Tomas Coppens

Enforcing performance: new approaches to govern public service broadcasting

The latest buzzword in the world of public service broadcasting is ‘performance’. Following national and international pressures on public broadcasters’ system of public funding, PSB is being urged to ‘perform’, to provide value for money, to meet targets or suffer the consequences. To this end, a new governance system has been or is being implemented in several European countries containing all or some of the following elements: public-service contracts, performance criteria and performance analyses. This new policy approach touches upon issues such as the independence, the accountability and the distinctiveness of public service broadcasting and creates clear opportunities and threats for the future of PSB.

Digital public broadcasting in Flanders: walking the tightrope

In this article we examine the public remit of the digital plans of one lesser-known public service broadcaster: the Flemish VRT. The VRT has ambitious plans to introduce digital television into every Flemish household, despite the many uncertainties and constraints the corporation is facing. Focused on short and mid-term goals, the VRT seems to be ignoring doubts about its remit, raised by Europe and private competitors. So far, the VRTs digital activities have been characterized by the use of shaky technology, a lack of prospects for future funding and a vague, unimpressive remit. The corporation is, therefore, walking on a perilously thin tightrope.

Restricted Opportunities for Community Broadcasting in Belgium

Apart from being an image of developments in Europe, the broadcasting history of Belgium also reflects the country’s specifically local social relations and political evolution (Antoine, d’Haenens, and Saeys, 2001). It provides a clear indication of Belgium’s political and ideological divides as well as of those of language and region, and portrays the evolution from a unitary to a federal state.