Eutelsat for permission to use 
channels on the OTS-2 satellite and its succesor ECS-1. Two of 
the 8lx applications for ECS-1 channels were submitted by 
companies formed by Dutch publishers who Intend to use the 
satellite for subscription or pay television.
74. Generally speaking, the Netherlands have no objections to 
receiving DBS programmes from neighbouring countries' satellites 
on the principle that free movement of information is essential, 
provided that such programmes do not contain advertising 
specifically aimed at the Dutch public.
They would like agreement to be reached at European level on 
radio and television advertising and advertising standards to 
allow for cases in which programmes produced by one country are 
deliberately designed to take advantage of satellite broadcast 
spillover.
Cable
75. 70% of Dutch households are linked to cable networks and it- is
estimated that the total will exceed 75% in 1985. Networks 
covering more than 50 000 subscribers are managed by the PTT,
(1) Annex 5, point 27.
(2) Annex 5, point 40.

125
but local networks nay be managed by other organizations accor­
ding to technical specifications laid down by the PTT. Almost 
all smaller networks are managed by local authorities. The 
CASEMA, a semi-public company composed of the PTT (60%) and the 
NOS (40%), manages approximately 15% of these minor systems. The 
CASEMA, a semi-public company composed of the PTT (60%) and the 
NOS (40%), manages approximately 15% of these minor systems (1).
76. As a general rule, seven channels are broadcast: the two Dutch 
channels, three German channels and the two Dutch-speaking 
Belgian channels. Cable distribution of programmes from the 
Soviet Gorizont satellite is permitted. The number of local 
networks is increasing, as is the number of subscribers and the 
cable network managers' interest in providing new services via 
available channels.
77. The Scientific Council's report on the media (point 63 above) 
made suggestions regarding the broad lines of new legislation on 
cable. The main source of financing should be by subscription, 
and subscribers should themselves be called upon to decide which 
channels they should receive according to the area they live in. 
National television channels should be available free of 
charge.
Video
78. The number of privately owned video recorders was estimated at 
65 000 at the end of 1982; this figure corresponds to 15.7% of 
TV subscribers.
The Dutch video equipment distributors association estimates 
that 35-70% of prerecorded videocassettes sold on the Dutch 
market are pirated. Court cases are pending with a view to 
stamping out the practice.
79. The Dutch company Philips is the largest European manufacturer 
of electronic and electrical, TV and video equipment and the 
fourth largest in the world (2).
On 5 January 1983, Philips and AT&T announced that they had 
reached agreement on jointly developing, manufacturing and 
marketing telecommunications equipment, including transmission 
systems. AT&T, following the US anti-trust case in which it was 
ordered to relinquish ownership of Bell Telephones, is eager to 
penetrate new sectors in markets outside the United States and 
therefore needs a partner with international experience and 
marketing capability. As for Philips, it is seeking to avail 
itself of AT&T's experience in electronic switching systems in 
order to bolster its position on the telecommunications market.
(1) On the legal aspects ‘ of cable distribution, see Annex 10, 
points 124 and 125.
(2) Preceded by IBM, General Electric and AT&T in the United 
States.

126
The Phillps-AT&T agreement is however viewed unfavourably by the 
French Government, which is concerned at the arrival of a 
powerful American company on this European market.
Reference has already been made to the possibility of Philips 
and the French consortium Thompson-Brandt working together 
through the German Grundig company (in which Thompson-Brandt 
may gain a controlling interest and in which Philips holds a 
24.5% share (1) and also to the anti-dumping proceedings brought 
by Philips and Grundig against Japanese video equipment 
manufacuterers.
(1) Point 7.

127
THE UNITED KINGDOM
Satellites
80. Following the British Government's decisions of 4 March 1982, 
the United Kingdom set Itself the aim of possessing an 
operational two-satellite DBS service by 1986. The Government 
Intends Immediately to use two of the five channels allocated 
by WARC 77 at the position of 31° West. These two channels have 
been allotted to the BBC.
81. The first satellite will be launched by United Satellite Ltd
(Unisat), a company formed by British Telecom, (which will deal 
with the telecommunications service), British Aerospace (which 
will provide the satellite) and Marconi (which will provide the 
payload).(1)
82. The Government also decided on 29 November 1982 that the MAC
(Multiplexed Analogue Components) system developed by the IBA 
(Independent Broadcasting Authority) would adopted as the new 
DBS broadcasting standard.(2)
83. For its part, Unisat has decided that the satellite will have 
six transponders, two for television and four for telecommuni­
cations. The British Aerospace-designed project for the ESA's 
ECS (European Communications Satellite) (3) will be further 
developed to permit the installation of the six transponders.
The two satellites are due to be launched by Ariane in June and 
September 1986, but the dates have not yet been finalized. The
cost of the system will partly be covered by revenue from the
telecommunications service.
84. With regard to the TV services available, the BBC proposal, 
approved by the Government, provides for a subscription service 
in which the programmes would include films, cultural events, 
sport, entertainment and the use of historical film documents as 
well as a "window on the world" made up of the best programmes 
from other television authorities and new programmes with an 
international flavour.
(1) Project Mercury, the private consortium holding the first 
Government permit for the installation of a telecommuni­
cations network to compete with British Telecom, will rent 
circuits on the satellite and act as BT's agent in terminal 
leasing.
(2) Annex 2, point 18 et seq.
(3) Also for Inmarsat's Marecs maritime communications satel­
lites 'Annex 5, point 25.

128
85. The IBA (1), for Its part, has stated that it wishes to have DBS 
channels and proposed instituting a subscription service, a 
service offering repeat broadcasts of the best British products, 
and lastly a pan-European service. In its apllication to the 
Government the IBA stressed the role it had played over the past 
five years in satellite research and development and in produ­
cing test programmes for the EBU's EURIKON broadcasts, via the 
OTS satellite.
In its statement to Parliament in March 1982, the Government 
agreed that the IBA should have a part to play in future DBS 
services and gave assurances that the necessary legislation 
would be Included.
86. In sectors other than television, British Telecom have announced 
plans for private telecommunication networks from 1984 onwards 
based on the digital X-Stream systems using ECS satellites (2). 
These networks will provide four services termed Switchstream, 
Magastream, Kilstream and Satstream, with teleconferencing, 
telefax and packet-switching capability. It will be possible to 
receive these services via cable-network terminals served by 
five metre aerials, via public airborne relay stations or via 
customers' personal terminals.
87. The United Kingdom is taking part in the ESA's Arlane and L-Sat 
programmes. According to British Telecom, participation in L-Sat 
will be the natural follow-up to Britain's commitment to space 
when, towards the end of the eighties and at the beginning of 
the nineties, larger satellites will have to take over.
In December 1982 a contract worth £180 million was signed 
between the ESA and British Aerospace as lead contractor for the 
construction of L-Sat. The -other main contractors for this 
project are Aeritalia and Selenia from Italy, Fokker from the 
Netherlands and Spar Aerospace from Canada.
Cable
88. There are at present 2.6 million subscribers to cable television 
in Britain, and approximately 14% of all TV sets are linked to 
cable networks. These are above all communal aerials since 
distributors are permitted to broadcast only the national 
channels (3) which are available over the air to 99% of the 
population.
(1) The IBA is a public authority responsible for the private 
sector of radio and television broadcasting in the United 
Kingdom. It grants limited contracts for programme 
production concessions on a regional or local basis to 
several dozen private companies, supervises their work and 
transmits their programmes.
(2) European Communication Satellites, managed by Eutelsat. 
Annex 5, point 30.
(3) Except pilot pay-TV schemes authorized in 1981 (Annex 10, 
point 140).

129
89· Since cable distributors have hitherto had little to gain by 
laying multi-channel cables, most of the networks are outdated 
• and carry only four channels. All four channels have been in 
use since Channel 4 came into operation in November 1982.
From 1980, however, certain trial networks providing subscribers 
with other cable-distributed services have been authorised.
The Hunt Report
90. With regard to the future, the Government took decisions based 
on the report submitted in October 1982 by a three member 
Consultive Committee. The Committee, chaired by Lord Hunt (1), 
had the task of studying cable broadcasting and programming 
policy for radio and television.
The proposal in the 39-page Hunt Report would lead to a revo­
lutionary change in the British TV scene by reducing regulation 
and control of whatever type to the absolute minimum.
91. The first of the new services could be available to the public
in two years. Although "use British material should be
encouraged", all restrictions on import of foreign programmes 
(now set at 14% of BBC and ITV television programmes) would be 
abolished and cable network operators, with a maximum thirty 
channels available, would have virtually total freedom with 
regard to programme production. They would, however, be required 
to carry all existing and future BBC and ITV programmes.
92. A great deal of controversy arose over the basic findings of the 
report, which were as follows:
- There should be no limit to the number of channels which could 
be financed by subcription and advertising and it should be 
possible for entire programmes to be funded by a single adver­
tiser (sponsorship). In the first few years of operation, fi­
nancing from advertising and sponsorship would be unrestricted.
- Pay-per-view TV would not, however, be permitted for the time 
being.
- There would be no obligations with regard to the content of 
programmes offered on subscription.
- There would be no obligation with regard to the balance and 
mix of different programmes, with regard to impartiality 
(except in news programmes), or scheduling programmes not 
suitable for children (for which electronic blocking devices 
are planned), advertising or foreign programmes, etc. However, 
no cable network would be allowed to have a totally biased 
position (e.g. by being owned by a political or religious 
organization). In addition, access to local cable channels 
would have to be guaranteed on an impartial basis.
(1) Former Cabinet Secretary. The other two members of the 
Committee were Sir Maurice Hodgson, Chairman of British 
Home Stores, and Professor James King of Imperial College, 
London.

130
- Organizations operating existing cable networks could conti­
nue, but only for a five-year period, after which they would 
have to invest in new multi-channel networks.
- A new Authority would be set up, with the task of granting 
concessions and monitoring the activities of network opera­
tors. The Authority would have to be set up by Act of Par­
liament. However, if necessary (i.e.lf not enough time were 
available to prepare the legislation) “it should be esta­
blished on a non-statutory advisory basis". With regard to the 
powers of the authority, the Hunt Report states that network 
operators' activities should only be checked from time to time 
(monitoring) or in response to complaints received. Neither 
programmes nor advertising would have to be submitted for 
prior approval, there would be no systematic monitoring at the 
production stage and network operators would not be required 
to contribute towards financing the control machinery.
- A number of different criteria would be used to define the 
concession areas, such as 500 000 population, linking rich 
urban areas with poor rural areas, time required to carry out 
Installation, etc.
- Normally, the concessions would last for eight years but at
present they might reach ten years. This period may be regar­
ded as very short, given they heavy Investment needed to
instal cable networks.
93. The Hunt Committee was not called upon to give its verdict on 
the choice between coaxial and optical fibre cables. When it was 
suggested that the Government might be in favour of using coaxi­
al cable initially, British Telecom reacted by stating that it 
was vital that the system chosen should give room for develop­
ment of all the capacity required to provide a wide range of 
information and entertainment services.
94. Once the Hunt report was published, the BBC, the IBA and the
Independent Television Companies Association (ITCA), which 
represents the private regional TV companies which produce the 
programmes broadcast over the IBA network, voiced the following 
opinions :
The BBC argued in favour of the principle of controlling pro­
gramme content in order to protect the TV viewer and making
cable and DBS complementary. A guarantee should be given that
the DBS channels would be provided to users in addition to the 
other cahnnels distributed by cable. In addition, the BBC 
stressed the need to defend the interests of that 40% of viewers 
who could never be economically linked to a cable network.
The IBA, for its part, expressed outright opposition to the con­
clusions of the Hunt report, particularly where it stated that 
if its recommendations were adopted there would be no serious 
adverse effect for public radio and TV broadcasting services.·

131
The ITCA did not wholly share the IBA's hostility to the report. 
A number of the companies involved were interested in partici­
pating in cable network management. Most of their criticism 
concerned the fact that no restrictions were to be placed on 
advertising and that the compulsory proportion of British 
productions in programmes was to be lifted. They also objected 
to the recommendation that a television company should not be 
able to have a majority holding in a cable management company.
None the less, broad agreement existed on the need to plan a 20 
to 25 year duration for concessions which would only become pro­
fitable after 7 to 8 years.
Video
The United Kingdom has the world's highest percentage of house­
holds possessing video recording equipment : between 12.5 and 
15% of the 20 million households with a television set at the 
end of 1982. It is estimated that this percentage will rise to 
27% in 1983 and 40% in 1984. The market is divided up between 
the VHS system of JVC and Matsushita (57%), Sony's BETA system 
(27%) and the Philips V2000 system (15%). 54% of recorders be­
long to users; 46% are rented. According to a recent Gallup poll 
1.25 million videocassettes are rented each week. Recordings are 
mainly made of films broadcast by the TV channels late in the 
evening.
In addition, TV viewing time in Autumn 1982 was 10 to 12% lower 
than in Autumn 1981 (2 to 3 hours per week). Over the Christmas 
period, which has always been the peak viewing time, the number 
of viewers fell by 23% to 11'. 1 million on the four channels on 
Christmas Day (compared to 17 million on the same day in 1981). 
For the first time in 1982 it was estimated that rentals of 
films recorded on videocassette exceeded cinema box-office 
takings.
Some 82 million blank videocassettes were sold in 1981 (for a 
total value of £74 million) in order to record programmes from 
television or copy other cassettes. The total value of sales and 
rentals of videocassettes in 1982 is estimated at £400 million.
Towards the end of 1982 most of the small videocassette distri­
butors (video clubs and rental firms) which proliferated in 1981 
and 1982 had disappeared. The major video distributors and 
videogram producers dominate the market and have started coope­
rating on a self regulation system and on combating piracy: it 
is estimated that pirate videocassettes account for 70% of 
sales.
With that aim in mind, the British Videogram Association, the 
Motion Picture Association and the Society of Distribution have 
set up a Federation Against Copyright Theft (FACT).

