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    Media landscape : Germany


    Last updated: 16 July 2012


    1. Introduction [top]

    image

    Germany is the country located very much in the centre of the continent, in the “heart of Europe” some may say. In terms of population and economic strength it is the largest state West of Russia on the continent. About 82.2 million people live (2008) in Germany where 35 million households have at least one TV set. About 10 percent of the population is foreign and another 10 percent has roots outside of Germany. The language is German and together with Austria and the German-speaking part of Switzerland about 100 million people make up a German language area, constituting a rather large market. It is the largest language space inside the European Union, and some of the television in Austria and Switzerland is provided by German companies.

    Germany looks back at a long history of mass media. Some of the first newspapers started here roughly 400 years ago. During the years of the Nazi domain the mass media had become a tool of the dictatorship. In 1945 the media experienced an "hour zero" and started nearly completely anew. The post-war media system was based on the principle of press freedom as stipulated in the Basic Law (constitution) of 1949.

    Until 1990 Germany was a divided country. The media system of the former GDR was highly centralised and worked under the control of the Communist Party. It disappeared during the process of unification, but patterns of media usage still differ between East and West. Today, the major media production centres are located in the “old” West, newspapers of the former GDR are usually controlled by Western companies, broadcasting is integrated into the Western dual system.


    2. Traditional Media [top]

    Germany has a "dual system" of both public and commercial broadcasting (in fact, if you include community media it is a trial system). In public broadcasting the Länder (states) have a strong role. The German Federal Constitution stipulates that the sole responsibility for broadcasting rests with the Länder of the Federal Republic as part of their "cultural sovereignty". Because of this, the public service broadcasters are a creation of the Länder that act individually ore jointly (in agreements). The exception is the broadcaster Deutsche Welle, based on federal legislation, designed to provide services (radio, TV, online) to foreign countries only.

    The traditional public service broadcaster is set up as an independent and non-commercial organisation, financed primarily by licence fees. The public service broadcasting organisation (Anstalt) in Germany resembles to some extent the BBC system. The typical Anstalt provides a region, usually a Land, with public service radio and television. NDR is the joint corporation for the four Northern Länder (Schleswig Holstein, Hamburg, Lower Saxony, Mecklenburg-Vorpommern). Because of the de-centralised character, there are many media centres in the country, e. g. Hamburg (NDR), Cologne (WDR), Munich (BR), Berlin-Potsdam (rbb).

    The organisational and legal structure of broadcasting corporations is defined in Länder laws and, if more than one state is involved, in agreements between several or all Länder. A basic agreement of all Länder (Rundfunkstaatsvertrag) defines the general broadcasting situation, as far as both, the public and the commercial sectors are concerned.

    Supervisory councils are important in both the public and private sector. All broadcasting corporations are governed by an independent Broadcasting Council (Rundfunkrat), whose representatives are supposed to reflect the ”socially relevant groups” of society, according to a Federal Constitutional Court's ruling. With the advent of commercial broadcasting, all Länder drafted media laws (besides the existing broadcasting laws) in the 1980s. These laws specifically regulate the electronic media outside the conventional public corporations, mainly by handing out commercial radio and TV licences, and deciding what programmes may be fed into cable systems. For this purpose new supervisory bodies (Landesmedienanstalten) were created, each with a council, resembling those of the public broadcasters. All in all 14 such bodies are active in 2009. Because of the strong federal element some TV and most of radio is regional or even local.


    2.1 Print Media [top]

    The German press is characterised by a large number of titles. In 2008 the number of "independent editorial units" (meaning full publishing entities that produce all parts of a newspaper) for daily newspapers in Germany was 135, and the number of newspapers 354. If local editions of all papers are included, there are 1,512 different newspapers. Since the early 1990s, the number and circulation of newspapers in Germany have shown signs of decline. The penetration of daily newspapers has fallen from 79.1 percent to 72.4 percent in 2008.

    The local and regional newspaper market is strong and important in Germany. In 2008, total newspaper circulation stood at 20.2 million, most of which is subscription press as opposed to tabloid press or "boulevard press", as it is often is often referred to in Germany. 95 percent of the subscription press claims to be local, with a circulation of 14.3 million. There is only a small number of national newspapers: BILD, Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ), Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (FAZ), Welt, Frankfurter Rundschau (FR), Tageszeitung (Taz). They claim to be independent and "above parties", but most cover a liberal and conservative spectrum. In terms of circulation figures, the national newspapers account for 1.65 million. Another 4.47 million papers are sold on the street. The top-selling German tabloid paper is BILD Zeitung, with a circulation of 3.3 million, it is also the best selling paper of Europe.

    The German magazine sector is extremely buoyant with some 906 general magazines (circulation ca. 117.9 million copies) and 1,218 specialised periodicals (ca. 13.6 million) currently on the market. A weekly news magazine, modelled after the American Time Magazine and for long time with a virtual monopoly in its market is Der Spiegel (ca. 1.07 million). With its investigative style of journalism, it represents the most influential political publication in Germany.

    The press is characterized by a high but decreasing dependency on advertising income and a significant degree of economic concentration. The German market for daily newspapers is dominated by a small number of publishers. The largest market share is controlled by the Axel Springer Group with around 22.1 percent of the market (BILD, Welt, Hamburger Abendblatt, Berliner Morgenpost, etc.) The second position is taken by Verlagsgruppe Stuttgarter Zeitung, which is more a regional publisher with nearly 8.5 percent of the market. The third place is occupied by the WAZ Group (Westdeutsche Allgemeine Zeitung etc. - 6 percent) and DuMont Schauberg in Cologne (4.2 percent). The Ippen Gruppe takes the fifth place with 4 percent. The 10 largest publishers of dailies together control 44.8 percent of the market. The four largest magazine publishers Bauer, Springer, Burda, Gruner + Jahr (mainly Bertelsmann) cover about 60 percent of the market.

    Another type of publication, which became popular after 1945, is the weekly newspaper. It presents less actual news and more analysis and background information. The most successful and important is Die Zeit (ca. 525,000), a liberal and independent paper.


    2.2 Radio [top]

    Radio is a popular medium in Germany, daily consumption is 176 minutes (2008), of which slightly more than a half comes from public service broadcasters. They usually offer a number – around six – of programmes on a regional basis, sometimes with local limitations, concentrating on general audiences as well as special target groups (culture, news, youth etc.) In addition there are two national radio programmes, based in Berlin (Deutschlandradio Kultur) and Cologne (Deutschlandfunk, mainly news) with public funding, based on another Länder-level agreement.

    Commercial radio is licensed in all L änder-states, therefore it follows mostly a regional pattern. There are no national broadcasters, but some that are active in several Länder (NRJ for youth, Klassik Radio). In two Southern Länder local commercial radio is the rule. In North Rhine-Westphalia, the largest state, 46 local stations work commercially but with local, non-commercial windows. Non-commercial radio exists but is regulated differently in each state. Some states allow community stations, others prefer public access (also for television), educational stations, campus stations etc. One Land has no activities at all. All in all, the situation is extremely diverse.


    2.3 Television [top]

    Germans spend about 219 minutes per day on television, split about evenly between public and commercial programmers. All regional public broadcasters commonly founded the ARD (Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Rundfunkanstalten Deutschlands) regulatory body, and contribute according to their size to the nation-wide TV channel “Das Erste” (the first and oldest TV programme). In addition they each independently organize a regional programme (III Programme) that offers regional content and more culturally and educationally oriented programming.

    The Second German Television ZDF (Zweites Deutsches Fernsehen) is based on an agreement of all Länder (ZDF-Staatsvertrag) and is located in Mainz. ARD and ZDF jointly offer a number of specialized programmes: Arte (together with France), 3Sat (together with Austria and Switzerland), Kika (for children), and Phoenix (events and documentation).

    Today German commercial television is controlled by two media groups calling themselves "Senderfamilien" (broadcaster families). One, formerly owned by Leo Kirch, is named ProSiebenSAT.1Media AG and consists of Sat 1, Pro 7, N24, Kabel 1 and 9live and others (market share 2008: 21.6 percent). In 2006 it was acquired by the Anglo-American investment funds Permira and Kohlberg, Kravis & Co. (KKR) and took over the SBS activities of these funds in ten other European countries.

