Communication from the Commission to the European Parliament, the Council, the European Economic and Social Committee and the Committee of the Regions - Seventh communication on the application of Articles 4 and 5 of Directive 89/552/EEC "Television without Frontiers", as amended by Directive 97/36/EC, for the period 2003-2004 {SEC(2006) 1073}
Date: 2006-08-14
Institutions: European Commission
Subjects: European television, application of EU law, audiovisual production, broadcasting, programmes industry, report, television

COMMISSION OF THE EUROPEAN COMMUNITIES 

Brussels, 14.8.2006 
COM(2006) 459 final 

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

Seventh communication on the application of Articles 4 and 5 of Directive 89/552/EEC 
"Television without Frontiers", as amended by Directive 97/36/EC, 
for the period 2003-2004 

{SEC(2006) 1073} 

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COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMISSION TO THE EUROPEAN 
PARLIAMENT, THE COUNCIL, THE EUROPEAN ECONOMIC AND SOCIAL 
COMMITTEE AND THE COMMITTEE OF THE REGIONS 

Seventh communication on the application of Articles 4 and 5 of Directive 89/552/EEC 
"Television without Frontiers", as amended by Directive 97/36/EC, 
for the period 2003-2004 

(Text with EEA relevance) 

1. 

INTRODUCTION 

This communication is drawn up pursuant to Article 4(3) of Council Directive 89/552/EEC1 
of 3 October 1989 on the coordination of certain provisions laid down by law, regulation or 
administrative  action  in  Member  States  concerning  the  pursuit  of  television  broadcasting 
activities, as amended by Directive 97/36/EC of the European Parliament and of the Council 
of 30 June 19972 (“Television without Frontiers” Directive). It is the Commission’s report on 
the application of Articles 4 and 5 of the Directive3 for the period 2003-2004 (seventh report) 
and  sets  out  in  the  first  Part  the  Commission’s  opinion  on  the  Member  States’  statistical 
statements on the achievement of the proportions referred to under Articles 4 and 5 for each 
of  the  television  programmes  falling  within  their  jurisdiction.  Article  4(3)  of  the  Directive 
states that the Commission may take account in its opinion, in particular, of progress achieved 
in  relation  to  previous  years,  the  share  of  first  broadcast  works  in  the  programming,  the 
particular circumstances of new television broadcasters and the specific situation of countries 
with  a  low  audiovisual  production  capacity  or  restricted  language  area4.  The  second  Part  of 
this document presents the main conclusions to be drawn from the Member States’ reports. 

The purpose of this bi-annual reporting exercise is, firstly, to bring Member States’ statistical 
statements  to  the  attention  of  the  other  Member  States,  the  European  Parliament  and  the 
Council  and,  secondly,  to  check  that  the  measures  to  promote  European  and  independent 
production  are  being  properly  applied  in  the  Member  States.  For  the  first  time,  the  ten 
Member States which joined the European Union on 1 May 2004 are included in this report 
for the post-accession period from 1 May to 31 December 2004. The Commission has taken 
particular care to ensure that these Member States can participate in this complex exercise and 
meet  –  in  line  with  the  principle  of  progressive  improvement  –  the  objectives  of  the 
“Television without Frontiers” Directive, particularly as regards the proportions referred to in 
Articles 4 and 5.  

Additional background information can be found in a Commission staff working paper5. 

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OJ L 298, 17.10.1989. 
OJ L 202, 30.7.1997. 
“Television without Frontiers” Directive or “the Directive”. 
These are non-exhaustive criteria. 
SEC(2006) 1073 – hereinafter “Working Paper”. 

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2. 

COMMISSION OPINION ON THE APPLICATION OF ARTICLES 4 AND 5 

2.1. 