132
ANDORRA
96. The Andorra Government, with the agreement of the two Co-Princes 
(the Bishop of Urgel and the President of the French Republic) 
granted authorization for a study of the potential uses of the 
DBS satellite whose position at 37° West was allocated to 
Andorra by the World Administrative Radio Conference of 1977.
Andorra Produccions SA, which is the project leader, considers 
that one of these satellite channels could very easily be 
adapted to broadcasting European programmes.
97. The Co-Princes have ruled out advertising as a source of fi­
nance. Andorra Produccions is therefore seeking sponsors who 
could -pos8ibily working together within a joint organization- 
produce the programmes needed. The sponsors would preferably be 
European international or interregional organizations.

133
AUSTRIA
Satellites
98. A decision by the Austrian Government on the feasibility, 
technicalities and financial sources for placing an Austrian 
satellite in orbit is not expected for two years. This decision 
will be based on the opinion of a joint PTT-ORF (Oesterreichi- 
scher Rundfunk) Committee set up in October 1981. In any event, 
no national satellite is scheduled for the next ten years. The 
Committee is, however, to make recommendations with a view to 
possible Austrian involvement in European DBS activities over 
the same period.
99. Three options are being examined :
(a) Participation in an EBU European programme. It should be 
borne in mind that the ORF is one of the coordinating 
organization for the EBU's EURIKON experiments (1).
(b) Use of transmission time on one of the three channels of the 
German TV-Sat satellite,in conjunction with the Lander orga­
nizations involved in the ARD and with the ZDF (the ORF has 
been cooperating with these organizations as a matter of 
course for many years).
(c) Management of a satellite in conjunction with Switzerland. In 
this connection, contact has been made with the Société 
Suisse de Radiodiffusion et Télévision (SSR) and the Swiss 
PTT, but the Swiss authorities have not yet adopted a 
definitive stance on this subject. The SSR has financial 
problems, like the ORF, and if the ORF were to become 
involved in the commercial Tel-Sat (2) project this might 
cause difficulties.
100. At all events, Austria is uniquely placed with respect to 
Europe. Its radio programmes cover an area streching from the 
Adriatic to Western Russia and Romania. Its TV programmes can be 
received in Switzerland, Southern Germany, Czechoslovakia, Hun­
gary and Yugoslavia. Using the WÀRC standard of a 90 cm diameter 
aerial, the optimum coverage area for an Austrian DBS satellite 
would include approximately 45 million people, but in reality it 
could reach 110 million in Czechoslovakia, France, the two Ger- 
manles, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Switzerland, and Yugoslavia; and 
the number of radio listeners could be doubled.
Austria already receives German, Swiss and Italian television 
programmes and has no objections to receiving DBS programmes 
from other national satellites.
(1) Annex 5, points 39 et seq.
(2) Point 103.

134
Cable
101. Early cable networks in Austria were laid in Western frontier 
areas to permit German and Swiss visitors to receive their 
country's channels in places in which off-air reception was not 
possible. Now the networks are expanding, but only in the 
Eastern cities. At the beginning of 1982, 108 000 households 
were linked to cable.
Video
102.3% of TV subscribers, i.e. 70 000 households, were in posses­
sion of a video recorder at the end of 1981.

135
SWITZERLAND
Satellites
103. A Swiss initiative on DBS was started by the private sector  
when the Association pour la Télévision Suisse par Satellite  
(Tel-Sat) was formed. In May 1980 Tel-Sat submitted a request to  
the government (amended in February 1981) to be granted the  
concession of three of the five DBS channels set aside for  
Switzerland by the World Administrative Radio Conference of  
1977. The three channels would be used for programmes in the  
three official languages of the Confederation. The installation  
and management of the system would be carried out in conjunction  
with the PTT. Tel-Sat would be in favour of all types of coope­
ration, particularly with the Société Suisse de Radiodiffusion  
et Télévision (SSR).
104. 80% of potential Tel-Sat viewers would be located in Germany,  
Austria, France and Italy. Finance for the first eight years of  
operation, during which profitability would not be achieved,  
would come from private Swiss sources (55%) and foreign sources  
(45%). It is planned to launch the satellite in 1987.
105. The SSR, which currently has exclusive rights to transmit radio  
and television programmes granted by the Confederation, has  
suggested a Swiss satellite equipped with two TV channels. The  
first would be used for a pay-TV service and the other would be  
kept for a pan-European channel to be set up within the EBU. The  
SSR's proposal recognize the need for a fundamental revision of  
the present structure of its monopoly to take account of the  
public's attitude and of the increasing difficulty in obtaining 
federal funds.
In a statement on 17 September 1982, the SSR Central Committee 
stressed the technical and professional experience it could con­
tribute in cooperating with other Swiss organizations in the DBS  
sector. The text of the statement is given below (point 110).
106. Switzerland now receives TV programmes from France, Germany  
Austria and Italy and Swiss viewers spend approximately 50% of  
their viewing time watching them. This obviously has implica­
tions for the advertising rates which the SSR is able to charge.  
In the future, if the four neighbouring countries make full use  
of the potential offered by the DBS channels allotted to them,  
Switzerland will receive an increasing number (up to 20) of  
foreign TV channels.
107. The situation is further complicated in Switzerland by the fact  
that there is no constitutional basis for Federal regulations on  
radio and TV programmes. Two draft laws were rejected in refe­
renda in 1957 and 1973. In 1982 the Government sought Parliament  
approval for a new article (1) of the Constitution to confer  
authority for the radio and TV sector on the Federal Government,  
to determine the function and roles of this sector and to  
guarantee its freedom. If Parliament passes the legislation, it  
will then have to be submitted to public referendum.
(,1) Article 55 bis (article 55 relates to the freedom of the  
press).

136
108. In June 1982 the Federal Council (the Government of the Confe­
deration) made a statement to the National Council (the Chamber  
of Deputies) on its stance on DBS. It stated that cooperation  
with other counries should be sought for the initial trials,  
particularly where this related to programmes with an inter­
national vocation. All notion of a monopoly is expllcity  
rejected; the five Swiss DBS channels should be granted to  
several different broadcasting companies, who would have to  
cooperate. The PTT should install and manage the technical  
infrastructure. The cost would be borne by users and advertising  
would be permitted, though within strictly defined limits.
109. The Management Committee of the National Council presented
Parliament, in Autumn 1982, with a report on the constitional,
legal, political and social aspects of satellite broadcasting.  
This report is the follow-up to an initial report drawn up by a 
"Commission pour une conception Intégrée des média" (Committee  
for an Integrated media concept, also known as the Kopp commit­
tee) submitted in May 1982 after three years' work. The Kopp  
report does not grant priority to DBS. It recommends that the  
radio and TV sector should be exposed to competition without,  
however, in any way jeopardizing the future of the SSR.
110. The text of the statement by the Central Committee of the SSR on
17 September 1982 with regard to satellite broadcasting (point  
105) was as follows (translation):
"SSR guidelines with regard to satellite broadcasting
"For the SSR, the definition of future Swiss policy on satellite  
broadcasting should stem from the following considerations:
”1. The presence of Switzerland in the satellite broadcasting  
sector is in the national interest.
"2. It is irrational to use satellite broadcasting in order to  
serve the national territory alone.
"3. The reception area allocated to Switzerland lends itself to  
cross-frontier utilization.
"4. Bilateral and multilateral cooperation are required in order  
to draw the maximum benefit from the tecnological potential  
of satellites. With regard to programmes, this cooperation  
should take place primarily within language areas.
"5. The SSR, as a multilingual organization, can both provide  
satellite broadcasting with its infrastructure from the pro­
gramming, manpower and operational points of view and offer  
its experience and expertise, together with the relations it  
•  has established internationally. The SSR has a long-standing  
tradition of international cooperation both in technical  
mattefs and in programme production. The Swiss PTT and the  
SSR have international status which should be exploited in  
the interests of the country.

137
"6. Any SSR commitment on satellite broadcasting should be In  
keeping with Its financial, programming and organizational  
capacities.
"7. In order to Improve the Influence of Switzerland abroad, the  
SSR will seek to cooperate with all interested parties in  
Switzerland in order to further satellite development.
”8. Swiss broadcasters should be Involved in all consultation  
and planning procedures already under way.
"9. In order to operate in the DBS sector in the country's  
interests, the SSR requires a mandate from the Government.
”10. The SSR is basing its DBS activities on the tasks conferred  
on it by its concession. It places particular emphasis on  
the effects which DBS will have on independent national  
coverage with regard to programmes.”
Cable
111. Cable networks are very widespread. More than 60% of Swiss  
viewers are served by cable companies providing eight to twelve  
channels. In certain cities the percentage of subscribers is  
close to 95%. The PTT provides the relay stations to transmit  
foreign programmes from the Swiss frontier to local cable  
networks.
112. The PTT also has responsibility for granting concessions to  
local companies (local authorities or private companies) which,  
until last year, operated under a Federal order of 1977. This  
order, which expired in 1982, restricted broadcasting by cable  
and banned advertising. The subsequent order of July 1982 opened  
up new prospects - local programmes can also be transmitted over  
the air within a maximum 20 Km range under permits granted for  
three to five years. Advertising is only allowed on radio and  
cannot occupy more than 15 minutes' air time or 2% of total  
dally air time. At the closing date of 30 September 1982 more  
than 150 requests had been received for the 20 to 30 concessions  
to be granted in 1983. These will be granted to pilot schemes in  
terms of programmes or the organizational and financial aspects  
and recipients will have to submit an assessment of the results  
at the end of the operational period.
113. The first cable pay-TV service is managed by a company whose  
130 000 subscribers all live in Zurich area. The trial period  
started in April 1982. Lastly, another Zurich network is dis­
tributing satellite broadcasts from the private British company  
Satellite Television PLC (SATV) (1).
Video
114. The number of Swiss households who now have video equipment is
assessed at 160 000. 90% of pre-recorded videocassettes are
rented rather than purchased.
(1) Annex 5, point 52.

138
THE NORDIC COUNTRIES :  FINLAND, ICELAND, NORWAY AND SWEDEN
Satellites
lib. The five Nordic countries - the four deal with here and Denmark-  
were permitted by the World Administrative Radio Conference of  
1977, as an execption to the rule of strictly national use of  
DBS, to use eight of their twenty-five channels for a joint  
regional service (1). As a result the regional project Nordsat  
was devised; and Finland and Norway are involved in the Swedish  
Tele-X satellite project (points 117 and 118).
116. Sweden is participating in the ESA's Ariane programme. From 1986  
onwards, Swedish TV viewers will be able to receive two DBS  
channels via the Tele-X satellite. Sweden will also be covered  
by the footprints of the German, French, British and Russian  
satellites.
Norway became an associate member of the ESA for a five-year  
period in November 1981. It is also taking part in the ESA's  
Marecs and European Remote Sensing Satellite programmes.
Finland took part in the EURIKON experiments for joint tele­
vision programmes via satellite under the auspices of the EBU.
The Nordsat project: Finland, Norway, Sweden and Iceland
117. Denmark's withdrawal from the Nordsat programme has already been  
mentioned at point 45. In March 1982 the Nordic Council for  
Industry and Cultural Media decided to pursue Nordic cooperation  
in the field of satellite radio and television in spite of the  
Danish decision. In April, Iceland announced its decision to  
participate in the project. Negotiations for an operational  
agreement therefore started between Sweden, Norway, Finland and  
Iceland. The programme is to be finalised by 1984 and the system  
should become operational in 1988.
The Tele-X project: Sweden in conjuction with Finland and Norway
118. Denmark also declined an invitation to participate in the  
Swedish Tele-X satellite project (2).
Tele-X is an experimental DBS satellite with two transponders  
for data and video services and two DBS channels. It will be  
developed by Sweden in conjunct ion: with Finland and Norway. In  
February 1982 the Swedish space company signed an agreement with  
Arianespace for the launching of the satellite in June 1986. The  
Swedish Parliament approved the project in March 1982.
(1) Annex 2, point 13, footnote (4).
(2) Point 45.

139
Cable and Video .
Finland
liy. At present approximately 7% of Finnish households are linked to  
commercial communal cable TV networks which distribute the two  
Finnish channels and the two Swedish channels. The biggest com­
pany, Helsinki Television (HTV), distributes its core programme  
to 75 000 subscribers and 10 000 others are linked to its pay-TV  
channel. HTV broadcasts a news programme, the programmes of the  
Estonian television authority from Tallin and the programmes  
from the OTS satellite transmitted by the British company  
Satellite Television (SATV) (1).
120. Draft legislation on cable television was submitted to Parlia­
ment in October 1981 by a Parliamentary Committee on Radio and  
Television set up in December 1979 in order to amend existing  
legislation, which dates from 1927.
121. The plans for cable relate to radio networks of more than 500  
subscribers and TV networks of more than 400. Permits will be  
granted to public or private companies or local authorities  
subject to certain conditions. Firstly, there must be a high  
percentage of Finnish productions in the programmes, advertising  
is to be limited, there will be restrictions on certain mixes of  
shareholders and a number of obligations with regard to pro­
gramme content (subjects of local interest and social and inter­
national questions). Distribution of the two channels of the  
public broadcasting authority YLE (Oy Yleisradio) would be  
compulsory. Under the scheme the YLE itself would be authorized  
to manage a cable service distributing its own two channels and  
other channels (pay or subscription TV) and negotiations with  
the PTT have been started for the purpose.
122. In addition to the report on cable, the Parliamentary Committee  
submitted two interim reports, one on the possible setting up of  
a third TV channel for the Swedish-speaking population on the  
West coast and the other on new programmes produced by the  
Commercial television company MTV (Oy Mainos-TV-Reklam AB).
The same Committee is now drawing up a whole new set of draft  
legislation on radio and television which is due to be submitted  
to the Finnish Government at the end of 1983.
(1) Annex 5, point 52.