    The other family is controlled by the German giant Bertelsmann, the largest media company outside of the US and a global player (largest bookseller in the world): RTL Group S.A. owns TV channels in about a dozen European countries. In Germany the family includes RTL, RTL II, Super RTL, VOX, n-tv. (market share 2008: 24.1 percent) Many more programmes were offered in 2009, some of them independently-owned special-interest channels, while others are subsidiaries of international conglomerates such as Viacom, Disney, or NBC Universal. In large cities such as Berlin, Hamburg etc. regional commercial TV has been established. Germany has an above-average percentage of cable households; 18.66 of 34.99 million households, another 14.93 receive their signal via satellite. leaving only a small share for terrestrial reception.

    The market share of all public service broadcasters in television is at 43.6 percent, of which ARD has a market share of 13,4 percent, ZDF 13.1 percent, the third channels 13.2 percent. Among the private channels RTL (11.7 percent), SAT1 (10.3 percent) and ProSieben (6.6 percent) have the biggest audience shares. The television advertising market participates in the whole advertising market with a share of 43.7 percent; the radio advertising share is 6.2 percent. (print: 46 percent)

    The only pay-TV company Premiere had been founded by Leo Kirch and went bankrupt. It was recently taken over by Rupert Murdoch and in 2009 it was renamed Sky and integrated into Murdoch´s European Sky empire. Compared to other European countries pay-TV is not very successful, due to the many freely accessible channels. In 2009 about 2.4 million viewers subscribed to Sky.


    2.4 Cinema [top]

    The first film was shown in Germany by the Skladanowsky brothers in Berlin in 1895. The German film industry had its best time after Word War I (Fritz Lang, Friedrich Wilhelm Murnau); the Nazis used film as a propaganda tool. After 1945 heavy competition from Hollywood limited the German market, where only 20 to 27 percent of actually seen films are of German origin. In 2008 there were about 1,793 film theaters with about 4,810 screens. The average German visits a cinema 1.58 times per year.

    Germany maintains a multilevel system of film subsidies. On the federal level, the German Film Board (Filmförderungsanstalt) provided (in 2008) about 45 million euro, mostly money that was collected from the cinema owners and the video distributors. An agreement between the film and the television industry provides additional funding, altogether about 28 million euro.

    On the Länder level there are more institutions for film support, usually they are connected to the requirement of using their locations. For many film productions funding is provided from different levels, including also European money.


    2.5 Telecommunications [top]

    The regulatory body for all matters of telecom including the non-mass media side of online services is the Federal Network Agency (Bundesnetzagentur).

    The largest company in this field is Deutsche Telekom, formerly the state administration for telephony and still partly owned by the federal government. It has entered the market of Internet TV, but so far the resonance is limited: its subsidiary T-Home entertain provides IPTV for about 700,000 subscribers (2009).


    2.6 Sources [top]


    3. New Media [top]



    3.1 Online [top]

    In 2009 about 67.1 percent of all Germans were using online services, more than 70 percent of them use a broadband line. Online is an established medium and is especially popular among young people; 97.5 percent of those in the age range of 14 to 19 use it regularly. Among all Internet users about half of them report that they use the Net for up-to-date information. The demand for online video content is also marking a significant growth with more than 62 percent of all onliners using moving images online (28 percent in 2006). All major media in print and broadcasting maintain an online website, the most successful in news is Spiegel-online.


    3.2 Digital media [top]

    Germany is on the way to digitalisation. Most terrestrial TV is digitalized (DVB-T) and Berlin was the first city worldwide to switch off analogue transmission. All major broadcasters offer additional programmes. The public broadcasters, based on their huge programme library and time shifting, offer six additional programmes. The commercial companies produce specialized programmes as well, mostly for digital packages.

    Digital radio was first introduced in 1999 and the country is covered by a network of DAB transmitters. DW also offers short wave programming in DRM. The echo to digital radio was minimal, though, and some services have been terminated.


    3.3 Sources [top]


    4. Media organisations [top]



    4.1 News agencies [top]

    Eight agencies are one the market, which have certain relevance. The dominating, internationally active agency is Deutsche Presseagentur (DPA). As nearly all newspapers are subscribers of DPA, it can be regarded as the primary source, whereas the other news agencies are complementary sources. Its business model was recently questioned in 2009, with biggest regional newspaper WAZ cancelling its DPA subscription. Other press companies are also speculating on following this example.

    The US-American Associated Press (AP), the German Reuters, which is a complete subsidiary company of the British Reuters and Agence France Presse (AFP) are ranking on the second, third and fourth place in the German market.


    4.2 Trade unions [top]

    The journalists’ and employers’ organisations have a clear structure. On the journalists side there are two major organisations. The German Journalists Association (Deutscher Journalisten Verband, DJV), calling itself a "trade union" but being in fact a professional organisation. The other one is the German Journalists Union (Deutsche Journalistinnen- und Journalisten-Union, DJU), part of Verdi, a service workers’ and clerks' trade union, that is in turn a member of the German Trade Federation (Deutscher Gewerkschaftsbund, DGB).

    On the employers’ side, the owners of the daily press are organised in the Bundesverband Deutscher Zeitungsverleger (BDZV) and the magazine press is represented by the Verband Deutscher Zeitschriftenverleger (VDZ). The commercial radio and television industry co-operates in the Verband Privater Rundfunk und Telekommunikation (VPRT).

    There is not a strong tradition of media related NGOs. Media issues are dealt with within the political foundations of the parties. Media research is hosted by a vast variety of institutions, eg university-based institutes, media research divisions of both public and commercial broadcasters, and independent research institutes such as GfK and Nielsen Media Research


    4.3 Other media outlets [top]

    The market of film production in Germany is concentrated around three main studio centres which are located in Munich (Bavaria Atelierbetriebsgesellschaft), Hamburg (Studio Hamburg), and Berlin/Potsdam (Studio Babelsberg). In Cologne, a new film and television production complex (Magic Media Company) had been promoted with the support of the regional government. Beside those, the landscape of media outlets is quite scattered.

    Middle ranged production outlets resulted from former cinema productions, developed as such in the sixties, when public television became more and more important as a demander of films. These outlets developed further with the emergence of commercial television. There are a lot of small outlets existing, as a study showed that nearly 80 percent of production outlets, which are involved in new feature films, produced only one film in total (Clevé 1995).


    4.4 Sources [top]


    5. National media policies [top]



    5.1 Media legislation [top]

    Media legislation in Germany is following the general principle of federalism and is in the hand of the regions (Länder). This means, that all nationwide media laws have to be settled by an agreement between the different Länder. This is especially true for broadcasting laws, which are elaborated as so called interstate treaties (Rundfunkstaatsverträge).

    The recent Rundfunkstaatsvertrag reflects the compromise which had been dealt with the EU commission, concerning the complaints of commercial broadcasters with respect to Internet activities of the public broadcasters. The obligation to scrutinise new digital services and online offers to a so called Three Step Test – similar to the Public Value Test in the UK – is the core element of the 12th interstate treaty.

    Press laws are made on the Länder-level as well. Although there had been several attempts to pass a framing law for all regional press laws, this had never happened.

    The over all arching influence on media legislation stems from the constitutional court (Bundesverfassungsgericht) which played a strong role in elaborating the pillars of the broadcasting system in Germany. While broadcasting legislation is oriented more to the common good and the needs of the public sphere – although it has to comply more and more to the EU requirements of competition laws – legislation for press and online media is orientated solely to the market model of competition. Special legislation is made to protect individual rights of privacy.

    Hard efforts are made, to deal with the challenges of Internet misuse and crime. One step in this respect was the suggestion to close down web pages containing pornography with children, but the respective draft law did not find the acceptance of all parties involved until now.


    5.2 Accountability systems [top]

    The German Press Council (Deutscher Presserat) established in 1956, consists of an equal number of representatives from the journalists’ organisations and the publishers’ organisations (20 in total). Members of the general public may appeal directly to the Council. If the Council supports the complaint, the respective newspaper is expected to publish the Council’s ruling. The decisions are taken on the base of a Press Codex which is regularly renewed according to the recent journalism developments. The effect of this self-regulation is limited, especially in relation to the practices of the "boulevard press".