General remarks 

2.1.1.  Articles 4 and 5 in the context of a dynamic European audiovisual landscape  

The first general observation concerns the steady growth of the number of television channels 
in  Europe.  The  evaluation  of  the  Member  States’  reports  shows  that  the  total  number  of 
reported channels covered by Articles 4 and 56 increased from 584 in 2003 to 767 in 2004. In 
the  previous  reference  period,  the  number  of  such  reported  channels  had  risen  from  472  in 
2001 to 503 in 2002. This means an increase of 61% over four years (2001-2004), which has 
been mainly due to the European Union’s most recent enlargement in 2004. However, even 
looking at EU-15, there was still a significant rise (39%) from 2001 to 2004 which included a 
12%  increase  from  2003  –  20047.  In  terms  of  the  number  of  channels,  this  reflects  the 
continuous  growth  in  programme  hours  and  the  enduring  dynamism  of  the  European 
audiovisual supply industry.8 

2.1.2.  Methods of implementation and monitoring by Member States 

The  second  general  remark  concerns  the  manner  in  which  Member  States  implement  their 
obligations  resulting  from  Articles  4  and  5  and  fulfil  their  reporting  obligation  under  the 
Directive.  

There  are  often  significant  differences  between  Member  States  as  regards  the  nature  and 
intensity  of  checks:  i.e.  daily  monitoring  of  programming,  statistical  reports,  surveys, 
sampling  or,  in  a  few  cases,  estimates  only.  Monitoring  may  have  been  carried  out  by  an 
independent regulatory authority, by the competent governmental department or by a private 
research company. In some Member States, public authorities rely on the proportions reported 
by broadcasters.  

Most Member States have provided full and comprehensive information to the Commission. 
This is a clear improvement compared to the previous reporting period, when some Member 
States omitted relevant data for a considerable number of channels from their reports. There 
are only a few Member States that still have to improve their record, especially with regard to 
the  proportions  referred  to  in  Article  59.  One  Member  State  continued  to  “exempt”  a  large 

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Cf. Indicator 1, background document 1 of the Working Paper (“Document”). 
This  development  is  confirmed  by  data  published  by  the  European  Audiovisual  Observatory  (EAO). 
The total number of channels in the EU-15 was around 881 in January 2004, whereas in the previous 
year  the  figure  was  780,  cf.  EAO,  Yearbooks  2005/2004/2003,  Film,  Television,  Video  and 
Multimedia, Volume 5, Tables T.21.1. The figures include public service and private national channels 
with analogue terrestrial broadcasting licence, and cable and/or satellite and/or DTT channels. They do 
not include non-European channels targeting EU Member States, channels targeting third countries and 
regional, local or territorial channels and regional or local windows on national channels. 
Cf. Chart 1, Document 2, Working Paper. 
The  Czech  Republic  did  not  communicate  the  proportions  for  works  by  independent  producers  and 
recent  works  for  more  than  50%  of  channels  covered  by  Article  5.  France  and  Sweden  did  not 
communicate  data  on  Article  5  for  more  than  20%  of  covered  channels  under  their  jurisdiction. 
Concerning recent works, Latvia did not communicate any data at all and Denmark only reported data 
for less than 2/3 of the channels covered. 

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number of satellite channels from its reporting obligation under Article 510. The Commission 
would  point  out  that  the  reporting  obligation  under  Article  4(3)  of  the  Directive  applies  to 
every  single  television  channel  within  the  jurisdiction  of  the  Member  State  concerned, 
regardless  of  its  mode  of  transmission  or  audience  share11  It  is  the  responsibility  of  each 
Member  State  to  provide  a  comprehensive  list  of,  and  full  data  on,  all  channels  covered  by 
Articles  4  and  5  of  the  Directive.  Member  States  are  not  empowered  to  provide  for  general 
“exemptions” from obligations under the Directive, except for cases specified by the Directive 
and when specific reasons are given.  