140
Norway
123. In December 1981, following the entry into force of new legis­
lation, the monopoly which the M K  (Norsk Rikskringkarting)  
enjoyed was for the first time encroached upon. Licenses were  
granted to 37 local radio stations, and three companies were  
granted permission to distribute TV programmes via cable. This  
is over and above the large number of community TV companies  
already in existence. Six of the latter have been given per­
mission to distribute the programmes of the British company  
Satellite Television (SATV) transmitted by the OTS satellite  
(1).
124. Three committees were set up by the Government in order to study  
the problems of community and local radio, the potential of  
cable television and the question of advertising. At the same  
time a media commission has been at work for four years and its  
report is due to be delivered shortly.
125. At this time, 90% of the Norwegian households have a television  
set (70% in colour). At the end of 1981 there were 40 000  
videorecorders (3.3% of the total number of television sets) and
350 000 blank videocassettes had been sold during the year.
Sweden
126. Approximately half of Swedish households are now linked to  
private cable systems with communal aerials. The first wider  
network has been laid near Goteborg by a public company which  
builds blocks of flats, and this has meant that several thousand  
households can receive both Swedish and Danish channels.
127. The PTT plans to set up, by 1986, a national cable network to  
interconnect the various local ? networks. A Parliamentary  
Committee has been set up to c: :Lne the mass media, with the  
task of studying the legal ••'•cts of DBS and reaching an  
accurate definition of cable, distribution with a view to the  
future regulation of such activities.
128. THe PTT has banned cable distribution of the programmes trans­
mitted by the British company Satellite Television (SATV) over  
the OTS satellite '  since this goes against the principle of  
pu§licR (Sverl8es Radi°) monopoly of broadcasting to the general
129. In 1980, the number of video equipment owners was estimated at  
120 000 and, over the year, some 10 to 11 million blank cas­
settes and 3 000 amateur video cameras were sold.
(1) Annex 5, point 52.

141
130. 50% of SR's television programmes are foreign. Host of the  
prerecorded videocassettes on sale in Sweden are copies of  
American or British films. It is thought that the video sector  
will expand, with approximately 30% of Swedish households owning  
a recorder by 1985.
The preference of the Swedish public for foreign production has  
led the Government to apply a number of measures. In March 1982,  
the video distributors association was obliged to add a tax to  
the sale price of prerecorded videocassettes. Revenue from this  
tax will be used for new productions by the Swedish film insti­
tute. In June, a further tax on blank cassettes was decided on.
131. A law passed in August 1982 requires that films recorded on  
videocassette are approved by the censor and imposes heavy fines  
for offenders.

ANNEX 8
LIST OF DBS PROJECTS IN EUROPE

LIST OF DBS PROJECTS IN EUROPE ANNEX 8
Country or  
organizationName and scheduled  
launching dateLauncherOrbitai
positionManager or user Remarks
Federal Republic  
of GermanyTV-Sat 
Spring 1985Ariane 19° WestDeutsche
BundespostJoint project with France.  
Work in progress.
France TDF-1 Summer 1985  
TDF-2 1986Ariane
Ariane19° West 
19° WestTélédiffusion  
de FranceJoint project with Germany.  
Work in progress.
United Kingdom June 1986 
September 1986Ariane
Ariane31° West 
31° WestBritish
Telecom-BBC
Sweden Telex-X Jude 1986 Ariane 5° West Joint project with Norway  
and Finland. Decision taken.
Luxembourg Lux-Sat - 1987 Options for Ariane  
and the American  
space shuttle19° West Compagnie Luxem­
bourgeoise de  
TélédiffusionSmall ECS-type satellite to  
be equipped with DBS  
channel's. A second satellite  
should be launched shortly  
after the first and a third  
is scheduled for 1994. Study  
stage.
Switzerland TEL-Sat 1987 19° West Association pour  
la Télévision  
Suisse par Satel­
lite (Tel-Sat)No decision will be taken  
before 1983. Relations be"  
tween Tel-Sat, which is a  
private association, the  
SSR and the PTT have still  
to be defined.

Country or Name and schedulted  
launching dateLauncherOrbital
positionManager or user Remarks
Sweden, Norway,  
Finland and  
IcelandNordsat 1988 5° East Nordic countries The Nordsat programme  
is scheduled to be finalized  
in 1984.
European Space  
AgencyL-Sat 1986 Ariane 19° West ESA
»Experimental satellite.
Two DBS channels; the first  
will be allocated definiti­
vely to the RAI (Italy) and  
the second will be allocated  
temporarily free of charge to  
the EBU for 3 yars.
Schedule life 6 to 10 years.  
Decision taken.

ANNEX 9
Page
Maps of DBS reception areas in Europe 151
1. Individual reception areas with 90 cm aerials  
for the beams of the following countries:
France, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy,
Luxembourg, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom 152
2. Community reception areas with 2 metre aerials  
for the beams of the following countries:
France, Federal Republic of Germany, Italy,
Luxembourg, Sweden, Switzerland, United Kingdom 153
3. Reception areas for the two beams of ESA's L-Sat 154
4. Reception areas for the German satellite beam 155
5. Reception areas for the French satellite beam 156
6.  Reception areas for the Luxembourg satellite beam 157
7. Reception areas for the United Kingdom satellite beam 158
8.  Reception areas for the Austrian satellite beam 159
9. Reception areas for the Swiss satellite beam 160

Annex 9
MAPS OF DBS RECEPTION AREAS IN EUROPE
This annex contains nine maps showing the delineation of the reception areas  
for DBS beams alloted to a number of European countries and to the ESA's  
L-Sat satellite.
The purpose of these maps is to give clear and illustrative examples of the  
extent to which television programme reception will become an international  
affair in Europe. The only DBS satellites shown are those which are in the  
planning stage and are the most likely to be built during the first phase of  
development of DBS.
Map 3 shows the areas in which it will be possible to receive the television  
programmes broadcast by L-Sat. The area in which it will be possible to  
receive broadcasts using individual aerials with diameters of about 90 cm  
covers virtually all of Western Europe from Scotland to Greece and from  
Denmark to North Africa.

INDIVIDUAL RECEPTION AREAS WITH 90 cm AERIALS FOR THE BEAMS OF THE FOLLOW­
ING COUNTRIES:
- FRANCE
- FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
- ITALY
“ LUXEMBOURG  
“ SWEDEN 
“ SWITZERLAND
- UNITED KINGDOM

COMMUNITY RECEPTION AREAS WITH 2 metre AERIALS FOR THE BEAMS OF THE  
FOLLOWING COUNTRIES:
- FRANCE
- FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
- ITALY
- LUXEMBOURG  
“ SWEDEN
“ SWITZERLAND  
“ UNITED KINGDOM

3. RECEPTION AREAS FOR THE TWO BEAMS OF ESA'S L-SAT
according to whether the diameter of the aerials is 0.9,  
2 metres

A. RECEPTION AREAS FOR THE
- 1. with 60 cm aerial
- 2. with 90 cm aerial  
“ 3. with 2 m aerial
- A. with A m aerialGERMAN SATELLITE BEAM:

RECEPTION AREAS FOR THE FRENCH SATELLITE BEAM
- 1. with 60 cm aerial
- 2. with 90 cm aerial
- 3. with 2 m aerial  
“ 4. with 4 m aerial

T
6. AREA COVERED BY THE LUXEMBOURG SATELLITE BEAM:
- 1. with 60 cm aerial  
“ 2. with 90 cm aerial
- 3. with 2 m aerial
- 4. with 4 m aerial

RECEPTION AREAS FOR THE UNITED KINGDOM SATELLITE BEAM
“ 1. with 60 cm aerial  
“ 2. with 90 cm aerial  
“ 3. with 2 m aerial  
- 4. with 4 m aerial

8. RECEPTION AREAS FOR THE AUSTRIAN SATELLITE BEAM:
- 1. with 90 cm aerial  
“ 2. with 1.1 m aerial  
“ 3. with 2 m aerial

9. RECEPTION AREAS FOR THE SWISS SATELLITE BEAM:
“ 1. with 90 cm aerial  
“ 2. with 1.1 m aerial  
* *  3. with 2 m aerial

161
ANNEX 10
NATIONAL BROADCASTING LEGISLATION  
IN THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY
Contents
Page
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY 165
Organization 165
Programmes 167
Advertising 167
BELGIUM 168
Organization 168
Programmes 170
Advertising 170
DENMARK 171
Organization 171
Programmes 171
Advertising .1^1
FRANCE 172
• 172Organization
175Programmes
175Advertising
GREECE 176
Organization 176
Programmes 176
Advertising 176
IRELAND 177
177Organization
1 77Programnes
Advertising .178

1 6 2
ITALY 179
Organization 179
Programmes 180
Advertising 180
LUXEMBOURG 181
Organization 181
Programmes 182
Advertising 182
NETHERLANDS 183
Organization 183
Programmes 186
Advertising 186
UNITED KINGDOM
1 R7Organization 1
Programmes ^8^
Advertising

163
ANNEX 10
NATIONAL BROADCASTING LEGISLATION IN THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITY
1. This Annex gives a summary description of the legal status of the broad­
casting organizations in the Community countries and the way in which they  
operate. The main purpose is to single out the essential features of  
national legislation and other factors liable to encourage or hinder the  
production, broadcasting and reception of television programmes beyond  
national frontiers.
Below is a summary table of the number of television and radio stations or  
networks currently existing in the 10 Members States of the Community, at  
national, regional and local level. (N ■ national; R = regional; L =  
local) (1).
Country
Federal Republic  
of Germany
Belgium
Denmark
France
Greece
Ireland
Italy
(Plus some 350 private  
TV and between 2500  
3000 radio stations)
Luxembourg
Netherlands  
(For the organization  
of TV in the Netherlands  
see point 114 ff)
United KingdomTV networks/stations
N. 2 
R. 5
N. 4
N. 1
N. 3 
R. 11
N. 2
N. 2
N.
R.3
2 1
N. 1
N. 2
N. 4 
R. 26Radio networks/stations
R. 30
N. 7 
R. 4
N. 3 
R. 8
N. 3 
R. 16
N. 2 
R. 1 
L. 7
N. 2 
R. 1 
L. 2
N. 3 
R. 2 
L. 4
N. 1
(services in 5  
languages)
N. 4 
R. 5 
L. 1
N. 4 
R. 12 
L. 60
0) Source :  European Broadcasting Union

164
All member countries of the International Telecommunications Union (1) - and  
that includes all the Community countries - are obliged to require  
broadcasting stations to obtain a licence before setting up and beginning  
operations. The birth of any broadcasting enterprise therefore necessarily  
involves the intervention either of the state itself or of a public  
authority.
The granting of a licence by the state entails a positive obligation to  
provide certain services, which it reserves the right to extend or restrict  
in the' public interest at any time in accordance with the principles  
governing a public service :
- the principle that the state always has the right to lay down and amend  
the regulations governing the public service, to exercise control of any  
centralized public body and to revoke any licence, concession or  
recognition given to a private body;
- the principle that the state must guarantee the regularity and continuity  
of the service;
- the principle of the equality of users, meaning that a public service may  
not be set up to cater for specified individuals, although the  
beneficiaries of a service may be designated impartially or its use may be  
made subject to certain conditions (such as payment of a fee).
The exigencies of a public service are most clearly reflected in the rules
governing programme standards, laying down both what programmes must and
what they must not include. The first category covers for example matters of  
professional ethics such as objectivity, impartiality or accuracy in news  
broadcasts or the encouragement of cultural values, including defence of the  
national language. The second category aims to ban programmes which might  
be detrimental to public order to public interest.
State controls to ensure compliance with these standards are generally  
exercised after the programme has been broadcast.
As stated in the report (2), the legal environment of electronic media in  
the Member States is protected by national legislation. The relevant laws  
and regulations currently in force in most of the Member States are less
than ten years old. The most recent example is the French law of 29 July
1982, which profoundly changed the face of the existing system while leaving  
the general principles referred to in points 3 and 4 untouched.
These relatively recent reforms of national legislation are evidence that  
the Member States are generally concerned to ensure that the broadcasting  
institutions keep up with the rapid pace of social and technological change.
Annex 5, points 6 et seq.  
Point 27.

165
FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF GERMANY
Organization
8. Radio and television services in Germany are provided by twelve public  
institutions operating a public service :
A. Nine regional broadcasting stations at Land level (including the first
and third television channels) :
1. Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR), Munich (Law of the Free State of Bavaria 
of 10 August 1948, revised 26 September 1973).
2. Hessischer Rundfunk (HR), Frankfurt (Law of the Land of Hesse of 2  
October 1948).
3. Norddeutscher Rundfunk (NDR), Hamburg (Agreement between the Länder  
of Lower Saxony, Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg of 16 February  
1955).
4. Radio Bremen (RB) (Law of the Land of Bremen of 22 November 1948).
5. Saarländischer Rundfunk (SR), Saarbrücken (Law of the Saarland No.  
806 of 2 December 1964).
6. Sender Freies Berlin (SFB) (Law of the Land of Berlin of 12 November  
1953, revised 5 December 1974).
7. Süddeutscher Rundfunk (SDR), Stuttgart (Law of the former Land of  
Württemberg-Baden of 21 November 1950).
8. Südwestfunk (SWF), Baden-Baden (Agreement between the Land of Rhine-  
land-Pfalz and the former Lander of Baden and Württenberg-Hohenzol-  
lern of 27 August 1971). .
9. Westdeutscher Rundfunk (WDR), Cologne (Law of the Land of North  
Rhine Westphalia of 25 May 1954).
The first television network broadcasts regional programmes between 18h.00  
and 20h,00 and a common programme at other times. There are also 5 separate  
regional networks for the regions served by BR, HR, SDR/SR/SWF and  
NDR/RB/SFB. In addition, each of the Land stations offers at least 3 radio  
services.
B. Two Federal broadcasting stations (aimed particularly abroad).
1. Deutsche Welle (DW) (Federal Law of 29 November 1960).
2. Deutschlandfunk (DLF) (Federal Law of 29 November 1960).
DW and DLF provide radio services only.
C. Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen (ZDF - Second German television channel)
(Agreement between all the Länder of 6 June 1961).