    The German Advertisement Council (Deutscher Werberat) is a similar organization, consisting of approximately 10 to 12 representatives from the advertising industry, the media and the advertisement agencies. They publish their decisions on complaints in a handbook. Complaints against the public service broadcasting may be brought to the members of the Broadcast Councils. In the commercial broadcasting media all television companies are obliged to employ a Commissioner for Youth Protection (Jugendschutzbeauftragter) that reports only to the company.

    Some media, especially newspapers, have special media sections, which contribute to more transparency for the audiences, but which are not strong in media criticism. Journalists’ organisations as Netzwerk Recherche (Network for investigative journalism) are trying to improve quality of journalism.


    5.3 Regulatory authority [top]

    Media freedom and freedom of expression are guaranteed in Germany within the Constitution (Grundgesetz, Art.5). Due to the strong federalism of Germany there is a variety of actors on different levels. The central actors in the German audiovisual media policy are the political parties, especially the Länder organisations of the two large parties, the conservative CDU and the social democratic SPD which control much of the public broadcasting sector.

    After years of strong polarisation from the 1950s to the 1970s, media policy is now again based on a broad consensus between the Länder. In an agreement between all Länder, the basics of a "dual system" of broadcasting have been put in place. It includes regulation for media concentration, stating that one company cannot control more than 30 percent of all TV ratings. The high degree of media concentration, especially the two "Senderfamilien", is causing concern.

    The update of the Länder agreement, the Rundfunkstaatsvertrag, includes the provisions of the EU television directive, especially the provision stating that important events, such as the Olympic Games, should be broadcast for free. The EU-wide Product placement permission (AVMS 2007) was introduced at the end of 2009.

    In recent times, debates about the future of German public service broadcasting are more and more influenced by decisions and challenges of the EU. State subsidies do exist neither within the print sector nor in the electronic media, although special aids as a reduced valued added tax rate and reduced prices for distributing print products via mail serve as a state generated support for the press.


    5.4 Sources [top]


    6. Media resources [top]



    6.1 Learning and support [top]

    Journalism education in Germany is possible in several ways. The classical way is a two-year internship within a newspaper or a magazine, which is completed by additional courses within a journalist’s academy, where further education takes place as well. The biggest one is the Akademie für Publizistik in Hamburg.

    Several universities offer journalism studies degrees (Hamburg, Dortmund, Eichstätt among others). Journalism education is also offered in independent journalism schools (Munich), and in those which are owned by media outlets (i.e. Gruner & Jahr). With the growing amount of commercial media outlets and the increasing importance of online journalism, the landscape of journalism is more and more scattered, and the degree of education among journalists is varying heavily.


    6.2 Prime sources for detailed information [top]

    • Altendorfer, Otto: Das Mediensystem der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. 2 Vol. Wiesbaden: VS 2001/2004.
    • Dreier, Hardy: Das Mediensystem der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. In: Hans-Bredow-Institut, Ed.: Internationales Handbuch Medien 2009. Baden-Baden: Nomos 2009, pp. 257-272.
    • Kleinsteuber, Hans J.: Germany. In: Mary Kelly/Gianpietro Mazzoleni/Denis McQuail, Eds.: The Media in Europe. London : Sage 2004, pp. 78-90.
    • Kleinsteuber, Hans J./Thomass, Barbara: The German Media Landscape. In: Georgios Terzis (ed.): European Media Governance. National and Regional Dimensions. Bristol: Intellect 2007, pp. 111-123.
    • Media Perspektiven, Basisdaten. Daten zur Mediensituation in Deutschland. (annually)
    • Meyn, Hermann: Massenmedien in Deutschland. Konstanz: UVK 2004.

    6.3 Sources [top]

    Media and Journalism studies


    7. Conclusions [top]



    7.1 Development trends [top]

    One of the most important events in German media development was the announcement of the sale of ProSiebenSat.1 to Springer, but this merger was prohibited by both media regulation and the anti-trust authorities. Subsequently, the company was purchased by international capital investors KKR and Permira.

    Another important announcement was made by leading media actors Astra (for satellites), RTL and ProSiebenSat.1 that they intended to introduce general encryption of digital programs by 2007. This would have forced all viewers to invest in a digital decoder and buy a smart card (for a few euro so far) and would have allowed for additional programming, pay-TV and new interactive features. Yet, this strategy has met with strong objections from the anti-trust authority as well.


    7.2 References [top]

    • Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Landesmedienanstalten (ALM): Privater Rundfunk in Deutschland. Berlin: vistas, published annually.
    • Arbeitsgemeinschaft der Rundfunkanstalten Deutschlands (ARD): ARD-Jahrbuch. Hamburg: Hans-Bredow-Institut, published annually.
    • Bundesverband Deutscher Zeitungsverleger (BDZV): Jahrbuch Zeitungen. Berlin: ZV, published annually. www.bdzv.de (newspaper editors association)
    • Clevé, Bastian (1995): Der Filmbetrieb in Deutschland. In: Handbuch Kultur und Medien.
    • Verband Deutscher Zeitschriftenverleger, www.vdz.de (Magazine Editors Association)

    7.3 Contact [top]

    Barbara Thomass
    Professor
    Institute for Media Studies, Bochum University
    Universitätsstraße 150
    44780 Bochum
    Tel: +49 (0) 234 - 32-24761
    Email: Barbara.Thomass@rub.de
    Website


    Media landscape : Denmark


    Last updated: 08 November 2010


    1. Introduction [top]

    image

    Denmark is by geographical size one of the smaller among the Nordic countries, covering 43.098 km squared. Denmark is a highly industrialised, knowledge-based society that focuses on education and innovation. One of Denmark’s special characteristics is its high level of environmental protection, which is also reflected in very high production activity in the fields of the environmental technologies and windmill sectors. Greenland and the Faroe Islands in the Atlantic Ocean are also part of the Danish realm, although they enjoy extensive home rule. Denmark is a member of the EU, whereas Greenland and the Faroe Islands have decided against EU membership.

    In 2008 5.5 million people were living in Denmark in 2.5 million households. Although there are many different dialects, all Danes speak the same language – Danish. Approximately 260,000 people – or 5 percent of the population – are foreign nationals. 80.000 of them are from the Nordic Countries, the EU or North America. The rest comes from Eastern Europe, the Middle East or Africa, primarily from Turkey, Pakistan, Iraq, Iran, Somalia or the former Yugoslavia. 982.000 people are aged more than 55 years, and approximately 3 million belong to the economically active age group.

    In 2008 the GNP was 1.739 billion DKK, approx. 233 billion EURO.

    Like most Western European countries the media system has changed rapidly during the last decade, mainly in the supply of products and media content. Especially the growth of the number of households with PC and Internet connection has been remarkable and has ranked Denmark among the top five in the world. It is also important to notice that the growing use of the Internet has not led to dramatic changes in the use patterns of other media, especially radio and television have kept their positions in the consumer behaviour.

    The newspaper subscriptions are facing a severe decline, caused partly by the introduction of free newspapers, partly by the growth of advertising on the Internet. Along with the more intense competition and lower income from print media advertising, this has influenced the motivation of the newspaper companies to improve their presence on the Internet and transform the newspaper companies into media companies, including primarily the Internet, but to some extent also radio and television. But due to the special market conditions for commercial radio and television in a small country like Denmark, just a few newspaper companies have engaged in local radio and television initiatives alongside expanding on the Internet. Nordjyske Medier being the main example of such a ‘complete’ multimedia engagement.


    2. Traditional Media [top]



    2.1 Print Media [top]

    The regulatory framework for print media is handled by The Prime Minister’s Department, including press subsidies.

    State subsidies to print media are given in form exemption from VAT charge and reduced rates on postal distribution, approximately an amount of 208 million euro per year.

    The Danish media landscape has noted a steady decline in the number of newspapers since World War II ,with an average decrease of more than 25 percent per decade. Today there are only 32 newspapers.

    Danish print newspapers are traditionally divided into five main segments:

    • Large nationally distributed (4): Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten (132.000 daily copies), Politiken (112.000 daily copies), and Berlingske Tidende (108.000 daily copies). Those are published seven days a week. Weekendavisen (56.000) – weekly.
    • Small nationally distributed (4): Borsen (72.000), Kristeligt Dagblad (25.000), Erhvervsbladet (29.000) and Information (21.000). Not published on Sundays.
    • Regional and local papers (22) ranging in daily copies from 70.000 (JydskeVestkysten) to 1.800 (Kerteminde Avis). Four are out seven days a week, the rest six days or less.
    • Tabloids (2) : Ekstra Bladet (97.000) and B.T.(87.000). Both published seven days a week.
    • Free newspapers (3): metroXpress (226.000), Urban (197.000), 24 timer (201.000). Published only Monday-Friday.