The  differences  in  terms  of  application  and  interpretation  of  the  Directive  in  each  Member 
State should also be mentioned. For instance, as regards the requirement to allow a minimum 
of  10%  of  broadcasting  time  (minimum  proportion),  Article  5  allows  proportions  based  on 
either broadcasters’ transmission time or their programming budget - the choice is made by 
the Member State when transposing the Directive12. Another example: certain Member States 
have  introduced  a  positive  definition  of  programmes  which  qualify  under  Articles  4  and  5, 
thus  making  it  harder  to  attain  the  required  proportions.  Others  have  directly  implemented 
into national law the negative definition of qualifying transmission time in Articles 4 and 5, 
which  excludes  news,  sport  events,  games,  advertising  and  teleshopping.  This  and  other 
differences  complicate  the  task  of  generating  comparative  and  reliable  data  to  show  how 
European  TV  channels  are  applying  Articles  4  and  5.  Notwithstanding  these  variables,  the 
results  presented  below  help  in  identifying  the  main  trends  in  this  field  and  in  drawing 
conclusions  as  to  the  effectiveness  of  the  implementation  measures  adopted  by  Member 
States.13 

2.1.3.  Analysis and assessment tools 

Under  Article  4(3)  of  the  Directive,  the  Commission  is  responsible  for  ensuring  the 
application of Articles 4 and 5 in accordance with the provisions of the Treaty. To assist the 

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As  in  previous  reports,  Italy’s  statistical  statement  “exempted”  systematically  all  satellite  and  cable 
channels,  which  constitute  roughly  50%  of  all  covered  channels  under  Italy’s  jurisdiction.  The 
Commission considers these “exempted” channels as “not reported” with the consequence that Italy’s 
compliance rate under Article 5 (cf. Indicator 5, Document 1) is negatively affected by this omission. 
Italy  adopted  in  2005  new  measures  in  order  to  bring  the  legal  situation  in  line  with  its  obligations 
under Article 5. The Commission will continue to monitor closely Italy’s legal and factual application 
of Article 5 as to its conformity with Community law. It should also be mentioned that Italy does not 
comply with reporting standards for recent works, which were reported as percentage of all European 
works  instead  of  as  percentage  of  European  works  by  independent  producers  rendering  thus  a  cross-
European comparison or an EU-average of recent works more difficult. This reporting practice should 
be adapted to Article 5. 
Article 4(3) states that “[the] report shall in particular include a statistical statement on the achievement 
of the proportion referred to in [Article 4] and Article 5 for each of the television programmes falling 
within the jurisdiction of the Member State concerned, the reasons, in each case, for the failure to attain 
that proportion and the measures adopted or envisaged in order to achieve it.” 
In practice, only France made use of this option: for three satellite or cable channels the calculation is 
based  on  the  programming  budget  and  for  the  six  terrestrial  channels  it  is  based  on  the  channels’ 
revenues. 
In this context, the independent “Impact Study of Measures Concerning the Promotion of Distribution 
and  Production  of  TV  Programmes  provided  for  under  Article  25(a)  of  the  “Television  without 
Frontiers”  Directive,  which  was  finalised  in  May  2005  by  David  Graham  and  Associates,  has 
contributed  to  evaluating  the  economic  and  cultural  impact  of  Articles  4  and  5  and  of  the 
implementation measures in EU-15, cf. http://europa.eu.int/comm/avpolicy/stat/studi_en.htm. 

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Member  States  with  their  monitoring  responsibilities,  guidelines14  have  been  drawn  up  for 
monitoring the implementation of Articles 4 and 5. These guidelines are intended to support 
Member States in their reporting obligation under Article 4(3) by defining certain terms and 
clarifying key concepts, in order to avoid differences in interpretation.  

In  addition,  a  series  of  new  indicators15  have  been  defined  to  provide  an  objective  analysis 
grid  to  better  assess  the  statistical  statements  submitted  by  Member  States.16  As  Member 
States  may  establish  more  detailed  or  stricter  rules  in  the  areas  covered  by  the  Directive17, 
these indicators help to evaluate progress made in the application of Articles 4 and 5 at both 
Community and national levels. 

