Maria Michalis

European Union Broadcasting and Telecoms Towards a Convergent Regulatory Regime

After placing the development of EU broadcasting and telecommunications policy into its historical context, the article argues that the EU, having traditionally found it difficult to develop a regulatory regime concerning content and culture, has primarily utilized telecommunications regulation in regard to broadcasting. This framework is a necessary but insufficient base for the regulation of convergent technologies.

The Internet: A Challenge to Public Service Broadcasting?

This article attempts to fill the gap in our understanding of the strategies that public service broadcasters are utilizing in relation to the Internet. It starts therefore from a discussion of corporate strategy and of branding. There then follows a survey of public service websites, their interactivity and content. It shows that the websites of public service broadcasters vary considerably. The article concludes that, by introducing a new set of competitors, the Internet is set to increase the commercial challenge to the legitimacy of public service broadcasting and has already begun to focus demands for another review of its role.

Local competition and the role of regulation: the EU debate and Britain's experience

Competition in local access networks and local loop unbundling have been central in the 1999 review of the EU communications regulatory framework. These issues also figure high on national policy agendas. Competition in local access is thought to stimulate internet penetration and the development of e-commerce and interactive applications, all key elements for the move towards a ‘new economy’. Following an analysis of different ways to promote competition in local access networks and a review of the respective EU debate, this paper then concentrates on the relevant developments in Britain. At a broader level, it explores the interplay between EU debates and British policies and actions and the scope for harmonisation of national regulatory regimes. At a more specific level, the paper assesses the evolution of local access competition and relates this to the role of regulation and the question of facilities- vs. services-based entry. It is argued that the introduction of new market restructuring initiatives, such as local loop unbundling, requires a larger involvement by regulators, particularly in the early stages, rather than just a reliance on general competition rules.

Thirty years of private television in Europe: trends and key moments

The typical television landscape in Europe was characterised by public service broadcasting (PSB) in the West and state broadcasting in the East. This era when broadcasting comprised one or two channels closely controlled by the state belongs now in history. A confluence of factors led successive countries to allow private television and to end monopolies on broadcasting. The process was gradual, starting in the 1980s in most Western European countries and in the 1990s in ex-communist European countries.

Balancing public and private interests in online media: the case of BBC Digital Curriculum

This article examines BBC Digital Curriculum, the BBC’s online learning service, from its conception in 1999 to its termination in 2008. Although it is a case study, the article has broader relevance for public service media. First, drawing on (media) policy-making literature, it presents a complex web of private, public and political interests refuting claims that commercial opposition alone closed down BBC Curriculum. Second, it questions the suggestion that the entry of public service broadcasting into a market necessarily displaces commercial activities. Third, it discusses complementarity, distinctiveness and market impact, and highlights some pitfalls of the public value test. Finally, it argues that BBC Digital Curriculum raised fundamentally political questions. The case study is placed in the context of public service content provision online, particularly the battle between ‘free’ and paid-for services, the outcome of which will shape the society we live in.

Technological convergence: Regulatory competition. The British case of digital television

This article reviews British regulatory frameworks and market structure in the analogue television and telecommunications sectors, now converging in the technology of digital TV. In particular it points to the de facto monopoly of access to satellite analogue broadcasting by BSkyB and the impact that market structure has had on the negotiations for a new regulatory regime for digital television. It discusses the problems arising from the overlap of regulation as the technologies have converged and the approach of the British telecommunications regulator, Oftel, to the regulation of Conditional Access. It ends with the view that the case of digital TV may bring about an amalgamation in the separate regulatory institutions for the two sectors.

Whither Greek Telecommunications Policy?: Politics, The State and Telecommunications Policy in Greece

To date, Greece has faced considerable difficulties in coming up to the demands of the new telecommunications era of liberalization and less governmental interference. This article examines the historical evolution of the policy and argues that it is the political, economic and social characteristics of Greece that affect decisively all attempts to adapt in the radically transformed telecommunications environment. As a result, both the EUs telecommunications policy and the integration process itself are redefined and undermined. However, the formulation of a clear and long-term telecommunications policy is vital not only for the telecommunications sector as such but also for the overall economic and social development of the country.

The relation between content providers and distributors

Using the United Kingdom (UK) as a case study, this article analyses the growing commercial and regulatory significance of broadcaster-distributor relations within the contemporary television industry. The first part of the article argues that despite important changes in broadcast delivery technology, more recently shaped by the growth of the Internet, and the associated growth of options of receiving television content, the traditional delivery platforms (digital terrestrial, satellite and cable) remain by far the preferred choice for viewers in Britain. At the same time, public service broadcasters continue to be the biggest investors in domestic original non-sport content and account for over half of all television viewing. The strength of PSBs in content and their growing reliance on commercial proprietary subscription platforms (cable and satellite) and gradually on the Internet presents challenges in the nexus between broadcasters and distributors. The article focuses on the debate over retransmission fees between PSBs and Sky, and on the question of whether Sky should be required to offer some of its premium content to rival pay-TV platforms. These two examples highlight the impact regulatory intervention can have on the balance of power between broadcasters and distributors. The article concludes that such debates concerning the commercial relations between content providers and distributors will remain pivotal and become more heated given that similar issues are raised in the Internet environment.

Access issues: operational support systems and regulation

This article examines the regulatory issues surrounding Operational Support Systems (OSSs). Equal and non-discriminatory access to the incumbents’ OSSs, which perform a number of functions and are critical in market differentiation for operators, is a key element in enabling meaningful competition. This article assesses the regulation of access to OSSs in the US and the EU. It concludes that, as attention now turns to competition in access networks, resale and local loop unbundling, regulators have an important role to play in putting forward guidelines concerning minimum requirements for access to OSSs so as to enable real competition.

Book Review: Captive Audience: The Telecom Industry and Monopoly Power in the New Gilded Age

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