166
9. The nine broadcasting corporations under Land law and the two Federal  
corporations form the "Arbeitsgemeinschaft der öffentlichrechtlichen  
Rundfunkanstalten der Bundesrepublik Deutschland - ARD" (Association .  of  
Public Broadcasting Corporations of the Federal Republic of Germany).
Set up in 1950, the ARD's task is to represent the joint interests of the  
broadcasting corporations and to study questions relating to programmes,  
legal affairs, technical developments and commercial management which affect  
them all.
10. All the broadcasting stations are public corporations, entirely independent  
of the Government.
In accordance with the allocation of responsibilities under the German  
Constitution, legislation on programme production is the sole prerogative of  
the Länder. By virtue of legislation or agreements between themselves they  
established the corporations under their own law, whereas the Federal  
Government, being responsible for international affairs, set up the Deutsche  
Welle and the Deutschlandfunk by Federal law.
11. The broadcasting corporations are thus independent, of the executive and may  
not take instructions from it. On 28 February 1961 the Federal Constitu­
tional Court ruled that this form of organization was in accordance with  
Federal law. In 1971 the Court confirmed the principle, stating that broad­
casting concerns the community at large and must therefore be assured of  
full independence; it must be beyond the party arena and free of outside  
influence (B Verf GE, Vol. 31, page 327). A third Court judgement of 1981  
reconfirmed this principle.
12. The Land of Lower Saxony is considering a bill to authorize local commercial  
radio stations. The first ones are planned for the Hanover area in two or  
three years. Advertising will be restricted' to no more than 20% of total  
broadcasting times and programmes may not be interrupted.
13. Each corporation is governed by three bodies :  the Broadcasting Board
(Rundfunkrat), the Administrative Board (Verwaltungsrat), and a Director-  
General (Intendant).
a) The Director-General is responsible for day-to-day management, including  
programme policy.
b) The Broadcasting Board and the Administrative Board in all the  
broadcasting stations have advisory and general management function; they  
are, for example, responsible for appointing the Director-General and all  
the senior management, approving certain major legal transactions,  
approving the budget and the annual statement of accounts and ensuring  
strict compliance with the principles laid down by law concerning  
programming.
.  c) The Broadcasting Board is responsible for laying down programming  
guidelines and advising the Director-General on programme planning.

167
Programmes
14. Under the laws and agreements between the Lander, programmes are subject to
certain directives which have the force of law though they are formulated  
and presented in different ways. Broadly speaking the broadcasting stations  
are required to inform, educate and entertain the public, to be objective  
and impartial in the presentation of news and news reports, to respect the  
basic principles of democracy, human dignity, ideological convictions and  
religious beliefs and maintain a balance of opinion on all questions of  
public interest. The breakdown of the ZDF's programme and their general  
content are governed by Articles 2 (programme guidelines) and 3 (informa-  
tion) of its act of concession. These are supplemented by the rules
laid down pursuant to Article 3 of its statute and the programme directives  
issued by the ZDF television board. Under these directives, viewers  
throughout Germany are to be given an impartial presentation of world  
affairs and a summary of German affairs. Broadcasts must be made with the  
aim of promoting the unification of Germany in peace and liberty and also of  
promoting international understanding. They must be full, accurate and  
objective. News and comment must be kept separate and it must be stated that  
comments are personal opinions. Programmes must promote European  
integration. '  - ·
15. Relations between the ARD and ZDF as regards programmes are dealt with in  
Article 22(4) of the ZDF Agreement between the Lander and the final protocol.  
Provision is made for a system of coordination between'the ZDF and the sta­
tions operating the first-.television channel in order to offer viewers a  
choice of contrasting programmes (Kontrastgebot).
16. The radio and television board and, where it exists, the programme advisory  
board, are responsible for ensuring that broadcasts comply with the  
guidelines. The content and presentation of broadcasts may be subject to  
post-transmission controls by the broadcasting or television board. In  
exceptional cases there may be some form of control before a programme is  
broadcast.
Advertising
17. Apart from WDR radio broadcasts, the nine Land broadcasting stations carry  
commercial advertising provided by companies affiliated to them and founded  
for the sole purpose of selling broadcasting time. The ZDF also carries  
advertising, which it manages direct.
18. Advertising is clearly set apart from other broadcasts. Under the ZDF  
Agreement between, the Lander and the final protocol of the ARD agreement  
total advertising time on television is limited to 20 minutes a day by  
agreement with the Lander Prime Minister. Any time not used up on one day  
may be carried over the another day subject to a maximum of five minutes per  
working day.
19. Advertising may not be broadcast after 8.00 p.m., nor on Sundays and  
holidays. As part of the programme, advertising broadcasts are subject to  
controls by the broadcasting or television board.

168
BELGIUM
Organization
20. There are three bodies responsible for public and television broadcasting :
- the French-language "Radio-Tëlévision Belge de la Communauté Française"  
(RTBF) ;  its statute was laid down by the Decree of 12 December 1977 of  
the Cultural Council for the French Language Community;
- the Dutch-language "Belgische Radio en Televisie" (BRT);  its statute was  
laid down by the Decree of 28 December 1979 of the Cultural Council for  
the Dutch Language Community;
- the German-language "Belgisches Rundfunk" (BRF), which was established by  
the Regulation of 4 July 1977 of the Cultural Council for the German  
Language Community.
There is thus a service for each of the three language communities in the  
country. Following the constitutional changes of 1971 the Cultural Councils  
for the language communities were granted the power to issue decrees having  
force of law to govern radio and televisions broadcasting, except as regards  
the transmission of government announcements and commercial advertising.
21. The three services (RTBF, BRT and BRF) are public corporations, each  
governed by a Board of Directors' appointed by the appropriate Cultural  
Counci1.
22. Each Board of Directors elects from among its members a Standing Committee  
responsible for administration and financial· management and preparatory work  
on matters which come before the Board.
23. A General Manager is appointed by the King for the RTBF and BRT. He is  
responsible for putting into practice the decisions of the Board of  
Directors, which appoints a Managing Director. The relative strength of the  
political groups represented on each Cultural Council must be reflected in  
the membership of the bodies responsible for administration and management  
in each service.
24. Each service has a number of other advisory bodies, including a committee  
comprising representatives from various associations which gives its opinion  
on programmes.
25. The law of 30 July 1979 on radio communications brought up to date the  
previous legislation, which dated from 1930. In particular, it introduced  
more flexible arrangements for authorizing the use of private radio  
communications transmitters and receivers (including private broadcasting
'  services). This was largely intended the legalize the many "free" or "local"  
stations which had sprung up in recent years. The detailed arrangements for  
granting authorizations were laid down in the Royal Decree of 20 August 1981  
governing the establishment and operation of local radio stations.

169
A local radio station must first be officially recognized by the Executive  
of the appropriate cultural community. The conditions for recognition are  
laid down by the Cultural Council of the community concerned. The  
arrangements made under the Decree of 8 September 1981 of the Cultural  
Council of the French Language Community are given below by way of example.
A Council of Local Radio Stations, comprising 24 members, is responsible for  
considering requests for recognition and delivering a reasoned opinion to  
the executive of the Community concerned.
To be granded recognition, a local radio station must comply with a number  
of conditions. It must give priority to the promotion of social, cultural  
and civic values and permanent education; in particular it must provide  
local news and promote local events, it must be aimed at a specific local  
audience, it must be independent of any professional or political group,  
must encourage easy access to the air for local people and must*produce its  
own programmes. It must be a non-profit association and may not be linked  
with any commercial enterprise; it may not - de facto or de jure - be part  
of a network of private stations. Among other things the law forbids  
broadcasts that encourage disobedience to the law, endanger state security  
or public order and morality, or denigrate a foreign country. Commercial  
advertising and election campaign broadcasts are likewise prohibited.
Recognition is granted by the executive of the cultural community. It is  
valid for two years and may be renewed.
Recognition must be obtained before approval be given by the Minister with 
responsibility for broadcasting.
However, the authorization required, by Article 3 of the Law of 30 July 1979  
is granted by the Ministry for Posts and Telecommunications following a  
technical inspection by the telecommunications authority. The two main  
technical requirements for local radio stations are that their power may not  
exceed 100 watts and the aerial may not be more than 35 metres high. The  
station must be approved by the telecommunications authority, which then  
allocates it a frequency in the 100-104 MHz band on the basis of a frequency  
plan and in accordance with the ITU rules.
A local radio station is granted an authorization valid for two years  
(subsequently renewable) to broadcast monophonic signals with a maximum  
nominal range of eight kilometres (paragraph 6 of Article I  of the Royal  
Decree of 20 August 1981).
The laws governing cable distribution are especially important in Belgium,  
as it has the largest cable network in the Community (1).
Under the Royal Decree of 24 December 1966 the operation of a cable  
distribution network is subject to a licence from the Ministry for Posts and  
Telecommunications. The authorization is valid for eighteen years and may be  
extended for further nine-year periods.
Annex 7, point 42.

170
33. Roughly half the cable operators who currently hold an licence belong to the  
private sector. The remainder come under the public sector, for example in  
the form of intercommunal networks.
3A. Operators are required to carry all Belgian television transmissions in
full.
35. In principle the Royal Decree of 1966 (Article 21) forbids commercial
advertising broadcasts to be carried. In pratice the ban is not observed  
despite a ruling by the Cour de Cassation (Supreme Court of Appeal) of 12  
June 1980 confirming that Article 21 of the Royal Decree still applies. In  
addition, the Court of Justice of the European Communities, in its ruling of  
18 March 1980 (Case 52/79 ECR 833 1980) held that such rules are not
contrary to thé rules laid down in the EEC Treaty concerning freedom to  
provide services if they are applied without distinction as regards the  
origin, whether national or foreign, of those advertisements, the  
nationality of the person providing the service, or the place where he is  
established.
36. The Royal Decree of 1966 also prohibits cable operators from distributing  
their own programmes. However, under a Royal Decree of A May 1976, a number  
of experiments were authorized in the French-speaking part of the country;  
the. programmes distributed must be of local interest and limited to socio­
cultural activities.
Programmes
37. The corporations (RTBF, BRT and BRF) draw up their own programme plan, which  
has to be approved by their respective Boards of Directors.
38. News broadcasts must be rigorously objective; there is no prior Government  
censorship.
29. Broadcasts must respect the law, may not conflict with the public interest,  
public order or morality and may not cast a slur on personal convictions or  
a foreign country.
Advertising
AO. Commercial advertising is forbidden under the third paragraph of Article 28  
of the Law of 18 May 1960.

171
DENMARK
Organization
41. Under Law No 421 of June 1973 concerning radio and television, Danmarks  
Radio has the exclusive right to operate a transmission network to broadcast  
sound radio and television programmes for the general public (Article 1).
42. Danmarks Radio is an independent public corporation, administered by a Radio  
Council which includes a large number of representatives from listeners' and  
viewers' organizations.
43. Each committee has set up a Programme Council whose task is to watch over  
the programmes of Danmarks Radio and to deliver opinions to the Radio  
Council, which acts as a programming committee.
44. The Radio Council set up a committee to provide advice and criticism on all  
broadcasts aimed at"children and young people.
Programmes
45. Danmarks Radio is required to broadcast information, entertainment and  
cultural programmes for the public at large. Programme planning makes every  
effort to respect the principles of freedom of information and freedom of  
speech and to provide as wide a range· of programmes as possible.
Over the past two years DR has been studying ways of improving and extending  
its single television channel. A .second channel is currently under  
consideration, partly as a means of meeting the coming challenge of foreign  
programmes received by DBS.
In 1982 a law was passed authorizing DR to begin local radio transmissions  
and to carry out experiments over five or six years in regional television  
broadcasts. However, all these experiments must be financed purely from DR's  
own resources, which are liable to become exhausted earlier than planned as  
a result of cutbacks in public finance announced by the Government.
46. Danmarks Radio has to comply with certain rules concerning news broadcasts  
and programmes for children and young people.
47. DR's programmes are not subject to any prior controls but may be scrutinized  
after transmission by the Radio Council, in its capacity as Programming  
Committee, or by the Radio Adjudication Commission, which hears appeals  
against the Radio Council's decisions and complaints about programmes or  
series broadcast by DR. The Adjudication Committee, comprising three members  
appointed for four years by the Minister for Cultural Affairs, can order DR
'  to correct any erroneous item of information broadcast. The Commission's  
decisions are published.
Advertising
48. Danmarks Radio is not allowed to carry advertising.

