Audiovisual and media

High standards and wide choice

Involving big commercial interests and complex issues of cultural diversity, public service and social responsibility, audiovisual policy is formulated at national level by individual governments. The EU's role is to set some basic groundrules and guidelines in defence of common interests, like open EU markets and fair competition.

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Television and on-demand services

The EU has been successfully regulating cross-border TV broadcasting since 1989. Since then, it has had to update the rules to take account of the expanding range of TV services on offer – including on-demand TV – via a whole range of devices, such as mobile phones and tablets (see the Audiovisual Media Services Directive).

EU rules protect children against harmful material.

The Directive requires EU countries to coordinate national legislation with each other so that:

television programmes and video on-demand services can be traded freely on the EU market
television channels, where practicable, reserve at least half their broadcasting time for films and programmes made in Europe; on-demand services should also promote European works
cultural diversity and other important public-interest objectives are protected
major events – like the Olympics or football World Cup – are available to a broad audience, not just on pay-TV channels
children and young people are protected from violent or pornographic programmes by scheduling them late at night and/or limiting access through a device built into the TV control handset
parties unfairly criticised in a television broadcast have the right of reply
all audiovisual media services respect some basic rules on advertising (respect for human dignity, restrictions for alcohol, tobacco & medicine, etc.)
channels do not carry more than 12 minutes' advertising per hour (the authorised maximum).

The EU supports European film-makers.

Public broadcasting

EU member countries are committed to public broadcasting services – the 1999 Treaty of Amsterdam recognises its role in providing for democratic, social and cultural needs and preventing the industry from being dominated by one or several big players.

Governments may grant public broadcasters financial support, provided the funding is used to pursue the public-service goal and does not impede normal commercial operations or distort competition among broadcasters.

European content (cultural exception)

The Audiovisual Media Services Directive requires broadcasters to show a minimum quota of European programmes, reflecting concerns that American productions will otherwise take the lion’s share of the European market. Although EU countries make more films than the US, 75% of the income of European cinemas comes from American films.

The EU is party to the UNESCO Convention on the Protection and Promotion of the Diversity of Cultural Expressions and, as one way of protecting its own cultural diversity and promoting local productions, has secured an exemption from the free-trade rules of the World Trade Organisation. Known as the ‘cultural exception’, this entitles its member countries to place limits on imports of cultural items like films.

MEDIA 2007-2013

The MEDIA programme provides financial support for quality European films and TV programmes. The aims are to boost output and distribution in Europe and to promote European films, other audiovisual works and new digital technologies.

The new MEDIA Mundus programme (2011-2013), with a €15m budget capitalises on the audiovisual industry's growing interest in global cooperation and the opportunities it offers. It increases consumer choice by bringing more culturally diverse products to European and international markets. It also creates new business opportunities for audiovisual professionals from Europe and around the globe.

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