    The print newspaper market is characterised by the fact that competition no longer exists on some local markets, whereas the large nationally distributed papers have been in a situation of intense competition since the mid-1990s. The total circulation of Danish newspapers has declined rapidly over the past ten years, from 1,600,000 in daily circulation to 1,130,000, free newspapers not included.

    Denmark's two tabloids have shrunk, having lost more than 40 percent of their combined circulation over the past ten years. Their total daily circulation is currently 184,000.

    Among local and regional papers we find a corresponding decline, but also the most comprehensive structural changes that occurred in the branch during the period. Within the local and regional press, where local monopolies have been common for some years now, we note a tendency towards regional monopolies through fusions, concentration of ownership and strategic alliances. The Copenhagen-based Berlingske Media, owned by the UK based Mecom Group plc has, through mergers and alliances with other newspapers, become the most important player in the field as far as direct and indirect control over circulation is concerned.

    Since 1985, there has been an overall decrease in the amount of circulation of all five categories of Danish newspapers, among which the two tabloids have faced the biggest loss. The expansion of journalistic input, both quantitative and qualitative, has not resulted in an increase in readership for the traditional newspapers, though. On the contrary, readership steadily declined until the introduction of traffic/free newspapers around the turn of the century, when we have experienced a steady increase in readership. In 1993 74 percent of the adult population (12+) read one newspaper per day, in 2006 it was 72.5 percent. In 2008 it was 68.9 percent.

    The competition on advertising has been very intense among Danish newspapers during the last decade, in some periods of time resulting in price dumping and consequently in considerable loss of income for some newspaper groups. In 1995 the Danish newspapers had a share of 35 percent (439 million euro) of the total advertising market. In 2005 it was reduced to 27 percent (421 million euro), and in 2008 it was down to 19 percent. (367 million euro). This only adds to the fragile financial situation among all papers losing advertising, mainly to the Internet.

    With 231 district papers distributed free of charge and a circulation of approximately 6.7 million copies per week in 2007, this is definitely a widespread phenomenon in Denmark, which puts Denmark in a league of it’s own by international comparison. Most of these papers are weeklies, and they are distributed locally in areas defined by the inhabitants' shopping patterns. The district press has increasingly come to assume the role that local newspapers previously played. Surveys have found that as much as 28 percent of the local population (aged 13 and over) names the district papers as the primary source to local information.

    In 2001 a Danish version of the free paper metroXpress was launched in Denmark, followed by similar initiatives from the main newspaper companies in Denmark. The same year Berlingske Media published Urban, Nordjyske Medier launched 10 minutter in 2002, Xtra by Fyens Stiftstidende (2005) and JP-Aarhus (2003) by Morgenavisen Jyllands-Posten. In 2004 the three first mentioned had a circulation of 409,000 copies, in 2005 all free papers had 568,000 copies. In 2008 the three remaining had 624,000 copies.

    These newspapers have been called the first generation of free newspapers, but recently changed their term to “traffic papers”, because they are distributed on the commuter traffic lines in the morning. In 2006 the Icelandic Company Dagsbrun introduced a free newspaper in Denmark, Nyhedsavisen, distributed free of charge every weekday morning to in principle all Danish households. This initiative was considered “a declaration of war” on the newspaper market by the establishment of free/traffic and subscription newspapers, and it was followed by similar initiatives from the three large nationwide dailies. JP/Politiken launched “24timer” and Berlingske Media “Dato” (closed down after a few months). So far each of these two free newspapers were bringing a daily loss of estimated 1 million DKK (134,200 euro) to their publishers, and furthermore they were influenced by the increasing decline of copies of subscription newspapers, and also affected by serious problems with daily distribution, which was a side-effect of the presence of these new competitors on the market. The distribution companies were unable to handle this sudden expansion, mainly because of the lack of qualified delivery personnel, and this situation influenced negatively on the distribution of the existing subscription newspapers.

    With the decline in advertising revenue and the huge distributions cost most of the free newspapers went off the market. In 2007 only three remained: metroXpress and 24 timer, which established a common distribution company. The third free newspaper on the market is Urban, owned by Berlingske Media.

    According to Dansk Oplagskontrol (Danish Audit Bureau of Circulations) there were 15 weekly and 49 monthly and quarterly magazines on the Danish market in 2008. In 1996 the Danish weeklies had a circulation of 1.8 million copies, monthlies and quarterly magazines a circulation of 1.140 million. In 2006 the numbers were 1.6 million for weeklies, and for monthly and quarterly magazines 1.3 million. In 2008 the figures were 1.4 million for weeklies, and for monthly and quarterly magazines 1.3 million.


    2.2 Radio [top]

    Radio broadcasting started in Denmark in 1925 by the state, and from the beginning the status of the Danish Broadcasting Company (DR) has been that of an independent public institution, financed by licence fees and governed by a board, appointed by the Ministry of Culture and the major political parties in the Parliament. DR maintained a monopoly status until 1983, when local (community) radio and television was introduced. In 2003 the first nationwide private (commercial) stations were launched.

    The current public service radio system in Denmark consists of one independent broadcaster: DR. DR runs 3 national FM channels: P1, is a ‘serious’ talk channel with a daily reach of 8 percent, P2, a channel focusing on cultural issues and classical music with a daily reach of 5, and P3, a music and entertainment channel for younger people, with a daily reach of 29 percent. DR also runs 11 regional stations sharing a fourth channel, P4, and on average the regional channels have a daily reach of 43 percent.

    Besides DR runs two AM-channels and 14 DAB-channels of which 12 are produced for DAB whereas the remaining two are parallel distribution of the FM channels P1, P2 and P3.

    On the Internet all of these FM- and DAB channels are distributed along with web radio only channels, a total number of 28 channels. In total, public service radio in Denmark has a total marked share of 74.5 percent, the two nationwide private channels and the local commercial radio stations 25.5 percent.

    The commercial radio system in Denmark includes over 100 local and regional stations, an increasing number of which is associated as part of networking agreements (i.e. The Voice (SBS), ANR (Nordjyske Medier) etc.)

    In November 2003 two new commercial stations were launched, Radio 100 FM and Sky Radio. The FM and DAB licenses for those two new (partly) nationwide stations were auctioned away in 2003 for 65 m euro (Sky Radio) and 28 m euro (Radio 100 FM) for an eight-year period. The new commercial players had initially great expectations to the virginal Danish market for radio commercials. The share of radio commercials of the total annual turnover for all commercial media in Denmark has never been more than 2 percent, compared to a European average of 6/7 percent (Gallup), and the new players announced a possible increase to reach 4/5 percent within the eight year period. These expectations were not met. Instead the share decreased over the next two years, and with a similar disappointing audience share, the management of Sky Radio decided to close down operations in Denmark in November 2005, with a deficit of 40 m euro - and a debt of 43 m euro to the Danish State for the remaining part of the license period. In August 2006 the available license was out for a new auction, and it was sold to TV 2, the second national public service television broadcaster, also for eight years and for 28 m euro. The station called TV 2 Radio was launched in February 2007. It lasted only for well over a year, because of low ratings – a market share of only 4/6 percent. In April 2008 it was sold to SBS Radio (The Voice local radio network), with TV 2 as a 30 percent shareholder, paying the annual charge to the Danish state and delivering news to Radio Nova, which became the name of the third holder of this license. At the end of 2008 it reached a market share of 6 percent among the 21/50 years old.

    In November 2009 the Dutch owner, Radio Talpa International, decided to close down Radio 100 FM because of a growing deficit and an improved, but still low share of 14 percent at the end of 2008 (among the 21/50 years old), and returned the license to the Danish State. The station continues to broadcast on local frequencies.