172
FRANCE
Organization
49. In France the State has traditionally held a broadcasting monopoly covering  
transmission, programming and production. Successive reforms left this  
fundamental principle untouched. However, technical innovation together with  
growing social demands on communications made it increasingly difficult to  
uphold the monopoly. In July 1981 the Government entrusted the task of  
rethinking and redefining the system to a Committee chaired by Mr Pierre
,  Moinot. Its report on broadcasting reform (Pour une Réforme de l'Audio­
visuel - September 1981) formed part of the basis for a bill presented to  
Parliament on 1  April 1982, which aimed to give France the means to take up  
the cultural, social, technological and industrial challenge of the new age  
of communications. The new law on broadcasting and communications was passed  
in July and promulgated on 29 July 1982 (Law no 82.652 - Journal officiel de  
la République Française, 30 July 1982, page 2431 ff) .
50. In matters of principle the new law contains two fundamental innovations.  
First it covers the entire field of audio-visual communication, which is  
defined as making available to the public sound, pictures, documènts, data  
or communications of any kind by the transmission of electro-magnetic waves  
or via cable (Article 1). The same article continues by declaring the  
freedom of audio-visual communications,thus signalling the end of the  
monopoly on programming and opening up a general right to publish audio­
visual information.
But the introduction of an area of liberty in audio-visual communications  
does not mean that the law aims to do away with public service broadcasting.  
On the contrary, its programming capacity has been strengthened, it has been  
largely decentralized and its independence from political influence has been  
guaranteed by the creation of a High Authority for audio-visual  
communication (1).
51. The task of public service radio and television is to serve the general  
interest (Article 5), in particular by ensuring the accuracy, independence  
and pluralism of information and by catering for contemporary needs in terms  
of education, entertainment and culture. It must respect the principles of  
pluralism and equality between cultures, religious beliefs, and currents of  
thought and opinion.
52. At national level public service broadcasting is organized as follows :
- a public corporation is responsible for transmission (Télédiffusion de  
France - TDF);
- the national radio and television companies (Radio France, TFI, Antenne  
2, FR3) are responsible for devising programmes and - except for FR3 -  
working out programme schedules. In the case of FR3 it is the regional
<  television companies (2) which decide on the schedules for the programmes
provided by the national company. The local and regional companies for  
the Overseas Territories and Departments also enjoy a free hand in their  
programme schedules; their broadcasts are devised by a new national  
company;
(1) Point 61.
(2) Point 53.

1?3
- the Société Française de Production (SFP) is a national company  
responsible for producing programmes for broadcasting;
the Institut de la Communication Audiovisuelle (INCA) is responsible for  
the preservation, management and commercial exploitation of archive  
material, for staff training and for research.
The TDF and the INCA are public corporations of an industrial and commercial  
type fully responsible for their own administration and finance. The  
national radio and television stations are public limited-liability  
companies; the sole shareholder is the State and its articles are approved  
by decree.
The public service broadcasting organizations at decentralised level are :
- regional radio companies, which run local stations responsible for  
devising and scheduling broadcasts;
twelve ragional television companies;
- local or regional radio and television companies for the Overseas  
Territories and Departments.
The decentralization process was started at the beginning of 1983. ·
External services are provided by :
- Radio-France Internationale, a national company responsible for radio  
broadcasting to other countries;
- a marketing company responsible for foreign sales of programmes for  
which is has acquired the rights from the broadcasting companies.
The radio and television companies must fulfil certain obligations  
determined both in general terms (such .as ensuring continuity, fairness and  
impartiality) and annually (such as the specific arrangements regarding the  
showing of films).
Besides public service broadcasting the law of 29 July 1982 also deals with  
broadcasting by private individuals or companies. This is where the most  
significant innovations are to be found. The traditional monopoly of the  
national radio and television services as regards transmission, equipment 
and programme production has been broken:
- Transmission :  the use of radio frequencies on French territory requires  
licence from the State, which may be revoked (Article 7). This applies  
only to radio and television transmissions by radio link. Satellite  
transmissions would therefore require such an authorization. The reason  
is that radio frequencies are scarce and are divided up among countries  
on the basis of a plan worked out under the auspices of the International  
Telecommunication Union.
- Equipment :  The State installs or authorizes the installation of
transmitting equipment and the supporting infrastructures which make use  
of public facilities (Article 8). This covers both transmitters and relay  
stations as well as cables, but does not include reception aerials.

174
- Programme production :  anyone wishing to provide broadcasts to the  
public, whether by radio link or via cable, must either give a prior  
undertaking (for interactive services) or obtain a licence (for other  
services, in particular those providing films). Television transmissions  
via electromagnetic waves which are aimed at the general public (as  
opposed to a limited audience) are subject under the law to a public  
service concession arrangement (Article 79). Licences and concessions  
impose an obligation to comply with the conditions laid down.
58. Local radio is dealt with in Article 81 of the law of 29 July 1982 and  
detailed rules were laid down by decree No 82-960 of 15 November 1982. Local  
radio stations must broadcast in FM and may not cover an area greater than  
30 kilometers in radius. Only registered associations under the law of 1901  
may apply for a licence, the aim being to prevent the establishment of  
commercial networks. The law provides for an aid scheme; this was 
established by decree No 82-973 of 17 November 1982, which introduced from 1  
January 1982 a para-fiscal charge on radio and television advertising to  
finance a support fund for local radio. The system is intended to offset the  
effects of local stations being forbidden to carry advertising.
59. Licences are issued by the Haute Autorite de la Communication Audiovisuelle
(High Authority for Audio-Visual Communication).  (1) upon the opinion of a  
committee chaired by a member of the Conseil d'Etat (Council of State). As­
sociations which obtain licencemust comply with certain general conditions;  
in particular at least 80%"of their broadcasts must be their own programmes  
devised and created by their own staff. Local stations are subject to tech­
nical control by the public transmission corporation TDF. ____
By 
the end of 1982 the High Authority had received over 300 applications for  
local radio stations. The first licences were granted on 21 December and  
fourteen others followed on 5 January, 1983 in the provinces. The authority  
has also received some dozen .applications for local cable television  
stations.
60. Under the law a special licensing system applies to broadcasting services  
provided by operators of stations under an international agreement to which  
France is a party (Article 85). This covers "peripheral" stations such as  
Europe No 1  and RTL and the distribution of foreign satellite transmissions  
via cable networks.
61. Besides dealing with the actual organization of national public service  
broadcasting and forms of access to means of transmission for those who wish  
to broadcast, the law establishes the following broadcasting institutions :
- a Parliamentary Delegation of 14 members with supervisory powers over  
radio and television organizations and the power to publish formal  
opinions, in particular on decrees laying down or amending the conditions  
governing broadcasting;
(1)Point 61.

175
A High Authority for Audio-Visual Communication responsible in particular  
for ensuring the independence of public service broadcasting (Article 12).  
This was probabl_y_the innov_at ion which ^attracted most initial attention  
and comment.
The High Authority has nine members, appointed for nine years by the  
President of the Republic .  Most significant among the powers given it  
under the law are those which were previously exercised by the  
Government, in particular the power to ensure that programmes respect the  
principles of pluralism and balance and that the organizations fulfil  
their duties as a public service. Its other powers include the right to  
be consulted on the conditions governing broadcasting organizations; the  
power to appoint the chief administrators and chairmen of the public 
corporations and national public service companies; the power to issue  
authorizations for private local radio stations and cable radio and  
television; the power to enforce compliance with the rules on  
advertising; the harmonization of the national companies’  programmes; and  
the publication of an annual report.
A National Council on Audio-Visual Communication (Conseil national de la  
Communication audiovisuelle), comprising 56 members appointed for three^  
years with mainly advisory powers on all aspects of audio-visual cpmmunT-  
cation;
Regional co Tm rrrttee^y-orr audio-visual communication, which also an
advisory role.
"  The 56 members of the National Council were appointed for three years from  
1 January 1983 on 25 November 1982.
Programme planning
62. The conditions governing public service broadcasting organizations laid down  
the general guidelines for programme policy (first paragraph of Article 32).  
In the case of repeated serious breaches the High Authority may serve an  
injunction on the chairman of the programme company (second paragraph of  
Article 26).
63. Generally speaking the objectives and rules for programme harmonization are  
determined by recommendation or decision of the High Authority.
Advertising
64. The rules governing advertising for public service broadcasting  
organizations form part of the general conditions for broadcasting. Under  
the 1982 law there is no longer a ceiling on advertising revenue. Compliance  
with the rules on advertising is supervised by the High authority and the  
Régie Française de Publicité. Advertising on FR3 began on 1  January. 1983
,  with a limit of ten minutes a day.
65. Local radio stations are forbidden to carry advertising.

176
GREECE
Organization
66. There are two broadcasting organizations in Greece :
- ERT (Ellinika Radiophonia Tileorassis),  established by law in 1975;
- ERT 2, which was created in 1982 from the former broadcasting  
organization Yened (Ypiressia Enimeroseos Enoplon Dynameon).
67. ERT is a public corporation in the form of a limited company with the state  
as sole shareholder. Its Board of directors is appointed by the Government.  
It is headed by a Director-General, also appointed by the Government.
ERT 2 is also a public corporation whose Board of Directors and senior staff  
are appointed by the Government.
Programme planning
68. Programmes must be objective, respect the democratic ideal and represent  
Greek culture.
Advertising
69. The two broadcasting organizations are allowed to carry advertising. There  
is no code for advertising but advertisements must respect the principles  
laid down in the Constitution and laws.

177
IRELAND
Organization
70. Radio Telefis Eireann (RTE) is the national radio and television  
organization established under the Broadcasting Authority Act, 1960.
71. RTE is the only organization legally empowered to provide radio and  
television services under existing legislation. This legislation would have  
to be amended if new broadcasting organizations were to be established.
72. The controlling body is the Broadcasting Authority, established under the  
Broadcasting Authority Acts.
Programme planning
73. Sections 17 and 18 of the Broadcasting Authority Act, 19607as amended by the
Broadcasting Authority (Amendment) Act, 1976, set out .  RTE's basic
obligations concerning programme planning. The amended version of Section 17  
of the Broadcasting Authority Act defines these obligations as follows :
RTE must be aware of the interests and concerns of the community as a  
whole; it must seek to uphold the spirit of peace and understanding  
throughout the whole of the island of Ireland; it must ensure that the  
programmes reflect the various elements which make up the culture of the  
whole of the island of Ireland, particularly with regard to the Irish  
language and other distinguishing features of Irish culture.
it must uphold the democratic values embodied in the constitution.
- it must bear in mind the need to arouse public interest in and  
understanding of the values and traditions of other countries,  
particularly of those belonging to the European Economic Community.
74. The amended version of Section 18 of the Act stipulates that :
- all news and information broadcasts should be presented objectively and  
impartially;
- programmes dealing with current affairs should give equal time to all  
parties concerned in a particular matter, and should be presented  
objectively and impartially;
- all material concerning current affairs produced by the Authority,  
whether printed matter, sound or pictures, should be objective and  
impartial.
75. The RTE is -  forbidden '  to . ·  express its own views in current  
affairs programmes, except where a proposal concerning broadcasting policy
,  gives rise to public controversy, or is the subject of current public debate  
and is being investigated by the Government or the Ministry.
The RTE is forbidden to broadcast or publish any material which could  
reasonably be considered likely to encourage or provoke crime, or undermine  
the authority of the State.
The .  RTE .  .  is forbidden to encroach excessively on the private life of  
the individual, both in-its programme and in the methods used to produce the  
programmes.

178
76. There is no statutory provision governing checks on the content of  
programmes prior to transmission. However, the Minister for Posts and  
Telegraphs, in accordance with the Act, has appointed a Broadcasting  
Complaints Commission to examine complaints concerning programmes which have  
already been transmitted.
77. Section 31 (as amended by Section 15 of the Broadcasting Authority  
(Amendment) Act, 1967) stipulates that, if the Minister deems programmes  
dealing with a particular matter to be of such a nature as to encourage or  
provoke crime, or to undermine the authority of the State, then he can  
direct the Authority to refrain from broadcasting such a matter and the  
Authority must comply with his direction.
Every directive made under this Section remains in force for a maximum  
period of twelve months, but the period can be extended by issuing a new  
directive.
The directive may be annulled by either House of the Oireachtas within 21  
days after it has been laid before them.
78. Radio and television broadcasting by wire and cable (1) are governed by 1974  
Wireless Telegraphy Regulations governing licences for the relay of  
programmes by wire. The Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs is responsible both  
for issuing the licences required by organizations operating cable  
television networks and for monitoring the technical standard of the  
networks.
79. The programmes which may be transmitted by cable require the consent of the  
Minister for Posts and Telegraphs, and are specified in the licences issued  
to the networks. Hitherto the relay of foreign programmes is permitted only  
in areas in which it is possible to receive the signals on existing  
wavelengths, so that the inhabitants could receive the transmissions with or  
without the help of a cable system. The licence does not in any way  
authorize the holder to violate any copyright or similar right in respect of  
any.jpart of a relayed programme.
80. A fee equivalent to 15% of the revenue of the cable networks (in the form of  
rentals, etc.) must be paid to the Ministry of Posts and Telegraphs. Every  
year Parliament votes an annual subsidy to RTE, equal to the net amount of  
the fees thus received.
Advertising
81. Section 20 of the Broadcasting Authority Act, 1960, as amended by Section 14  
of the 1976 Act, regulates the broadcasting of advertisements on radio and  
television.
82. The total daily time fixed by the Authority for broadcasting advertisements  
is subject to the approval of the Minister for Posts and Telegraphs.
83. Advertising cannot be used to finance specific programmes.
84. RTE has drawn up a code which controls advertisements on radio and  
television; a supplementary code concerning the advertising of alcoholic  
beverages also exists.
(1) See,also Annex 7, point 54.