This  is  the  general  background  to  the  Commission’s  opinion  as  it  is  presented  in  this 
document.  It  identifies  the  general  trends  in  the  application  of  the  measures  to  promote  the 
production and distribution of European television programmes at Community level18. 

2.2. 

Application of Article 4 

This part analyses the achievement at European level in relation to the majority proportion of 
European works as spelled out in Article 419 of the “Television without Frontiers” Directive.  

The EU-average transmission time reserved for European works by all covered20 channels 
in  all  Member  States  was  65.18%  in  2003  and  63.32%  in  2004  representing  a  1.86  point 
decrease  over  the  reference  period.  Concerning  the  results  of  the  previous  reporting 
periods, the average proportion for European works was 66.95% in 2001 and 66.10% in 2002 
in  EU-15.  This  amounts  to  a  fall  of  3.63  points  over  four  consecutive  years  (2001-2004). 
Taken over six years (1999-2004) there is an overall increase of 2.64 percentage points in the 
scheduling of European works. Consequently, the overall medium-term trend was upwards. 
The  above  results  must  be  seen  against  the  background  of  two  important  factors:  First,  the 
data up to and including 2003 concern EU-15, whereas the 2004 data already include the ten 
Member  States  which  joined  the  EU  on  1  May  2004.  They  had  a  combined  average 
transmission  of  61.77%  of  European  works  in  the  post-accession  period  (1  May  to 
31 December  2004).  Given  that  broadcasters  and  regulators  in  the  acceding  Member  States 
have had no experience in implementing and applying the measures of promotion of European 
works  and  in  reporting  on  their  application,  a  difference  of  less  than  3  percentage  points 
below the average in the EU-15 can be considered as a success and reflects a generally sound 

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Suggested Guidelines of 11 June 1999, cf. 
http://europa.eu.int/comm/avpolicy/regul/twf/art45/controle45_en.pdf . 
Cf. Document 1, Working Paper. 
For instance, compliance rates (Indicators 3 and 4) were adversely affected by channels for which no 
data had been reported. 
Cf. Article 3(1): In practice, a majority of Member States have made use of this option (e.g. exclusion 
of studio productions in Italy, positive definition of qualifying programmes in Germany). Six Member 
States (E, F, I, NL, SF, UK) apply higher percentage requirements than those contained in the Directive 
to  some  or  all  of  their  broadcasters  (e.g.  60%  requirement  for  transmission  of  European  works  in 
France, 25% allocation to works by independent producers in the United Kingdom and the Netherlands, 
etc.). 
Details of the application in each Member State are presented in Document 4 of the Working Paper. 
Article 4(1) lays down that “Member States shall ensure where practicable and by appropriate means, 
that broadcasters reserve for European works, within the meaning of Article 6, a majority proportion of 
their transmission time excluding the time appointed to news, sports events, games, advertising, teletext 
services and teleshopping.” 
Cf. above 2.1.1 (Indicator 1, Document 1, Working Paper). 

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application of Article 4 throughout the EU. Secondly, it should be mentioned that, for the 
previous  reporting  periods,  the  average  proportions  of  European  works  were  based 
exclusively on data on the channels with the highest viewing figures. For the reporting period 
2003-2004,  the  Commission  has  included  data  on  all  channels  concerned,  both  primary  and 
secondary, regardless of their importance in terms of audience share21. 

At Member State level, the average transmission time  varied  between 52.75% (Ireland) and 
86.2% (Denmark) in 2003 and between 49.12% (Czech Republic) and 86.33% (Denmark) in 
2004. The trend in terms of increase in the average transmission time of European works over 
the reference period (2003-2004) was positive in seven Member States and negative in eight.  