    Three main factors are behind the failure of introducing nationwide commercial radio in Denmark: Firstly the market position of DR is very strong, especially P3 and P4 with updated and popular music formats in combination with popular DJs; secondly the buyers of radio commercials showed to be quite sceptical of the efficiency of radio commercials compared to other types of radio. Thirdly Sky Radio did not seem to have invested sufficient resources in analyzing the specific Danish market situation. The well-known Dutch Sky Radio format (soft, no DJs, news on the hour) was just imported, but it did not appeal that much to the Danish Radio audience, and TV 2 did not have a consistent format from the beginning.

    The most dominant local/community radio stations are located in Jutland, and none of the stations come from the two biggest cities in Denmark: Copenhagen and Aarhus. Local loyalty in listening to radio plays an important role in the areas outside the big cities in Denmark.

    In Denmark people listen to radio about 2 hours and 15 minutes a day on average. Compared to the other Nordic countries: Sweden (2 hours, 43 minutes); Norway (2 hours, 26 minutes); Finland: (3 hours, 22 minutes).


    2.3 Television [top]

    DR – Danish Broadcasting Company - started broadcasting television in 1951 and its monopoly status went on until 1988, when the second national public service television channel - TV 2 - was launched, including eight regional stations each with a daily 30-minute local news program.

    Due to lack of analogue terrestrial frequencies, DR and the second state-owned public service broadcaster, TV 2 has privileged positions in the television landscape. DR is a state-owned independent institution, financed only by license fee, while TV 2 is financed partly by advertisements (the main channel) and license fee (the regional channels). TV 2 has the status of a 100 percent state-owned private limited company.

    Other television channels have to be distributed by cable and satellite, reaching only 74 percent of the population. Beside the two public service institutions there are two privately owned trans-national commercial companies. Viasat (owned by MTG) and SBS (owned by ProSiebenSat1), aimed exclusively at the Danish market.

    These four media groups – DR, TV 2, Viasat and SBS – have over the years increased their number of channels. DR1 is the main general public service channel, while DR 2 (launched in 2006) is a ‘cultural channel’, focusing on documentaries, magazine programmes, satire and art films. TV 2 DANMARK is the main general channel with public service obligations, while the rest of the TV 2 channels operates on commercial conditions (ads and pay-channels): TV 2 Zulu (youth channel) (2000), TV 2 Charlie (the mature audience) (2004), TV 2 Sputnik (Internet based tv-channel) (2004) , TV 2 Film (2005), TV 2 News (2006) and TV 2 Sport (2007). Viasat runs TV3 and TV3+ (mainly film, series, reality and soap) and TV3+ is also involved in TV 2 Sport (shared programmes). Furthermore Viasat has TV3 PULS, Viasat Explorer and Viasat History. SBS has five channels aimed at Denmark: Kanal 4 (previously TV Danmark), aimed at women, Kanal 5 (previously TV Danmark 1), mainly series and sports, and Kanal 6, aimed at men, and finally The Voice TV, a youth channels with music shows and videos. SBS has also SBS Net, a distribution channel for non-commercial local television.

    The audience share of the DR1, DR 2 and TV 2 Danmark (incl. the regional stations) is 60 percent. However, with the switch to digital television planned to take place in November 2009 the structural limitations that DR and TV 2 benefit from today will disappear and the entire balance between the different broadcasters operating in Denmark will undoubtedly change. In 2008 the audience share for the four television companies, aimed at the Danish market, were:

    • DR: 28.8 percent
    • TV 2: 40.0 percent
    • Viasat: 8.5 percent
    • SBS: 5.6 percent

    In spite of a fierce competition from the private television companies, TV 2 is a clear market leader with more than 67.6 percent share of the market for television ads. Neither TV3 nor SBS has national reach until November 2009, but they are nevertheless strong competitors to TV 2, as they attract a substantial part of advertising expenditure. There has been a proliferation of both public service and commercial channels, leading to an increased competition for audiences and revenues, but it hasn’t really changed the balance between the four main broadcasting companies.


    2.4 Cinema [top]

    Danish film production is subsidised, and the Danish Film Institute (DFI- founded 1997 and a State Institution under the Ministry of Culture) plays an essential role in distribution of different kinds of support. DFI operations extend from participation in the development and production of feature films, short and documentary films, over distribution and marketing, to managing the national film archive and the cinematheque.

    2008 was the best year at the box office for Danish films in 30 years. It was the best year for all films at Danish cinemas since 1983, while Danish films had their best year since 1978. Despite of the wide variety of home entertainment available today, Danish films sold over four million tickets in 2008 for a domestic market share of more than 30 percent.

    In 2008 28 Danish films were released in the 164 cinemas, organised in the trade organisation Danske Biografer (Danish Cinemas), including the national and international companies like Cinemaxx and Nordisk Film, and in smaller private owned cinemas in smaller cities, quite a few of them run by volunteers.

    In 2008 106 American feature films were released, 56 European (excl. Danish) and 16 from the rest of the world. In spite of the American dominance, Danish film had a market share of 33 percent (4.3 million tickets), American film had 52 percent (6.8 million tickets).

    Danish film production and distribution is included in the 4 year Media Agreements. In 2007-2010 the annual subsidies are 67 m euro, including 19 million eurp from DR and TV 2 for co-productions.

    MEDIA Desk Denmark is a national EU funded institution (EU’s MEDIA programme), connecting Danish film production, cinemas, television companies etc. to co-funded European networks and initiatives in order to stimulate a European audio-visual sector. A great part of the Danish feature film releases in recent years were subsidised through the MEDIA programme.


    2.5 Telecommunications [top]

    Danish Telecommunications is regulated by the National IT and Telecom Agency under The Ministry of Science and Technology.

    In 1995 the regional telecommunication companies were integrated in a national, state-owned company: Tele Danmark. Following the EU-initiated liberalisation of the telecom market, other companies entered the Danish market. In 1997 Tele Danmark was privatised, and over the years it has had conglomerates of venture capital firms as owners. In 2000 the company changed its name to TDC (Tele Denmark Communications), because TDC now also operated in other European countries. In spite of a deregulated market in mobile and cable telephony, broadband (Internet, television, radio) and other telecommunications services, TDC has kept its dominant market position. Other main operators are the Swedish-Finnish Telia (Telia-Sonera), and the Norwegian Telenor.

    93 percent (2008) of the Danish population has a mobile phone, but three out of four uses it only for conversation and SMS. Only 25 percent uses more advanced mobile services (MMS, Internet access and e-mail).


    2.6 Sources [top]


    3. New Media [top]



    3.1 Online [top]

    In 2008 Internet penetration in Denmark was 85 percent in private homes. Broadband connections are used in 90 percent of the households with Internet connection. In 2008, 84 percent of the population accessed the Internet within the previous 3 months. Private purposes are mainly e-mail (91 percent), search for information and access to on-line services (87 percent). 62 percent download or read news. Most Internet transactions deal with travel products and entertainment of different sorts (56 percent).

    All newspapers have a regularly updated online version, and the major newspapers have started e-paper versions and/or special sections for subscribers of the printed newspaper.

    The major media companies are among the most visited web sites. In 2008 DR (Denmarks Broadcasting Company) was no. 4 and TV 2 was constantly among the Top 10. Google is on top of the list, followed by Facebook. Among the newspapers Ekstra Bladet is the only one in Top 10.

    On average in 2008 the number of users are:

    • Dr.dk: 1,655,000
    • Tv2.dk: 1,423,000
    • Ekstrabladet.dk: 1,182,000
    • Bt.dk: 753,000

    3.2 Digital media [top]

    All media are digital in production, storing and editing. Terrestrial television in Denmark will go digital by November 2009, while radio still have both analogue and digital distribution. In Europe Denmark in the lead with digital radio (DAB), covering around 30 percent of the households. In order to speed up the roll out of DAB, the parliament is aiming to decide in 2010 whether the analogue radio should be switched off in 2015. This is meant also to stimulate the weak commercial radio sector.

    All major radio channels are transmitted on the Internet, and the same goes for the public service channels.


    3.3 Sources [top]


    4. Media organisations [top]



    4.1 News agencies [top]

    In Denmark there is only one news agency, Ritzaus Bureau, which is an independent Danish news agency, and it has subscribers among most of the printed press and electronic media, as well as several ministries and financial institutions. The core product is written news, but also radio soundbites and video clips are offered, all distributed online to Danish subscribers and several media in Scandinavia. Ritzaus Bureau cooperates with the European news agencies and employs special and permanent correspondents in a number of international capitals.