179
ITALY
Organization
85. Radio and television broadcasting are governed by the new provisions laid  
down in Law No 103 of 14 April 1975.
For a full picture of the Italian situation two rulings delivered by the  
Constitutional Court on 10 July 1974 must also be mentioned; the first (No  
225) concerns radio and television broadcasting and the second (No 226)  
deals with cable distribution. In the first, the Court ruled that the State  
broadcasting monopoly was not contrary to the constitution, provided that  
provision was made to ensure that information was objective and that ideas  
and cultural trends in society were presented impartially. In the second  
ruling the Court upheld the State's right to exclusive control of cable  
distribution services operating over all or most of the country on the same  
grounds that justify the State broadcasting monopoly on a national scale.  
However, the Court held that local radio and television cable networks could  
lawfully be established and run by private operators who obtained prior  
administrative authorization. In 1976 (Judgment No 202, subsequently  
confirmed by Judgment No 148 of 1981) the Court recognized * the right of 
private enterprises to establish and operate local broadcasting stations.
The rulings were based on Articles 2T and 41 of the Italian constitution,  
which deal with TFééddnToT“expression and freedom'"of private economTdlrntiative.
86. The 1975 Law follows the principles laid down by the Constitutional Court by  
granting the State the sole right to distribute broadcasts by cable on a  
national scale, while at the same time providing for à licensing system for  
private operators wishing to establish and operate local cable television  
services.
87. The licence is issued by the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and  
certain conditions required by law are attached; in particular, advertising  
time is limited, programmes must be original and networks may not link up  
with one another.
88. The provisions of the Law of 1975 concerning cable television have not yet  
been put into practice. Taking advantage of the Constitutional Court's  
ruling of 1976, which opened up the way for local broadcasting, numerous  
private stations have sprung up which are not yet subject to specific  
legislation.
89. At the national level, radio and television broadcasting is undertaken by  
the RAI (Radio, televisione Italiana), a public corporation whose first  
concession dates back to 1924. RAI's capital is owned 99.55% by the Istituto  
per la Ricostruzione Industriale (IRI) et 0.45% by the Società Italiana  
Autori e Editori (SIAE).
The last few years have seen the creation of some 350 private television  
stations and several thousand private radio stations.

180
90. RÂI broadcasts cover the entire country, except for some regional programmes  
and certain programmes aimed solely at minority language groups or abroad.
91. The RAl's concession is granted by law; detailed rules are laid down in an  
agreements between the Ministry of Posts and Telecommunications and RAI.
92. The President of RAI is Chairman of the Board of Directors, acts as the  
corporation’s representative and supervises its management.
The Director-General is directly responsible for the corporation's  
organization and activities. He is responsible to the Board for the radio  
and television service.
93. The Board of Directors comprises 16 members, 6 elected by IRI and 10 by
Parliament's Supervisory Committee. The Briard appoints the Chairman and the  
Director-General , is responsible for the management
of the corporation, approving the quarterly programme schedule, examining  
proposed studies and monitoring broadcasts, on the basis of which it  
prepares periodic reports for the Parliamentary Committee.
94. Transmission stations are treated as newspapers and those which are  
registered are therefore constituted according to the law governing the  
press.
95. Regional broadcasting committees provide a consultative forum for the  
regions, issuing general ·  guidelines on regional radio and television  
broadcasts.
96. The Parliamentary Committee for the general guidance and supervision of  
broadcasting services comprises 40 members; the Presidents of the two  
Chambers of Parliament each appoint half from the representatives of all the  
groups in Parliament. The Committee issues general guidelines on the  
preparation and distribution of programmes and on advertising.
Programme planning
97. Programmes must respect the principle of pluralism.
98. The Parliamentary Committee is responsible for approving programme plans,  
monitoring their implementation and considering the report of RAl's Board of  
Governors. Criticism of programmes is monitored by RAl's opinion service,  
which measures the popularity of programmes by statistical surveys  
(listeners' groups or telephone surveys).
Advertising
99. Advertising is allowed, but for RAI may not exceed 5% of transmission time  
•  both on radio and television.
100. Radio and television advertising is produced by RAI itself or by SIPRA  
(Società Italiana Pubblicità Radiofonica e Televisiva).

181
LUXEMBOURG
Organization
101. There is only one broadcasting organization in Luxembourg, the Compagnie  
Luxembourgeoise de Télédiffusion (CLT), which operates under the name of  
Radio-Télé-Luxembourg (RTL).  RTL is governed by the law of the Grand Duchy  
of Luxembourg.
102. The CLT is a joint stock company under Luxembourg law. It operates on the  
basis of a concession from the State and is subject to a set of conditions.
103. Under a Law of 19 December 1929 anyone wishing to establish a broadcasting  
station in Luxembourg must obtain a licence from the Minister responsible  
for the postal service (Minister of Finance). In each case the conditions  
governing a station, including any changes to be made, are laid down in a  
set of specifications which is submitted to the Council of State. On 29  
September 1930 the Government of the Grand Duchy, under the above Law,  
concluded a concession contract with CTL allowing it to establish and  
operate a broadcasting station on the territory of the Grand Duchy of  
Luxembourg. The licence was granted subject to the set of specifications,  
which form an integral part of the concession contract.
104. Each time the CLT extended its network of longwave, mediumwave, shortwave  
and FM transmitters, and similarly when it established a television station,  
a new concession contract was signed between the Government and the company  
together with an accômpanying set of specifications. There are currently  
nine concession contracts, each with their accompanying specifications, but  
- apart from the technical details concerning each transmitter - they are  
all practically identical.
105. The specifications give CLT a monopoly of radio and television broadcasting  
in Luxembourg, although the State reserves the right to authorize low-power  
experimental stations.
Because CLT enjoys a monopoly of broadcasting, the State cannot grant any  
other natural or legal person the right to broadcast. The CLT's concessions  
expire on 31 December 1995.
106. CLT is a public limited company incorporated in accordance with Luxembourg  
law. Its management structure therefore consists of the general meeting of  
shareholders, the Board of Directors, the Managing Director and the general  
management of the Company. One of the conditions laid down is that the  
majority of the Board of Directors must be of Luxembourg nationality and  
must reside in the Grand Duchy.
As a public company its management is subject to scrutiny by"'conmissaires de  
surveillance" (auditors).
107. There are not specific provisions governing the distribution of radio or  
television broadcasts by cable in Luxembourg and the administrative,  
commercial, civil and penal aspects of such activity therefore come under  
the ordinary law.

182
Advertising is allowed provided it does not endanger public order or  
morality. There are no legal restrictions as regards which programmes may be  
distributed by cable. However, for technical and practical reasons cable  
distribution systems carry only programmes from Luxembourg itself and  
neighbouring countries (Germany, Belgium and France).
Programme planning
108. By virtue of its legal status as a limited company, the CLT is not subject  
to State planning. The specification^ merely require it to broadcast  
programmes of a high intellectual level and to carry general and specific  
news and information.
109. Nevertheless, under the specifications the State reserves the right to  
require the CLT to provide the Government with its services free of charge,  
in particular to allow it broadcasting time and to provide the necessary  
technical support for political and social information broadcast in the  
station's radio and television programmes.
110. A Government officer responsible for safeguarding.the interests of the State  
and ensuring compliance with the specifications monitors the intellectual  
level of broadcasts and sees that the CLT respects the rights of the State  
as regards information. He has observer status at general meetings of the  
company and meetings of the board and the management committees.
11. Under the specifications broadcasts must not offend against the law,
endanger public order, morality or the security and neutrality of the  
country and may not denigrate a foreign state. Anti-religious or  
politically-biased broadcasts are also forbidden. News and information must  
be presented with strict impartiality.
Advertising
112. Under the specifications, advertising is allowed within the limits  
determined by the Government. As the Government has not determined limits,  
RTL runs its advertising on the basis of profitability.
113. There is no specific body responsible for managing or controlling  
advertising broadcasts; neither a general nor a specific code on advertising  
for radio and television exists.

183
NETHERLANDS
■ A
Organization
114. Broadcasting in the Netherlands is governed by the law of 1  March 1967,  
which entered into force in 1969. The main concern of the law was to ensure  
openness, diversity and cooperation. The law creates a favourable climate  
for free access the broadcasting for the largest possible range of groups  
and ideologies.
115. The Minister for Cultural Affairs, Recreation and Social Welfare may grant  
broadcasting time to organizations which meet the conditions laid down in  
the law. The main requirements are that organizations must :
- have legal personality;
- have the production of radio and television broadcasts as their main  
object;
- aim to produce a full programme, covering all the main types of broadcast  
(news, education, culture and entertainment);
- attempt to meet cultural, religious or spiritual aspirations in such a  
way that their broadcasts can be held to be of general interest;
- be non-profit-making;
- refrain from broadcasting programmes liable to endanger public order,  
morality or the security of the State;
- have at least 100 000 members or subscribers, who must also pay the  
official radio and television licence fee.
116. The law makes a distinction between three categories of organization:  
organizations with 400 000 or more members or subscribers (category A),  
organizations with between 250 000 and 400 000 members or subscribers  
(category B) and organizations with between 100 000 and 250 000 numbers or  
subscribers (category C).  The law also provides for "candidate"  
organizations, i.e. organizations with between 40 000 and 100 000 members or  
subscribers.
117. Broadcasting time is divided between categories A, B and C in the ratio of  
5:3: 1. Candidates organizations are allowed 1  hour’s broadcasting time  
per week on television and/or 3 hours per week on radio for a maximum of two  
years.
118. The Dutch Broadcasting Foundation (Nederlands Omroep Stichting - NOS) acts  
as the umbrella organization for Dutch broadcasting. NOS was established on  
29 May 1969 when Dutch Radio Union (NRU) and the Dutch Television Foundation  
(NTS) merged.

184
In particular, NOS is responsible for:
- providing broadcasting facilities for all the organizations, associations  
and institutions which have been granted broadcasting time;
- coordinating programmes and the working conditions of staff in the  
various organizations;
- producing its own radio and television programmes, which must:
- offer a focal point for all viewpoints;
- be of such a nature that they can be produced in collaboration with all  
the other organizations.
119. NOS has a board of Governors, which is made up as follows :
- the Chairman is appointed by the Minister for Cultural Affairs,  
Recreation and Social Welfare, who also determines the number of board  
members;
- half the members are designated by the broadcasting organizations;
- a quarter of the members are designated by representative cultural and  
social organizations;
- the remaining quarter are designated by the Crown.
Day-to-day management is the responsibility of the Management Board, whose  
members are drawn from the Board of Governors.
120. Two programme committees - one for radio and the other for television -  
issue directives and guidelines on the joint programmes of NOS to the  
Management Board. Each Committee consists of representatives from the  
broadcasting organizations and of organizations with a cultural, religious  
or philosophical basis. Radio and ' television each have a programme  
coordinating committee, whose task is to coordinate broadcasts by the  
various organizations s;o as to-produce a balanced and harmonious overall  
programme.
121. A Broadcasting Council advises the Minister for Cultural Affairs, Recreation  
and Social Welfare on all questions concerning radio and television. The  
Council is appointed by the Crown and has at least twelve members. It can  
deliver opinions either at the request of the Minister or on its own  
initiative.
122. Broadcasting is watched over by a Government Broadcasting Commissioner  
appointed by the Crown (the Monarch and the Minister responsible), who is  
assisted by a deputy. The Commissioner monitors compliance with the law on  
broadcasting and has the power to issue instructions which are binding on  
the broadcasting organizations. He may attend board meetings at any time.  
The organizations which hold a broadcasting licence must provide him with  
any information necessary for the carrying out of his duties.

185
123. The broadcasting law also provides the possibility of transmitting regional  
programmes. Section 47A provides that the Minister of Cultural Affairs,  
Recreation and Social Welfare may require the NOS to transmit, over one or  
more transmitter to be designated, a joint programme destined, as a regional  
programme, particularly for the district, region or '  town covered by the  
transmitter or transmitters concerned. Thus, the regional radio organization  
RONO, established in 1946, transmits regional radio programmes in the north  
and east of the country, and the ROZ, set up in 1945, in the southern  
provinces. For each organization a regional programme council, reporting to  
the NOS Board of Governors, lays down guidelines for the programmes of the  
two regional networks.
124. Section 47B of the law provides for local broadcasting. It differs from the  
regional arrangements by providing for air time to be given, for each  
district, region or town, to a cultural organization representative of the  
district to allow the transmission of regional programmes it prepares. These  
organizations must be non-profit making and cannot transmit advertising  
material.
125. Under Article 48 of the Law a number of experimental cable television
services are provided in several Dutch towns under licence from the
Minister. In order to obtain a licence they have had to establish
representative, non-commercial cultural organizations which are responsible 
for devising, preparing and broadcasting local television programmes. These  
experiments are accompanied by a scientific study principally designed to  
analyse the potential role of cable television at local level in terms of  
information and communication (1).
126. Article 48 of the Law of 1969 also allows' certain forms of broadcasting
which cannot be called either national or regional :  these are broadcasts  
distributed via wired networks. A specific example is broadcasts for the  
sick, which are produced by specialist organizations.
There are also services which operate via telephone links to allow people to  
follow religious services at home. In both cases the circuits used are a  
combination of the radio telecommunications network of the Dutch  
telecommunications authority and the telephone network.
(1) For details of the current situation as regards cable distribution in the  
Netherlands, see Annex 7, points 75 ff.

186
Programme planning
127. Under the Law of 1969 "joint programmes (of NOS) must provide a focal point  
for the various spiritual and social trends in the country even if they are  
not represented by an organization which has been granted broadcasting time;  
they must include broadcasts which could be devised, prepared and produced  
by all the organizations ...., so that the programmes of NOS and the other  
broadcasting organizations constitute a balanced whole".
128. The State exercises control over broadcasting only at the post-transmission  
stage. Under Article 61 Of the Law on Broadcasting the Minister enjoys the  
necessary powers to ensure, in normal conditions, compliance with the  
various obligations under the broadcasting licensing system.
In practice the minister very rarely has to impose sanctions, which may take  
the form of a reprimand, a prohibition from broadcasting for a certain  
period, a withdrawal or suspension of all or part of the financial support  
granted to an organization which infringes the law.
Advertising
129. Under the Law the sole right to broadcast advertising is granted to the  
Foundation for Broadcast Advertising (Stichting Etherreclam - STER).  
Advertising must abide by the law, must not endanger public order nor  
display bad taste; advertising for alcoholic drinks is allowed, but  
restricted; advertising for tobacco is forbidden. Advertisements are  
broadcast together in blocks immediately before and after radio and  
television news broadcasts.
130. Control over advertising is exercised by the Advertising Council  
(Reclameraad),  whose main task is :
- to monitor STER's pricing policy;
- to watch over the content of advertisements;
- to see that the rules it lays down are observed.

