WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1205/97 by Concepció FERRER to the Commission. Televised broadcasting of major events
Date: 1997-04-07
Institutions: European Parliament, FERRER
Subjects: European television, cultural event, exclusive distribution agreement, free movement of programmes, public service, sporting event, television













EUR-Lex - 91997E1205 - EN






Avis juridique important




|



91997E1205

WRITTEN QUESTION No. 1205/97 by Concepció FERRER to the Commission. Televised broadcasting of major events  


Official Journal C 373 , 09/12/1997 P. 0085 





WRITTEN QUESTION E-1205/97 by Concepció Ferrer (PPE) to the Commission (7 April 1997)Subject: Televised broadcasting of major eventsOn 5 February 1997 the Commission submitted a communication on the compilation by the Member States of a list of major broadcasting events.The list is supposed to distinguish two types of event, those common to all Member States and those of interest only to individual Member States.In the light of the cultural diversity of the European Union and the existence of television channels within Member States which do not broadcast throughout a Member State, can the Commission explain how the communication takes account, as far as the list of events of national interest is concerned, of the interests of such channels?Answer given by Mr Oreja on behalf of the Commission (23 May 1997)On 16 April 1997, in the context of the overhaul of Directive 89/552/EEC (Television Without Frontiers), Parliament and Council delegations held a meeting of the consultation committee at which overall agreement was reached on a directive amending the Television Without Frontiers Directive, including the provisions relating to the broadcasting of events of major public interest. The joint text is currently being finalized by Parliament and the Council.In line with the Commission's analysis of the need for Community-level action (as outlined in the communication referred to by the Honourable Member), the joint text allows Member States to adopt measures designed to guarantee that the public will continue to have access to television broadcasts of events of major public intereston 'free' television (i.e. without the viewer having to pay an additional fee). The Commission will be responsible for checking that such measures are in line with Community law. Each Member State will be responsible for seeing that broadcasters under its jurisdiction comply with those measures adopted by other Member States that the Commission has deemed to be compatible with Community law.This means that it is primarily up to each Member State to choose the most appropriate measures to guarantee the public access to major televised events.For example, in the case referred by the Honourable Member (an event of national interest to be broadcast country-wide) broadcasters who had acquired the exclusive rights would have to broadcast the event unencoded (either by themselves or in conjunction with other broadcasters) throughout the country concerned. There is no reason why this could not be achieved, for example, by a network of regional broadcasters rather than by a single national broadcaster.The Commission would also point out that one of the recitals in the joint text states that the term 'major events' covers events that may interest only one large part of a Member State (the example often quoted is the Scottish Cup Final). In cases like this, an arrangement whereby a broadcaster covering only part of the country broadcasts the event in question unencoded may be enough to satisfy the objective that the audience concerned should have access to the broadcast.