    4.2 Trade unions [top]

    The major media organisations concerning the press, radio and television are:

    • Danske Dagblades Forening (Danish Newspaper Publishers´Association), situated in Pressens Hus (The House of the Danish Press) in Copenhagen, covering publishers in commercial radio, weeklies, magazines;
    • Dansk Journalistforbund (The Danish Union of Journalists) which organises people in journalistic functions.
    • Producentforeningen (The Producers Association) is a trade union of producers within film, television and computer games.
    • Danske Mediers Forum (Danish Media Forum) is an alliance consisting of seven Danish media organisations and the two broadcasting corporations DR and TV 2/Danmark.
    • Foreningen af Danske Interaktive Medier (FDIM) - The Union of Danish Interactive Media - is a trade organisation for Danish Internet Media. Members are broadcasters, newspapers, web-only media, national web portals etc.

    4.3 Other media outlets [top]

    When TV 2 was established in 1988 as the second Danish public service television broadcaster, it was organised with a minimum of in-house production. Except from news and sport all production of drama, fiction, documentaries etc. were outsourced to private production companies. The intention was to stimulate the growth of a number of small companies, but in fact the main content providers showed to be the major companies, i.e. Nordisk Film (Egmont) and Metronome.

    Both TV 2 and DR have a majority of content produced in Denmark (DR mainly in-house) as part of the public service remit, but it is a well researched fact that the main provider of news is the printed press (newspapers), being the first stage in the food chain.

    Egmont is the largest Danish production company with an annual revenue of 1.514 m euro (5th among the Nordic countries) (2007). It covers three main areas: publishing (books, magazines), film and television production (Nordisk Film), and cinemas (Nordisk Film Biografer). The second is Aller, specialised in magazines and weeklies in all Nordic countries, with a dominant market position in Denmark, Norway and Sweden. Third is JP/Politikens Hus – a merged company (2003) between two of the major newspaper companies, also engaged in publishing (books) and television production.


    4.4 Sources [top]


    5. National media policies [top]



    5.1 Media legislation [top]

    The Ministry of Culture is in charge of broadcast media and press subsidies. The Prime Minister’s Office of print media affairs in general. The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation of telecommunications. The Agency for Libraries and Media is an agency under the Ministry of Culture and the central government organ for libraries and media.

    There is specific legislation for broadcasting, film but no press law and, like in most other European countries, very little specific legislation for the Internet. Legislation concerning media ownership is not an issue in Denmark, but the public service obligation for DR and TV 2 are considered important guarantors for media and cultural diversity, and important tools for the democratic processes in the society.

    The media policy framework for broadcast and electronic media is more specified and worked out in detail in Media Agreements among parties in the Parliament.

    The Media Agreements are running for fours years.

    While the media policy framework for print media is limited to general issues about freedom of expression and the press, the broadcast and electronic media sector has its framework described in the Government Programme, according to specific sets of legislation for the broadcast media and specified in the above mentioned four-year Media Agreement.

    State subsidies to print media are given in form of exemption from VAT charge and reduced rates on postal distribution, approx. an amount of 208 m euro per year.

    Non-commercial radio and television stations have received subsidies since 1997. In 2006 the grants, which are administered by the Radio and Television Board, totalled 4.3 m euro per year. From 2008 the grants will be augmented to 6.6 m euro, according to the recent Media Agreement.

    There is no anti-trust legislation on media concentration in Denmark, but The Danish Competition Authority supervises also the public as well as private media in order to prevent any monopoly situation, related to either national legislation, i.e. the legislation about free enterprise and competition, or to supranational legislation, i.e. EU-regulatory framework on state subsidies, for instance related to public service broadcasting.

    The obligation to transmit programmes and services, i.e. the must carry regulation as part of the Radio and Television Act, ensures that certain channels are also available to those households that have accessed the cable networks. The must carry provision obliges cable operators to transmit in their networks the programmes of DR and TV 2 free of charge.


    5.2 Accountability systems [top]

    A number of supervising functions are concentrated in the Radio and Television Board (RTB). The RTB monitors the cable operators to see whether the programme delivery is in accordance with the Radio and Television Act, and the same goes for advertising and sponsorship ruling, national networking among commercial radio and television stations, ruling about programme content, related to specific types of broadcasting licenses (local/regional/national, commercial or non-commercial stations, harmful content and protection of minors etc.)

    The Press Council is the established pursuant to the Danish Media Liability Act. The Press Council is an independent, public tribunal, which deals with complaints about the mass media in general, i.e. printed and broadcast media. It can rule in cases relating to whether any publication is contrary to sound press ethics and whether a mass media shall be under an obligation to publish a reply.

    According to the Media Liability Act both the content and the conduct of the mass media must be in conformity with sound press ethics. The act does not give a complete description of sound press ethics. However, "sound press ethics" is interpreted in the light of the Press Ethical Rules of guidance. Thus the Press Council assesses the circumstances in every single case.

    The so-called cartoon debate, following Morgenavisen Jyllands-Postens publication in 2005 of a series of Muhammed drawings caused a severe, global crisis for Denmark, including attacks on Danish embassies in the Middle East, condemnations from the UN General Secretary, former US-president Bill Clinton etc. In Danish media the drawings and their global consequences were subjects of comprehensive public debates. One of the main issues was how the unlimited freedom of expression, stated in the Danish Constitutional Act, should be treated in media products and in public debates. The predominant part of the participants defended the unlimited character of the freedom of expression, but quite a few underlined the responsibility also to consider the context of the matter in question, i.e. the obligation to show respect for religious feelings.

    This debate was still running through 2008, but so far is has not in any way influenced the formal bodies in the accountability system.

    The specific public service obligations for DR are formulated in a separate public service contract, following the Media Agreement period, and DR has to make reports or accounts to demonstrate how the contract has been fulfilled. TV 2 has also public service obligations, specified in the Radio and Television Act, but not a specific contract.


    5.3 Regulatory authority [top]

    The Ministry of Culture is in charge of the electronic media, but the regulatory actions and supervision are placed in an independent regulatory board: the Radio and Television Board (RTB), in charge of supervising the implementation of the Danish broadcasting legislation. The RTB has the following tasks:

    • to issue licenses to private national and local broadcasters
    • to monitor whether private and public broadcasters are fulfilling their legal obligations
    • to administer the grants for non-commercial local radio and television.

    The RTB consists of seven members, appointed by the Minister of Culture, representing expertise in legal, financial/administrative, business and media/cultural affairs.

    The Danish Agency for Libraries and Media is an institution under the Danish Ministry of Culture. The Agency is the secretariat of The Radio and Television Board and has the following tasks:

    • to carry out the daily administration of the broadcasting regulation
    • to prepare the RTB decisions and the implementation of RTB decisions
    • to assist the Ministry of Culture in matters concerning radio and television
    • to be the national knowledge centre in Denmark within media matters for the benefit of public authorities, media corporations, science and research, the general public and so on.

    Operating licenses (frequency planning and distribution) is handled by the IT- and Tele Communication Agency within The Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation. The license fee for public service broadcasting, incl. DR and the eight regional TV 2 stations, is handled by DR. The regulatory framework for print media is handled by The Prime Minister’s Department, except the press subsidies, which are handled by the Ministry of Culture.


    5.4 Sources [top]


    6. Media resources [top]



    6.1 Learning and support [top]

    The formal education of journalists in Denmark began in 1946 at Aarhus University, and in 1962 the Danish School of Journalism became an independent state institution, in 2008 renamed the Danish Media and Journalism School. In 1998 journalism programmes (BA and MA) were introduced at Roskilde University and University of Southern Denmark (Odense), where journalism is combined with other subjects matters (humanities, sociology, science etc.)


    6.2 Prime sources for detailed information [top]

    The main source for detailed information about Denmark is Danmarks Statistik (Statistics Denmark and Statistisk Årbog (Statistic Yearbook of Denmark), where you can find information of most aspects of Danish economics, political life and social and cultural issues, including media.

    NORDICOM – The Nordic Information Centre for Media and Communication Research – is the most comprehensive source for information about the Nordic Media Landscapes, including “ The Nordic Media Market” (to download as .pdf from the web site)


    6.3 Sources [top]


    7. Conclusions [top]



    7.1 Development trends [top]

    For many years the central topics in Danish media policy has dealt with three main issues: the digitization of the broadcast media, the borderlines between PSB and private broadcast media, and the national media legislation vs. EU legislation concerning state subsidies (licence fee) and competition law.