187
UNITED KINGDOM
Organization
131. There are two radio and television broadcasting organizations in the United
Kingdom :  the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) and the Independent
Broadcasting Authority (IBA).  The BBC both produces and broadcasts its own  
programmes.
132. The IBA does not produce programmes itself but appoints companies to do so.  
It then broadcasts these programmes, monitors them and supervises their  
production. There are 15 independent television companies holding IBA  
franchises :
Anglia Television  
Border Television  
Central Independent Television
Channel Television (Channel Islands Communication (Television))
Grampian Television  
Granada Television  
HTV
London Weekend Television  
Scottisch Television  
Television South  
Thames Television  
Tyne Tees Television  
Ulster Television  
Television South West  
Yorkshire Television
In addition "Independent Television News"· provides a nation-wide news  
service.
A further company "TV-a.m" has recently been added to the list. Its  
programmes, broadcast each morning over the whole country, began
transmission in February 1983.
Finally, a new national television channel - "Channel Four" - began  
transmissions in November 1982. A public corporation established by act of  
Parliament, under the control of the IBA, its main task is to provide for
minority interests. It purchase, roughly half its programmes from the IBA
programme companies and commission the remainder from independent television  
and film producers.
133. There are also 39 local radio stations responsible for producing local radio  
broadcasts which are then transmitted by the IBA (I)
134. The Wireless Telegraphy Act 1949 (as amended by the Post Office Act .  1969)
'  forbids the establishment or use of any transmitter or installation or the
use of any wireless apparatus without the approval of the Home Secretary.  
All radio and television broadcasting in the United Kingdom is subject to  
public law in that the Home Secretary's permission must be obtained for the  
use of wireless apparatus and frequencies.
(1) In ^di^ion to. the BBC's own local radio stations.

188
135. The BBC has a Board of Governors appointed by the Privy Council. Its staff  
is headed by the Director-General.
136. The Independent Broadcasting Authority is appointed by the Home Secretary  
and its staff is headed by the Director-General. The programme companies  
working under contract for the IBA are subject to company law.
137. The BBC's charter requires it to appoint a general advisory committee to  
give its opinion on all relevant matters. The BBC has also set up fifty-two  
other advisory bodies which may be grouped under two headings :  those giving  
advice on policy and programmes in general, and more specialized bodies  
concerned with such subjects as farming, education, religious broadcasting,  
science and technology, programmes for immigrants and the social effects of  
television.
138. The law requires the IBA to set up special advisory committees and to obtain  
their views on matters concerning religious broadcasting, advertising and  
educational programmes. It also has to appoint local advisory committees in  
all areas where its local radio stations exist.
139. Cable distributors are approved by the Home Secretary in accordance with the  
1949 Wireless Telegraphy Act subject to rules concerning safety,  
interference and programme choice. Foreign radio broadcasts may be made  
available only if accompanied by certain minimum of British programmes.
140. Cable operators are not allowed to cut the television or radio broadcasts  
they retransmit. The terms of their licence from the Home Secretary require  
them to provide as wide a choice of programmes as technically possible with  
the exception that there are restrictions on the retransmission of  
Independent Television programmes from one operator's zone to another. This
-is designed to safeguard the regional ,structure of independent television.  
Foreign broadcasts may not be transmitted '  without the Home Secretary's  
approval.
141. Until 1981, with a few limited and localized exceptions, cable operators  
approved by the Home Secretary were allowed to carry only BBC and IBA  
programmes but were not allowed to offer their own programmes. This  
situation has changed following the granting of licences for twelve pilot  
pay-TV projects in various parts of the United Kingdom. The experiment is  
for two years and is limited to one television channel. Licence holders have  
to conform to certain rules on programme content, in particular impartiality  
in news broadcasts and respect for public order (1).
(1) For future cable distribution projects, see Annex 7, points 90 ff.

189
Programmes
142. With a few exceptions, the law places responsibility for the planning and  
content of British programmes on the broadcasting companies themselves. The  
BBC' charter speaks of the importance of broadcasting as a means of  
informing, educating and entertaining and the BBC's first stated objective  
(clause 3a) is to provide a service of this type to the public at large.
143. Section 2 of the Independent Broadcasting Authority Act 1973 imposes on the
IBA the duty to provide for the public television and local radio services
offering information, education and entertainment. The Act goes on to state  
that programmes shall not be produced by the IBA itself but by "programme  
contractors". Section 12(3) imposes on the Authority the obligation to  
ensure fair competition so that programmes are supplied by a number of  
producers independent of each other both financially and from the point of  
view of control.
144. The BBC' charter and licence do not lay down any rules on programmes. It  
recognizes however that it has an obligation to maintain a high level of  
programmes and ensure a good balance between a wide variety of programmes,  
while treating contentious news items and public order issues with
impartiality. As far as possible, programmes should not offend against good
taste and decency, encourage crime or public disorder or offend public  
sentiment.
145. Section 4 of the Independent Broadcasting Authority Act 1973 lays down the  
main conditions concerning content. These include the same conditions as  
those accepted by the BBC plus the requirement to broadcast programmes of  
special interest to the areas served by the IBA stations, including  
programmes in a language other than .English (e.g. Welsh) if this is also  
spoken by the population served by the station.
146. The IBA controls programme planning and approves the schedules of the  
companies which, under contract, provide the radio and television programmes  
which it broadcasts. As far as possible, if necessary by advance viewing, it  
tries to ensure that the programmes and advertisements conform to the  
requirements of the IBA Act and deals with complaints about programmes and  
advertisements in the first instance. It has also set up a Complaints Review  
Board, which acts as a review body both for specific complaints and  
complaints procedures in general. The Board examines complaints from the  
public or persons appearing in programmes, whether or not these programmes  
have been broadcast. It consists of five members, two from the IBA staff and  
three from the General Advisory Council, who must not have been concerned  
with decisions taken about a programme prior to transmission.

190
147. In the BBC, the Board of Governors is responsible for ensuring compliance  
with the obligations laid upon it. The BBC has set up a Programme Complaints  
Commission, which consider complaints from the public and allegations of  
partiality in radio and television programmes. It consists of members from  
outside the BBC.
Advertising
148. Without authorization from the Home Secretary, the BBC may not receive  
payments for broadcasts nor accept financial contributions. It may not  
therefore broadcast advertising for payment.
149. The IBA broadcasts advertising for which the programme contractors sell air  
time. Advertisements are broadcast during natural breaks within or between  
programmes.
150. The IBA has its own code of standards on advertising which apply to both  
radio and television.

191
ANNEX 11
EUROBAROMETER SURVEY OF ATTITUDES OF EUROPEANS TOWARDS  
TRANSNATIONAL TELEVISION
Contents
Page
Viewing foreign television 193
TABLE I - Reception of foreign channels 194
TABLE II - Viewing frequency for foreign channels related to
possibility of reception 195
MAP: Average viewing frequency for foreign channels in regions
of Community countries 196
Interest in the European channel project 197
GRAPH I - Link between average current viewihg of foreign
channels and average interest in European satellite  
,  television 198
TABLE III - Interest in European channel project related to  
frequency of viewing foreign channels, attitude  
towards the European Community and level of
education 199
Practical aspects of a European channel 199
TABLE IV - Proportion of those in each country who could follow
a European programme in some foreign languages 200
TABLE V - Preferred method of translation in the Community
countries 201
TABLE VI - Interest in the European channel project related to  
interest in the option of listening in one’s own  
language or in original versions 202

192
TABLE VII - Interest in European channel by country 202
TABLE VIII - Interest in European channel related to various
socio-demographic criteria 203
Description of survey 204
Sampling 204
TABLE IX - Technical details of the survey on "The European
Television Satellite" 205
Questionnaire 206

193
EUROBAROMETER SURVEY OF ATTITUDES OF EUROPEANS TOWARDS TRANSNATIONAL TELEVISION
1. In October-November 1982 six questions about a future European satellite  
television channel or service were put to a representative sample of the  
adult population (aged 15 and over) in the ten countries of the EEC. Over  
9,600 people were questioned personally at home by professional pollsters.  
The survey was conducted as a supplement to Eurobarometer No 18.
The questions asked are reproduced at point 19. This Annex is accompanied 
by a description of the survey (points 16 to 18) and technical details  
(Table IX).
2. What are the attitudes of Europeans towards transnational television ?  
Without trying to analyse all the aspects of this question, the survey  
yields certain information on three main points :
- viewing habits, in the Community countries, in respect of foreign  
television;
- interest in the idea of a European television channel broadcast by  
satellite;
- preferences concerning methods of overcoming the language problems.  
Viewing foreign channels
3. Even before television satellites become operational, some Europeans  
already have the opportunity of watching more or less frequently foreign  
television. The behaviour of the European public in this situation already  
offers some pointers concerning transnational television. Two aspects must  
be, considered :
- the possibility of receiving a foreign channel at home;
- actual viewing, either at home or elsewhere (including abroad), of
foreign programmes.
4.First question asked (with answers)
MDo you have TV at home ? If yes, are you able to receive directly on you:r  
TV set channels from other countries, or only (your own country's)  
channels ? "
Entire Community
.  Can receive foreign TV directly  
.  Can only receive (your own country  
.  Have no TV at home's) channels26
70
4
100
(14)

The possibilities of reception vary widely from one country to another *  
Whilst virtually all Luxembourgers (97%) can receive foreign television^ at  
home, only 3% of the British can (see Table I). The geographical situation  
of each country is clearly the determining factor.
TABLE I Reception of foreign channels
Can Cannot Have Don't
receive receive no know Total
foreign TV foreign TV TV-
(%) (%) (%) (%) (Z )
Luxembourg 97—3- 100
Belgium .84 10 6 - · . 100
Netherlands 84 11 3 2 100
Denmark 69 28 2 1 100
Ireland 41 55 4 — ioo
Italy 35 63 2 - 100
Germany 25 73 1 1 100
Greece 16 76 8- 100
France *  14 81 5- 100
United Kingdom 3 94 ; 3- 100
•  i
5. Second question asked :
" Have you ever watched, at home or anywhere else (including while abroad),  
foreign TV channels ? And, if so, about how often ?
Entire Community
(%y
. Never 59
.  Several times a year 21
.  Several times a month 8
.  Several times a week 9)
.  More often .  3)
100
Viewing index for foreign channels (1) ■ .96
(1) To aggregate the answers a simple index was calculated by assigning !®;\.  
weighting of "0" to "never"; "1" to "several times a year"; "3" to "several  
times a month"; "4" for "several times a week"; "5" to "more often". Tha  
viewing index may therefore range from 0 to 5.

195
Where the possibility of reception exists, foreign channels are watched  
fairly frequently :  66% of those who can receive a foreign channel at home  
watch it regularly, i.e. at least a few times a month (see Table II).
The attraction of foreign television is greater than the possibility of  
reception in the home. 25% of the respondents who cannot receive foreign  
channels at home are able to watch them some other time while abroad for  
instance.
TABLE II Viewing frequency for foreign channels related to possibility of  
reception
Able to receive a foreign channel.
How often to you watch a foreign channel ? YES NO All
(%) (%) (%T
.  Never 16 75 59
.  Several times a year 18 22 21
.  Several times a month 25 2 8
.  Several times a week 31 1  9
.  More often 10 - 3
TOTAL 100 100 100
6. Like the possibility of reception, viewing frequencies for foreign channels  
show sharp variations between one country and another, and even between  
regions of the same country (see map). In France, for example, the viewing  
index for foreign channels (1) ranges from .03 in Aquitaine (meaning that  
Aquitainers never watch foreign television) to 2.89 in Alsace and Lorraine  
(which corresponds to several times a month). In Germany, the viewing index  
varies even more sharply: from .06 (= never) in Brunswick and Giessen to  
3.95 (= several times a week) around Tubingen. Analysis of these viewing  
rates by region confirms what was to be expected, namely that two  
conditions must be met for the inhabitants of a region to watch a foreign  
channel with any regularity:
- the broadcasting country must be close by and the relief of the region  
must be favourable to transmission;
- the language of the broadcast must be understood.
To those may be added the interest of the regional population in the  
foreign channel they can receive.
(1)Point 5, footnote 1.

AVERAGF. VIEWINC FREQUENCY FOR FOREIGN CHANNELS IN REGIONS OF COMMUNITY
COUNTRIES

197
Interest in the European television channel project
7. The question and the answers were as follows :
" With the development in the next few years of satellite TV, you may be  
able to get reception on your own TV set, as well as the programmes you  
get now from national transmitters, a European TV channel whose  
programmes (news, entertainment, sport, education, etc.) will be made by  
several European countries working together, including our own. How much  
does this idea interest you ? "
Entire Community
(%)
a lot 30) 57£
somewhat 27)
a little bit 20)
not at all 19)
don’t know 4
100
Interest index (1) 1.7239%
A majority of Europeans say they are interested in the idea of a European  
satellite television channel. The respondents appear to have understood  
straightaway that with such a project, the two conditions which at present  
must be met if people are to watch a foreign channel would no longer be  
relevant. While the interest in a European-channel varies quote distinctly  
from one country to another, the pattern bears no relation to the results  
f,or current average viewing of foreign channels (see Graph 1  and Table  
VII). -
(1) The index aggregating the answers is calculated by assigning a weighting  
"3" to "a lot"; "2" to "somewhat", "1" to "a little bit" and "0" to "not at  
all". "Don't knows" are excluded. The index will thus be between 0 and 3.

