REGULATORY CHALLENGES OF
TRANSNATIONAL MEDIA CONCENTRATION
20th EPRA Meeting, Istanbul, 14-15 October 2004
Sigve Gramstad
Media concentration is difficult to reverse. In most countries, the authorities have the right to
expropriate property for certain public purposes. Because of media’s special democratic
functions, it is problematic for the authorities to expropriate a media company and sell it to
others. The decision on which media shares should be expropriated, and to whom they should
be sold by the authorities, raises difficult questions of political influence over the media.
Therefore regulation should be adopted and thresholds set before they are reached. However,
in such circumstances many political decision-makers – and all media owners – will argue
that there is no problem, so why regulate?
Regulating media concentration is therefore difficult and often politically controversial.
Regulating transnational media concentration adds some new problems that have to be solved.
What is transnational media concentration?
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Companies, individuals or groups owning media companies in several countries
o This is most evident in the press field, where groups such as WAZ, Ringier and
Bonnier own newspapers in other countries
Companies operating directly (or through subsidiaries, joint ventures or shareholdings)
in other companies on the media market of more than one country
o These may be “ordinary” industrial companies, like Vivendi and Orkla, which
also have entered the media field, or media companies buying shares in
existing media companies or acquiring broadcasting licences in other
countries, like News International (Sky Radio in Denmark) and RTL in Croatia
Media companies distributing their products in many countries, including broadcasts
targeted specifically at other countries than the country of residence
o RTL, SBS Broadcasting and Modern Times Group (TV3) are examples. Their
country of residence is sometimes questioned. TV Directive Article 2 /The
Netherlands – RTL and Sweden+ - TV3)
Other factors which may lead to transnational media concentration
o Overspill and/or retransmission
 This will usually be in conformity with the TV Convention and the TV
Directive. However, in some cases it may cause difficulties for national
media in the receiving country: Austrian and Swiss media may
experience that advertisers prefer to concentrate their money to
German media, since they are covering Austria and Switzerland
sufficiently. The same situation may arise in Ireland vis-à-vis UK
media
o Ownership of internet portals
 Combined with ownership in “traditional” media, cross-media
ownership, the over-all impact can be strong
The potential advantages of transnational media
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Media offer becomes more diverse, increased offer of opinions, information and
knowledge
o The amount of channels have increased dramatically, and if the increase is
reflected also in an increased diversity of content, the choice for the public has
a similar increase
The national media’s traditional position is challenged, stronger competition
o When national public service broadcasters lost their monopoly, competition
from private broadcasters in many cases lead to a higher quality of public
service broadcasting. When new foreign broadcasters enter the national scene,
the competition with the national broadcasters may also lead to better quality
for both groups
The public has the possibility to acquire a wider perspective, being informed about
other cultures, other societies, other politics
o Broadcasting from neighbouring countries often has this effect. Also some new
channels promote this, for instance EuroNews, TV5 and BBC World
Europe needs strong media companies which can represent alternatives to cultural
imports from elsewhere
o Strong independent media companies have a critical mass, enabling them to
withstand external pressures from governments, industries and other groups,
and thereby present independent views – widening the plurality of opinions
and information (as long as they do not become too strong, then they represent
a threat to democratic structures)
Unregulated, what are potential dangers?
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Too dominant European media companies may constitute a threat to Europe’s
democratic structures
o There have been concerns regarding this on the national level in some
countries. Influence from dominant European media companies on political
decision-making in the EU will have wider effects
National media structures may erode, especially the smaller national media markets
o Especially small national markets which share their language with large
national markets are vulnerable. The same vulnerability concerns national
markets where the public service broadcasting is weak
Competition of advertising revenue will move from national to European level
o This happens to some extent already. Thorn, Phillips and Disney are
mentioned as examples of companies choosing a common Nordic approach
rather than national approaches
Fewer independent media companies will exist
o Private broadcasters will find economic advantages in being part of larger
groups or companies. The growth of such groups leaves less room for
independent media companies
New media companies will have more difficulties in entering the market
o The main reason will be the lack of financing because the biggest advertisers
already have made contracts with the biggest players
Content production will be increasingly focussed on entertainment; content will
become less local, less controversial, less investigative and less informative
o There will be an increasing emphasis on turnover and profit-making, which
leads to a reduction in programme budgets and an increase in formats and
programmes bought or produced for distribution in many markets
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Europe’s cultural and linguistic diversity will not be communicated and may be
negatively affected
o The “downwards” stream of media products will dominate, and the
“upwards” stream may drown. The downwards stream will have content
adjusted to serve many national markets. The small and most vulnerable parts
of European cultural and linguistic diversity will not generate sufficient
audiences to justify their inclusion in the downwards beam for economic
reasons
Media’s democratic function will be reduced
o Entertainment and infotainment will dominate the TV-channels. Policy issues
and current affairs programmes will yield to big time football. Journalistic
research into questions where there is little interest from the large audiences
will disappear
What is the political challenge?
The challenge is to ensure that freedom of expression and information and pluralism of voices
will be an integral part of the future European media environment, and that the European
media will reflect and promote Europe’s cultural and linguistic diversity and democratic
traditions.
Regulatory challenges
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Ensure that national regulation do not create substantial difficulties for other countries
o One should avoid creating liberal regulatory havens which creates
inappropriate favourable competition positions for transnational media
companies compared with national media companies in receiving countries
Ensure that any regulation respects freedom of expression and information
Identify which elements of transnational media concentration are outside national
jurisdiction
o One example is regulating ownership of foreign companies
Decide if any such elements should be regulated and cooperate with other countries to
develop such regulation
Areas where national regulation applies
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Retransmissions
Allocation of frequencies, multiplexes
Allocation of broadcasting licences
Content regulation
o National broadcasters
 Public service broadcasting remit
 Conditions in broadcasting licences
o Elements in programmes broadcasted from other countries
 TV Convention and TV Directive:
 Pornography
 Excessive violence
 Harming children
 Advertising for certain products
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Areas where national regulation does not apply
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Broadcasting targeted specifically at the country from other countries
o Specific policy goals outside the restrictions within the international
instruments
“International” broadcasting, accessible in most countries
What could be done?
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Nationally, the public broadcasting remit and the basic conditions for broadcasting
licences should include the promotion of freedom of expression and information
o The authorities should ensure that possibilities to express one’s opinions and
access to divers information will exist also in transnational media
National regulation should enforce the clear separation between political authorities
and the media and ensure that all decisions taken by public authorities regarding the
media are transparent
o Concerns regarding this issue has arisen in many countries, lately especially
in view of the situation in Italy
National regulation should prevent anyone from gaining a too dominant position in
national media
o Regulation of media ownership
Monitoring systems should be established and made publicly accessible to make
national media ownership transparent
o In practice this could mean an online media register, where media companies
are obliged to submit information about ownership
Monitoring of European media concentration should be established, for example by
the Council of Europe
o The monitoring system should be made publicly accessible on internet and by
reports, thus creating transparency of European media concentration
On the European level, appropriate means to prevent the possible negative impact of
media concentration on freedom of expression and information, should be considered
o The issue requires study, and there are probably no easy answers. Examples of
items for study could be editorial independence within media companies,
pluralism of ownership, codes of ethics and right of reply. Various types of
regulations should also be considered. Self- or co-regulation is a possibility,
Council of Europe recommendations, European Parliament resolutions and
similar instruments likewise. The ultimate and probably the most controversial
measure – but possibly also the only effective one - would be a convention
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