    The PSB institutions hold a very strong position in the Danish media landscape. More than 70 percent of the television viewing is placed on DR or TV 2 channels, and the same goes for the DR radio channels, which holds a dominant market share of 74 percent even after the launch of commercial nationwide radio in 2005. Commercial players and liberal-conservative politicians have often argued for restrictions of the PSB obligations, and asked for more precise definitions in the public service agreements of programme content of ‘public value’, different from programme content that should be left for the commercial operators. In the recent Media Agreement (2007-2010) this ongoing discussion has been meet with a clear statement about DR as the main provider of PSB services on all distribution platforms on a basis of sufficient economical resources. But on the other hand when launching new programme types or services these innovations must pass an internal ‘value test’ in order to prove their cultural, democratic and social relevance. For the upcoming negotiations of the next Media Agreement (2011-2014) the government has announced further restrictions on new DR initiatives on dr.dk, not least inspired by the print media organisation (Danske Dagblades Forening), which claim that DR by its activities on the Internet impose unfair competition on the media market.

    One of the core aims of the liberal-conservative government is to privatize the public owned TV 2. Some years ago it was prepared for sale and transformed from an independent institution (similar to DR) to a state-owned company, but the process has been stopped by the EU because of complaints from MTG, (TV3and TV3+), accusing TV 2 of having received illegal state support through licensee fee involvement in the company surplus of several hundred million euro. As long as this question is not settled the sales process is stopped, and it may take several years before trials within the EU-system have come to a final conclusion. So instead of more privatization of state owned radio and television channels, the state ownership has expanded.

    The newspaper market competition has developed event further within recent years and for some of the larger media companies (i.e. Berlingske Media) the situation is close to critical. A newly released (2009) independent report of the reform of state subsidies for media, set up three different scenarios for the future support structure, and the reaction from the printed press has been dominated by arguments in favour of the present construction.

    Danish ownership of foreign media is quite limited. The Egmont Group being the largest media company in Denmark is engaged in print publication activities in the UK and the Nordic countries, and also in television programme production and film production. The Egmont Group also owns half of the Norwegian TV2. The second largest private Danish media company, The Aller Group, owns magazine and other print media companies in Finland, Norway and Sweden.

    The main challenge for the media companies operating in Denmark is not of a specific national character, but deals with the main tendencies among consumers of media products in the global media market: more specialized and easy accessible products on demand – from a variety of distribution platforms.


    7.2 References [top]

    • Befolkningens brug af Internet 2008 [Use of Internet 2008] (200) København: Statistics Denmark.
    • Det danske Reklamemarked 2008. [The Danish Advertising Expenditure Survey: English Summary] København: Dansk Oplagskontrol. (Danish Audit Bureau of Circulations)
    • Ferrell Lowe, Gregory, Jauert, Per (2005) (eds.) Cultural Dilemmas in Public Service Broadcasting RIPE@2005. Göteborg: Nordicom
    • Gallup TV Meter. 2006-2008
    • Gallup Radio Meter. 2008
    • Harrie, E. (2009) The Nordic Media Market – Media Companies and Business Activities. Göteborg: Nordicom.
    • Index Danmark. Gallup 2008
    • Oplagstal og Markedstal (2008)[Circulation Data and Marketing Data]. Dansk Oplagskontrol. (Danish Audit Bureau of Circulations). København.

    7.3 Contact [top]

    Per Jauert
    Associate professor
    Department of Information and Media Studies
    Aarhus Universitet
    Nordre Ringgade 1
    8000 Århus C, Denmark
    Tel: + 47 89429224
    E-mail: pjauert@imv.au.dk
    Website


    Media landscape : Austria


    Last updated: 05 November 2010


    1. Introduction [top]

    image

    Magnitude and power characterise the Austrian media landscape. Magnitude relates to the relatively large number of media products in proportion to the smallish market of some 8.34 million people who live in Austria (2008; Statistik Austria). Power relates to the high degree of market concentration, which provides dominant media actors with influence not only in their respective media markets but also in the political arena. Those with vested interests manage remarkably well to define the rules of the media policy game in Austria.

    Austria is geographically situated in the centre of Europe and is part of the German language area. Several small linguistic minorities (mainly Hungarian and Slovenian language) are also present. It shares borders with Germany, Italy, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, Slovenia, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Slovak Republic. Austria’s only metropolis is Vienna, with some 2 million people living in and around the capital. Large parts of central and western Austria are topographically characterised by mountains. Although there is some medium-sized industry around the provincial towns of Linz and Graz, Austria’s general economy is based on services.


    2. Traditional Media [top]

    The Austrian television and radio landscape is characterised by the strong market position of the public service broadcaster ORF, a high viewer’s marketshare of foreign television channels, high degree of cable- and satellite-connected households and the important role press publishers play in the private radio business
    Austrian households are well equipped for the reception of radio and television.

    Some 92 percent of all households received their television signal by cable or satellite by the end of 2008, an increase of 20 percentage points in 10 years (1997: 71 percent). Some 54 percent of all households were equipped with digital receivers in 2008, with digital satellite reception the most popular (43 percent of all households). Digital cable television was used by 6 percent of all households and digital terrestrial television (DVB-T) by 5 percent. Digital terrestrial radio (DAB/DAB+), however, has not managed to overcome the early stage of technology tests yet.

    In its infancy, radio and television was the exclusive domain of the public sector, which controlled all television and radio networks and operated all transmission equipment in the country. In 2001, the Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) changed its legal form and became a foundation institutionalised by the Austrian Broadcasting Act. The Foundation’s Council is comprised of 35 members. The federal government nominates nine of them while political parties represented in parliament select six. Another nine Regional governments select nine members to be seconded by the Viewers’ and Listeners’ Council (Publikumsrat). ORF’s labour organisation picks the remaining 5 members. The Foundation Council elects the director-general for a five-year term, decides on large investments and controls the whole organisation.


    2.1 Print Media [top]

    Austrian print media is characterised by a small number of daily newspaper titles, a small number of large newspapers and magazines, a strong orientation towards boulevard newspapers and a high degree of concentration of ownership.

    Daily newspapers are highly popular in Austria. In the first half of 2009, more than 2.4m copies were printed every day for a population of some 8.3 million people. This figure includes the daily freesheet Heute, which launched in 2004 and survived the shakeout of several other freesheets at the regional level. Heute reaches almost half the circulation figure of the market-leading newspaper, Neue Kronenzeitung. This newspaper prints every day around 1 million copies, of which it sells some 820,000 copies.

    Among newspapers with a cover price – thus excluding freesheets – the Neue Kronenzeitung accounted in 2009 for 42 percent of the whole newspaper market. The remaining 63 percent of the market is distributed among 15 daily newspapers across the country. This number includes all local and regional papers, some of which sell fewer than 10,000 copies daily.

    The latest sizeable additions to the Austrian daily newspaper market include the free-sheet Heute in 2004 and a newspaper called Österreich (the German word for Austria) in 2006. The latter is printed all in colour and frequently distributed for free in town centres. This newspaper is oriented toward young adults from 18 to 35 years old. The founders and owners of the newspaper, the Fellner brothers, are well-known Austrian publishers who managed to restructure the Austrian magazine market earlier in their professional life. They sold their highly profitable magazine group, News, to the German Bertelsmann Group (Gruner+Jahr) and invested the revenue in this tabloid newspaper.

    Several waves of ownership concentration have hit Austria since the Second World War. Since 1997 the country has a rather small number of competing papers. However, this number has since remained relatively stable.

    National press and regional press need to be distinguished. The formerconsists of seven titles published in the capital Vienna, including Österreich, launched in September 2006. Four of the seven titles are tabloid-style papers, while the remaining three titles (Presse, Standard, Wiener Zeitung) compete within the quality newspaper segment. The resulting competition has improved the quality of these papers significantly. The coverage of economic developments has improved considerably since 1995 when the economic daily Wirtschaftsblatt was launched, based on the concept of the Swedish Dagens Industri with the strong initial financial backing of the Swedish Bonnier Group. In 2006, an Austrian publisher, Styria, took over the majority of shares.