198
GRAPH I Link between average current viewing of foreign channels and average
interest in European satellite television
Index of interest in  
European satellite TV
3
2•  I
G ·•  L
F·  »  
0.CE
•  IR L , N L  , B
•  UK 0 OK
1
0 t
1 2 3 4 5
Viewing index for  
foreign channels
Taking individual answers as opposed to national averages, the two  
variables are nevertheless closely related :  the more accustomed a viewer  
is to watching foreign television, the greater the interest he shows in the  
idea of European television (see Table III). It is possible that some of  
the prejudices against transnational television are no longer present in  
those who are accustomed to foreign channels.

199
8. Two other factors are closely related to interest in European television:  
attitudes towards the European Community and level of education (see also  
Table III)·  Interest in a European channel rises in direct proportion to  
support for the European Community and to level of education. Acceptance of  
a transnational and European channel appears to be coupled with a more open  
attitude towards other countries of Europe, an attitude more frequently  
found among those who support the European Community and those who  
continued their education longer.
TABLE III Interest in European channel project related to frequency of
viewing foreign channels, attitude towards the European Community  
and level of education
Index of interest (1)  
in European TV  
(between 0 and 3)
Watch a foreign channel .  never 1.56
.  a few times a year 1.95
.  a few times a month 1.87
.  a few times a week 1.92
.  more frequently 2.1A
Attitude towards the Community .  very much for 2.00
.  to some extent for 1.82
.  neither for nor against 1.50
.  to some extent against 1.45
.  very much against 1.32
Level of education 1. 15 and under 1.49
(age of completion of studies) 2. 16 to 19 ‘ 1.78
3. 20 and older 2.11
ENTIRE COMMUNITY 1.72
Practical aspects of a European channel
9. For audiences, language is the main practical-problem connected with a  
European channel. Three basic aspects of this problem were investigated:
- the ability to follow European-channel broadcasts in certain foreign  
languages;
- the preferred method of translation (dubbing or subtitling);
- interest in a ("push-button") choice between the original and the dubbed  
version.
(1) Point 7, footnote 1.

200
10. Question asked and answers received :
" On the European TV channel we have just talked about, all countries will  
get the same picture. But there is a problem about the sound. As far as  
you are concerned, must the sound be in your own language, or are there 
other languages that you could listen to ? "
Entire Community
.  Must be in my language 73 .
.  Could listen in some other languages 23
.  Don't know 4
Too
One in four Europeans could listen to European-channel broadcasts in  
certain other languages. This relatively high figure for the Community as a  
whole nevertheless masks wide disparities between countries (see Table IV),  
and though ability to follow in other languages does vary appreciably  
according to the level of education, the differences between countries are  
still very marked even among the more highly educated (see Table IV).
TABLE IV Proportion of those in each country who could listen to a European  
programme in some foreign languages
High level of education  
(studies completed  
All at age 20 or older)
(%) (%)
.  Luxembourg 88 98
.  Netherlands 60 73
.  Denmark 41 63
.  Belgium 34 59
.  France 26 56
.  Greece 24 50
'  .  Germany 20 43
'  .  Italy 17 39
.  United Kingdom 16 43
.  Ireland 8 36
ENTIRE COMMUNITY 23 51
11. Finally, ability to listen in some foreign languages is matched by a keener  
interest in the European television idea (1); This can partly be attributed  
to the fact that it is the more highly educated who have a better knowledge  
of languages as well as showing more interest in the projected European  
channel.
12. Question and answers :
" If a TV programme needed translation into (your own language) there are  
different ways of doing it. Which of these do you prefer ?
i  Entire Comnunity
.  Complete translation of the sound into (your  
own language), like a foreign film dubbed 69
.  Subtitles printed in (your own language)  
keeping the sound in the original 25
.  Don't know __6
10
0
(1) Almost half (46%) of' those who could listen in some foreign languages say  
they are keenly interested in the idea.

201
Here again, the differences between countries are very marked. Whilst most  
countries would much rather have dubbing, in Denmark and the Netherlands  
the preference is heavily for subtitling (Table V).  The choice seems to  
depend on national habits rather than on the knowledge of one or more  
foreign languages. The Dutch are a case in point here, for in the  
Netherlands nearly all foreign productions screened on television are shown  
in the original version with subtitles. Unlike most other Europeans, the  
Dutch have long been used to this form of translation.
TABLE V Preferred method of translation in the Community countries
Dubbing Subtitles Don't know Total
(%) (%) (%) (%)
Italy 82 13 5 100
Germany 79 12 9 100
France 76 21 3 100
Ireland 67 24 9 100
United Kingdom 65 29 6 100
Luxembourg 58 38 4 100
Greece 51 44 5 100
Belgium 44 48 8 100
Denmark 17 . 75 8 100
Netherlands 13 80 7 100
ENTIRE COMMUNITY 69 25 6 100
13. Question and answers :
" Still talking about the sound, it will soon be possible to have an extra  
part added to your TV set, for a small price, with a button to press so  
that you have the choice between listening in your own language or in the  
,  original language. To what extent would you be interested by this  
possibility ? "
Entire Community
(%)
.  very interested 27
.  interested a bit .  35
.  not interested at all 34
.  don't know 4
100
The "push-button" choice between listening in one's own language and the  
original version is of real interest to only a quarter of Europeans. And it  
is, once again, the more highly educated who favour this option :  39% of  
those who went on studying up to or beyond the age of 20 say they would  
very much like to have it.
14. Interest in this option is in fact closely linked with general interest in  
the idea of European television (see Table VI) .  It would be an extra  
advantage that went with the project, but the basic question is about the  
project itself and not the option.

202
TABLE VI Interest in the European satellite project related to interest in the  
option of listening in one's own language or in original versions
Interest index  
for European TV (1)
Interest in the "push-button" .  very interested 2.47
option between translation .  fairly interested 1.76
and original version .  Not at all interested 1.11
ENTIRE COMMUNITY 1.72
TABLE VII Interest in European channel by country
A little Not at Don't
A lotSomewhat bit allknowTotalIndex
BELGIUM 24 32 24 13 71001.73
of which: Flanders 21 35 29 961001.73
WalIonia 24 27 20 18111001.66
Brussels 34 34 15 14 31001.92
DENMARK ‘  27 17 20 34 21001.38
GERMANY 23 23 32.  14 81001.60
of which: the North 18 17 36 17121001.41
the South-West 28 23 37 751001.76
the South-East 26 35 23 13 31001.75
FRANCE 32 31 16 19 21001.76
of which: the Paris region 44 33 9 13 11002.08
the North-East 31 26 19 21 31001.69
the North-West 25 32 19 23 11001.59
the South-West 33 29 16 20 21001.76
the South-East 28 32 18 20 21001.71
IRELAND 35 20 19 23 31001.68
ITALY · 41 37 11 921002.14
of which: the, North 38 41 · * ■  · 11 8-  2 100*.2-. 12 .
the Centre ' 36 ' 42 k 1  -11-10 - 110O2.05
the South 46 30 10 10 41002.17
LUXEMBOURG 46 25 15 11 31002.10
NETHERLANDS 29 28 20 21 21001.65
UNITED KINGDOM 26 17 21 34 21001.36
of which: Northern Ireland
and Scotland 29 22 21 25 31001.56
Northern England
ioo 1.28 and Wales 24 16 22 36 2
Southern England 27 20 19 33 11001.40
GREECE 45 25 12 13 51002.07
ENTIRE COMMUNITY 30 27 20 19 4100i.72
(1), Point 7, footnote 1.

203
TABLE VIII Interest in European channel related to various socio-demographic  
criteria
Say that this Index of average
channel interests interest for each
them a lot division analysed
(%) (from 0 to 3)
ENTIRE COMMUNITY 30 1.72
SEX Men 35 1.85
Women 26 1.59
Men 15-24 years 42 2.07
25 - 39 years 40 2.02
40 - 54 years 31 1.83
55 and older 29 1.57
AGE
Women 15-24 years 38 1.95
25 - 39 years 31 1.73
40 - 54 years 24 1.59
55 and older 16 1.20
Village 27 1.68
LOCALITY Small town 31 1.70
Big town or city 34 ‘ 1.72
Under 15 24 1.49
AGE AT END 16 - 19 32 1.78
OF STUDIES 20 and over 45 2.11
Still studying 46 2.24
INCOME LEVEL Low - - 20 1.32
f - 28 1.65*+ 36 1.90
High + + 39 2.00
Low - - 22 1.39
LEADERSHIP - 29 1.69
RATING + 35 - 1.91
High + + .  43 1.97
15. Europeans appear, all in all, to be fairly receptive to the idea of a  
European television channel. Transnational television is not rejected out  
of hand, and foreign channels already exert a certain attraction; indeed,  
it is revealed that more people watch foreign channels at some time or  
other than are able to receive them at home. Moreover, those who are  
accustomed to watching foreign television, who thereby become more -open in  
their outlook, show keener interest in the European television project. It  
should be emphasized that it is particularly the more highly educated who  
are in every respect the most receptive and it is they who most of all make  
up the potential audience for a European television channel.

204
Description of survey
16. The survey was made by European Omnibus Survey in conjunction with Euro­
barometer No 18. It is based on a questionnaire, which is attached (point  
19).
The questionnaire was put to representative samples of the total population  
aged 15 years and over of the ten countries of the Community (9 600 persons  
in all). All the interviews were conducted in the home by professional  
pollsters in October 1982.
17. The names of the institutes involved in the research and the number of 
interviews conducted in each country are shown in Table IX. The figures  
shown in the report for the whole Community are the result of a weighting  
of national samples, each country being assigned a weight proportionate to  
its population.
Sampling
18. The sample is designed to be representative of the total population aged 15  
years and over of the ten countries of the Community.
In each country a two-stage sampling method is used :
1. Geographical distribution.
For statistical purposes the European Community divides Europe into 129  
regions. The survey takes place in 126 of these regions (Corsica,  
Groenland and Val d’Aosta excluded).
In each country a random selection of sampling points is made in such a  
way that all types of area (urban, rural, etc.) are represented in  
proportion to their populations.
The interviews are distributed in more or less 1.150 sampling points.
2. Choice of respondents
For each survey different individuals are interviewed in the. master,  
sample of sampling points described above.'Witliih thèse Sampling »points  
the individuals to be interviewed are chosen :
- either at random from the population or electoral lists in those  
countries where access to suitable lists of individuals or household  
is possible :  Belgium, Denmark, Netherlands and Luxembourg;
- or by quota sampling. In these cases the quotas are established by  
sex, age and profession on the basis of ceAsus data :  this system is  
used in France, Italy, United Kingdom, Ireland and Germany;
- or by a method combining the two preceding ones ("random route") :  
Greece.

205
TABLE IX Technical.details of the survey on "The European Television
Satellite"
COUNTRYINSTITUTE RESPONSIBLE  
FOR FIELDWORKDATES
(1982)NUMBER OF  
INTERVIEWS
BELGIUM DIMARSO 2 to 20 October 1  020
DENMARK GALLUP
MARKEDSANALYSE 9 to 17 October 995
GERMANY EMNID 14 to 24 October 1  012
FRANCE INSTITUT DE SONDAGE  
LAVIALLE 10 to 23 October 939
IRELAND (1) IRISH MARKETING  
SURVEYS 15 to 22 October 1  007
ITALY DOXA 11 to 29 October 1  025
LUXEMBOURG ILRES 12 to 20 October 300
NETHERLANDS NIPO 8 to 18 October 1  056
UNITED KINGDOM SOCIAL SURVEYS  
(GALLUP POLL). LTD 11 to 23 October 1  335
GREECE ICAP-HELLAS 10 to 23 October 1  000
(1) For Northern Ireland :  308 persons aged 15 and over interviewed between 15  
and 22 October; the answers are combined with those for the United Kingdom.

206
Questionnaire
19. The following six questions were asked :
Do you have TV at home ? If yes, are you able to receive directly on your TV  
set channels from other countries, or only (your own country’s) channels ?
1. Can receive foreign TV directly
2. Can only receive (your own country's) TV channels
3. No TV at home
Have you ever watched, at home or anywhere else (including while abroad),  
foreign TV channels ? And if so, about how often ?
1. Never
2. Several times a year
3. Several times a month
4. Several times a week
5. More often
With the development in the next few years of satellite TV you may be able  
to get reception on your own TV set, as well as the programmes you get now  
from (national) transmitters, a European TV channel whose programmes (news,  
entertainment, sport, education, etc...) will be made by several European  
countries working together, including our own. How much does this idea  
interest you ?
1. A lot
2. Somewhat
3. A little bit
4. Not at all  
0 ?
On the European TV channel we have yet talked about, all countries will get  
the same picture. But there is a problem about the sound. As far as you are  
concerned, must the sound be in your own language, or are there other  
languages that you could listen to ?
1  .  Must be in my language  
2. Could listen in some other languages  
0 ?
,  .  i.  ■  ·  '  * ·"*■'· I  t  1
If a TV programme needed translation into (your own language) there are  
different ways of doing it. Which of these do you prefer ?
1. Complete translation of the sound into (your own language) like a  
foreign film clubbed
2. Subtitles printed in (your own language) keeping the sound in the  
original
0 ?
Still talking about the sound, it will soon be possible to have err extra  
part added to your TV set, for a small price, with a button to press 80  
that you have the choice between listening in your own language or in the  
original language. To what extent would you be interested by this  
possibility ?
1. Very interested
2. Interested a bit
3t  Not interested at all  
0 ?
•  \