Looking at the total number of channels which attained or exceeded the majority proportion 
of Article 4, the average compliance rate for all channels in all Member States was 68.20% 
in 2003 and 72.80% in 2004, representing a 4.60 point increase over the reference period. 
Compared with the previous reference period (69.93% in 2001 and 74.53% in 2002) there was 
a 2.87 point increase over a period of four years (2001-2004). This is a remarkable result 
given  the  increase  in  the  number  of  channels,  essentially  special-interest  channels,  over  the 
same period. The Member States’ average compliance rates for all channels covered ranged 
from  50%  (Belgium  and  Ireland)  to  100%  (Finland)  in  2003  and  from  45%  (UK)  to  100% 
(Estonia, Latvia, Malta and Slovakia) in 2004. Over the reference period the compliance rate 
rose in ten Member States, was stable in two and fell in three. 

The above results suggest that the objectives of the “Television without frontiers” Directive 
are  being  achieved  comfortably  at  Community  level  in  terms  of  the  scheduling  of 
European  works.  Particularly  in  the  light  of  the  inclusion  of  the  ten  Member  States  which 
joined the EU in 2004 these figures represent an encouraging sign of the effective application 
of Article 4 throughout the European Union.  

2.3. 

Application of Article 5 

This  part  analyses  the  achievement  at  European  level  of  the  proportions  referred  to  under 
Article 5 of the “Television without Frontiers” Directive22. 

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Whereas the previous approach of excluding from consideration under Article 4 channels with less than 
3%  audience  share  (“de-minimis  criterion”)  may  have  had  the  merit  of  achieving  more  “weighted” 
results,  there  is  no  basis  in  the  “Television  without  Frontiers”  Directive  for  this  approach.  Also, 
Annex 7 of the Working Paper shows that there is very little actual difference between the EU-average 
transmission  time  of  European  works  broadcast  by  primary  channels  (64.45%  in  2003  and  63.87% 
in 2004) and of those broadcast by all channels. Therefore, this report, which also reflects the situation 
in the EU-25 for the first time, adopts a different methodology and presents the average proportions of 
European  works  from  all  channels  covered  by  Article  4.  Annex  7  of  the  Working  Paper  lists  the 
channels with audience shares above 3% and their respective proportions of transmission time reserved 
for European works. 
Article  5  states  that  “Member  States  shall  ensure,  where  practicable  and  by  appropriate  means,  that 
broadcasters  reserve  at  least  10%  of  their  transmission  time,  excluding  the  time  appointed  to  news, 
sports events, games, advertising, teletext services and teleshopping, or alternately, at the discretion of 
the Member State, at least 10% of their programming budget, for European works created by producers 
who are independent of broadcasters.” 

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The  EU-average  proportion  reserved  for  European  works  by  independent23  producers 
(independent  productions)  broadcast  by  all  covered  channels  in  all  Member  States  was 
31.39% in 2003 and 31.50% in 2004, representing a 0.11 point increase over the reference 
period.  Compared  with  the  previous  reference  periods  (37.51%  in  1999,  40.47%  in  2000, 
37.75% in 2001 and 34.03% in 2002), there was a considerable decrease of 6.25 points in four 
years  (2001-2004)  and  an  equally  large  decrease  (6.01  points)  over  six  consecutive  years 
(1999-2004). Thus, it could be said that the overall medium-term trend was downwards. It 
was noticeable that there was hardly any difference between the achievements of the channels 
in  the  EU-15  and  the  ten  Member  States  which  joined  the  EU  in  2004,  whose  channels 
achieved an average performance of 31.55% - even higher than those of EU-15 (31.47 %). 

At Member State level, the average proportions in 2003 ranged from 15.81% (Denmark24) to 
44.95%  (Austria)  and  in  2004  from  16.24%  (Slovenia)  to  46.38%  (Austria).  Over  the 
reference  period,  the  average  proportion  of  independent  productions  increased  in  eight 
Member  States  and  decreased  in  seven.  The  trend  was  therefore  upward  in  the  majority  of 
Member States.  

The  EU-average  compliance  rate  for  channels  in  all  Member  States  was  78.40%  in  2003 
and  81.92%  in  2004,  representing  a  3.52  point  increase.  Compared  with  the  previous 
reference periods (85.02% in 1999, 84.81% in 2000, 90.67% in 2001 and 89.13% in 2002) the 
compliance rate fell by 8.75 percentage points over a period of four years (2001-2004) and by 
3.10 points over six years (1999-2004), representing a slight mid-term decrease in complying 
with  the  minimum  requirement  for  broadcasting  independent  productions.  The  average 
compliance  rate  for  channels  in  each  Member  State  ranged  from  44%  (Italy25)  to  100% 
(Greece, Ireland and Finland) in 2003 and from 27% (Italy26) to 100% in nine Member States 
(Cyprus,  Estonia,  Greece,  Ireland,  Latvia,  Lithuania  Malta,  Slovakia  and  Finland)  in  2004. 
The average compliance rate rose in seven Member States, was stable in four (two at 100%) 
and fell in four. This represents a positive development overall. 

The  EU-average  share  allocated  to  recent  European  works  by  independent  producers 
(recent  works27)  was  71.66%  in  2003  and  69.09%  in  2004,  representing  a  2.57  point 
decrease  over  the  reference  period.  (These  are  percentages  relating  to  all  European  works 
(recent  or  not)  created  by  independent  producers.  Compared  with  the  previous  reference 
periods (53.80% in 1999, 55.71% in 2000, 61.78% in 2001 and 61.96% in 2002), there were a 
7.31 point increase over four years (2001-2004) and an even larger increase of 15.29 points 
over six years, representing an increase of almost 30% from 1999 until 2004. Consequently, 
from a mid-term perspective, considerable progress was achieved in the development of 
recent works. 

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27 

Within  the  meaning of  Recital  31  of Directive  97/36/EC of 30  June 1997, which provides  (under  the 
non-exhaustive  criteria)  that:  “…  Member  States,  in  defining  the  notion  of  “independent  producer”, 
should  take  appropriate  account  of  criteria  such  as  the  ownership  of  the  production  company,  the 
amount of programmes supplied to the same broadcaster and the ownership of secondary rights”. 
Noteworthy  is  the  fact  that,  for  both  2003  and  2004,  Danish  channels  had  the  highest  average 
proportions of European works (cf. 2.2 above) but at the same time very low proportions of independent 
productions suggesting that the share of in-house broadcasting productions in Denmark is very high. 
As mentioned above, the Commission considers 39 out of 57 “exempted” satellite channels in 2003 as 
“non-reported”, which has an adverse effect on the compliance rate (Indicator 5). 
The Commission considers 43 out of 60 “exempted” satellite channels in 2004 to be “non-reported”. 
i.e. works broadcast within five years of their production. 

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At Member State level, the average shares in 2003 ranged from 31.87% (Greece) to 97.50% 
(Ireland) and from 22.2% (Cyprus) to 100% (Slovakia)  in 2004. One  Member  State did not 
communicate data on recent works. In seven Member States there was positive growth in the 
average  allocation  of  recent  works,  in  one  it  was  stable  and  in  seven  there  was  a  decrease. 
Also  during  this  reporting  period,  recent  works  stayed  above  20%  of  total  qualifying 
transmissions, having fallen slightly by 1.55 points over four years28. 

3. 

CONCLUSIONS 

Reported  data  indicate  that,  for  the  first  time,  there  has  been  a  slight  decrease  in  the 
scheduling of European works (Article 4) at Community level during the current reference 
period.  However,  the  medium-term  (1999-2004)  trend  is  positive.  Two  factors  have  to  be 
taken  into  account  when  evaluating  progress  under  Article  4.  First,  the  figures  for  2004 
include  the  ten  Member  States  which  joined  the  EU  in  2004.  Second,  the  method  of 
calculation has been altered inasmuch as secondary channels with audience shares below 3% 
are  now  also  included  in  the  average  proportions  of  European  works.  Considering  these 
factors, the decrease has been relatively small. Also, the average EU-compliance rate rose by 
more than 4 points during this reference period. These results show that, notwithstanding the 
slightly  downward  short-term  trend,  scheduling  of  European  works  has  stabilised  in  the 
EU at a level well above 60% of total qualifying transmission time. Particularly for the ten 
Member  States  which  participated  in  this  monitoring  exercise  for  the  first  time  this  is  an 
encouraging  development.  Thus,  overall  the  application  of  Article  4  of  the  Directive  at 
European level has been satisfactory.  

As regards the application of Article 5, the slight increase during the present reference period 
(+  0.11  percentage  points)  can  be  seen  as  a  positive  development,  bearing  in  mind  that  the 
data for 2004 include the ten Member States joining the EU in 2004. However, from a mid-
term  perspective,  this  short-term  upward  trend  is  offset  by  a  serious  drop  of  more  than 
6 percentage points (or a decrease of more than 16%) compared with the averages for 1999 
or 2001. However, this downward mid-term trend is offset to some extent by three factors: 
Firstly,  the  EU-average  compliance  rate  has  risen  within  the  present  reporting  period, 
meaning  that  in  2004  substantially  more  channels  in  the  EU  complied  with  the  minimum 
proportion set in Article 5 than in 2003. This is also reflected in the relatively small number of 
cases  of  non-communication,  which  has  fallen  considerably  compared  to  the  previous 
reference  periods.  Secondly,  levels  of  transmission  of  recent  European  works  by 
independent  producers  were  relatively  high.29  In  relation  to  independent  productions, 
recent  works  have  risen  by  30%  in  six  years.30  Thirdly,  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
proportions  have  remained  at  levels  well  above  the  10%-minimum  set  by  the  Directive. 
Overall, therefore, the application of Article 5 has been generally satisfactory. 

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Cf. overview Chart 2, Document 2, Working Paper. 
Recent European works were over a period of six years consistently above one-fifth of total qualifying 
transmission time corresponding approximately to two-thirds of all works by independent producers. In 
2003, this ratio was even exceeded with recent works accounting for more than 71% of all independent 
productions. 
In  absolute  terms  (in  relation  to  total  qualifying  transmission  time),  this  positive  development  is, 
however, offset by the parallel drop in independent productions. 

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In  conclusion,  the  evaluation  of  the  above  results  and  the  detailed  analysis  of  the  Member 
States’  reports31  suggest  that  the  objectives  of  Articles  4  and  5  of  the  “Television  without 
Frontiers”  Directive  have  been  comfortably  met  over  the  current  reference  period  (2003-
2004), as in previous reporting periods, both at European level and at level of Member States, 
including the ten Member States which joined the EU in 2004. 

Development of main indicators from 2001-2004 
(Community-level)

)
e
m

i
t
n
o
i
s
s
i
m
s
n
a
r
t
g
n
i
y
f
i
l
a
u
q

l
a
t
o
t

f
o
%

(

s
n
o
i
t
r
o
p
o
r
p

80

70

60

50

40

30

20

10

0

EW (IND 2)

IP   (IND 4)

RW (IND 6)

RW (% of IP)

66,95
61,78

37,75

23,32

2001

2001

66,95

37,75

23,32

61,78

66,10
61,96

34,03

21,09

2002

2002

66,10

34,03

21,09

61,96

71,66

65,18

31,39

22,50

2003

2003

65,18

31,39

22,50

71,66

69,09

63,32

31,50

21,77

2004

2004

63,32

31,50

21,77

69,09

EW (IND 2)

IP   (IND 4)

RW (IND 6)

RW (% of IP)

31 

Cf. Document 3, Working Paper. 

EN 

9 

   EN