    The regional press is characterised by strong regional newspapers, dominating up to 90 percent of the regional market. With the exception of two provinces, each province (Bundesland) is dominated by one regional publisher, typically controlling one, two or even three newspapers. These secondary papers do not sell more than 10,000 copies each and are hardly profitable. But they help consolidate the regional market and prevent competition. For example, from September, 2004, to March, 2008, the publisher of the daily newspaper Tiroler Tageszeitung published a secondary paper called Die Neue in the province of Tyrol. In June, 2006, the same publisher started a complementary daily freesheet in the same area. Other regional publishers launched daily freesheets in 2006 as a tactical move to seal this market segment against national and foreign competitors. But these initiatives were economically not sustainable. Most of these freesheets were closed down when the economic recession hit Austria in 2008 and 2009.

    The strong position of the regional publishers is challenged by the regional editions of the Neue Kronenzeitung, which competes fiercely with the traditional press in these regional markets. In eight (out of nine) provinces, the Neue Kronenzeitung has either taken the lead or is as strong as the respective regional paper. has even gained more power in economic terms as the daughter-in-law of the Kronenzeitungs’s longtime editor and shareholder manages the freesheet Heute

    German investment capital plays a major role in the Austrian newspaper landscape. Without temporary investments from Axel Springer Verlag, WAZ, Süddeutsche Zeitung and Bertelsmann (Gruner+Jahr) several newspaper and magazine launches would not have happened in the 1980s and 1990s. Some of these German publishers have since pulled out of Austria while others — in particular WAZ (holds 50 percent each of Neue Kronenzeitung and Kurier) and Gruner+Jahr (controls News-Group) — still hold important shares in the Austrian press.

    The Austrian market for news magazines is almost entirely controlled by the News-Group. It gained control after acquiring, among others, the competing news magazine Profil in September, 2000. This acquisition established an unprecedented accumulation of media ownership, assembling practically all news magazines (News, Profil, Trend, Format) and some 10 other magazines (among them Woman, tv-media, e-media) under the same entrepreneurial roof.

    The press accounts for the largest share of the advertising market in Austria. Based on figures from Focus Research, the overall advertising market reached 2.95bn euro in 2008. Some 52 percent of the total advertising spent was allocated to print media with daily newspapers being the most important category. About 21 percent of the total ad spend went for television advertising. Online advertising was still very small with a market share of 3 percent of the total ad spend. The economic recession hit Austria in 2008 and impacted the advertising markets strongly. Newspapers were expected to lose up to 15 percent of their advertising revenue for 2009.


    2.2 Radio [top]

    With regard to national and regional radio, the ORF still dominates the Austrian radio markets. In 1993, parliament enacted the first – disputed – legislation to grant licenses to private commercial radio operators. It took another five years before the legal basis could be established. By April, 1998, most of the 53 licensed radio operators were on air. This put an end to the national public service monopoly in the radio sector. In 2001, a new law on regional radios removed some obstacles for media companies to own and operate radio channels. The initial intention was to restrict ownership of dominant newspaper publishers. However, their interest in this medium and their lobbying was strong enough to succeed in removing most of these ownership barriers.

    Since 2001, media owners (newspapers, radio, television) are eligible to own 100 percent of a radio station as long as the reach of the radio does not overlap with the reach of its other media. In Vienna as well as in the Austrian provinces, publishers made use of these new rules and acquired shares in local and regional channels. One national terrestrial radio frequency was licensed and granted to Krone Hit Radio, operated by the Neue Kronenzeitung. By 2009, more than 80 private radio operators were granted licences.

    On average, Austrians listened to radio programmes for 209 minutes a day. At the end of 2008, about 71 percent of radio listeners’ time was dedicated to one of the radio channels of the ORF and 23 percent to a private radio station. The market situation changes only slowly. More than a decade after the first private radio stations were licensed, the most popular ORF radio programme (OE 3) still had a much larger market share (49 percent in 2008) than all private stations together (29 percent in 2008).”


    2.3 Television [top]

    In addition to its four radio channels, the ORF operates two generalist television channels and one special interest channel, in line with its legal mission. Its headquarters is located in Vienna. In all other eight provinces the ORF runs a regional studio to produce content for radio and television.

    In parallel to the re-organisation of the ORF, the Austrian parliament adopted a new law on private television in Austria. Since 2001, private operators are eligible for licenses at the national and at the regional and local level. In 2003, the only national terrestrial television frequency for private broadcasters was granted to ATV, a private broadcaster based in Vienna and controlled by several banks in Austria along with the German film trader Herbert Kloiber. A variety of small broadcasters were granted terrestrial and cable licences at the regional and local level,. The largest among them is Puls TV in Vienna, which was acquired by the German ProSiebenSat.1 group in 2007.

    These Austrian television channels compete with other German-language channels redistributed in Austria by the cable systems or via satellite. Foreign channels dominate the television viewing market. In 2008, some 53 percent of all television viewing was dedicated to foreign programmes. Altogether, ORF programmes reached a market share of 42 percent. ORF’s market share fell from 54 percent in 2002 to 42 percent in 2008. The private national channel ATV reached a marketshare of 3 percent in 2008. The most popular foreign television channels were SAT.1 (7 percent), RTL (6 percent) and ProSieben (5 percent), all from Germany.

    The digital switchover was well under way by 2009. The Federal Law on Private Television (2001) established the Digital Platform Austria, which is governed by the radio and television regulatory body. This platform has elaborated a multiannual concept to manage the digital switchover. One strategic key element is the creation of a Fund for Digitalisation financed by parts of the radio and television licence fee revenue.

    This fund received 7.5m euro in 2004 and some 6.7m annually thereafter to support projects and research in digital television and radio. In 2008, the penetration of digital television increased to more than 50 percent of all households.

    Establishment of technical infrastructure for terrestrial digital television (DVB-T) has progressed rapidly in recent years. In 2005, the technical operations were separated from the ORF’s programme activities and relocated to a new company named ORS (100 percent ORF owned). The first ORS multiplex covered 91 percent of Austria with the DVB-T signal. Another multiplex is in place to cover urban areas and a third multiplex is designed for local areas.


    2.4 Cinema [top]

    In 2007, there were 352 films shown in Austrian cinemas, nearly one film for every day of the year. In the same year 15.7m tickets were sold, a decline since 2004 when 19.3 million were sold. Austrians do not visit the cinema often, less than two times every year on average. Foreign players dominate the Austrian film and cinema industry. Film distribution is firmly controlled by the four US companies Universal Pictures International (UPI), Warner Bros., Walt Disney and Centfox. These companies rank at the top of the distribution list. Together, films distributed by these four studios amount to 78 percent of all admission tickets. Films of European origin amount to 21 percent of all cinema admissions.

    The market share of Austrian films is miniscule. Just 1.9 percent of all cinema visits were dedicated to Austrian productions in 2007, corresponding well with the multiannual average of 2 percent. The overall production value of the Austrian film and cinema industry was estimated at 135m euro in 2007. Some 3,800 people were employed, out of which 1,900 were occupied with film production.

    In general, the Austrian film industry depends on subsidies, granted by the state according to the Film Subsidy Act (Filmförderungsgesetz) or by European support schemes such as MEDIA. Moreover, the public service broadcaster has entered into several agreements to support the Austrian film industry with so-called output deals (pre-purchase of film rights).

    Comprehensive information on film and cinema in Austria is provided by the Austrian Filminstitut (Österreichisches Filminstitut 2008; and once every year: Facts and Figures. Filmwirtschaftsbericht Österreich. Wien.)


    2.5 Telecommunications [top]

    The Austrian telecommunication market was one of the earlier candidates for liberalisation. In 2003, the latest amendment of the Telecommunication Act was released. Since then, the supervising body, the regulator Kommunikationsbehörde Austria (KommAustria), conducted three consecutive market analyses. These analyses showed that the Austrian incumbent, Telekom Austria, is still in a very strong market position in the fixed-line, mobile and broadband networks.

    The telecommunication market had a combined turnover of 4.3bn euro in 2008. The various segments contributed as follows: Fix-line telephony lost almost half of its turnover within 10 years, from 2.1bn euro in 1998 to 1.1bn in 2008. Mobile telephony more than compensated for this loss. In 2008, mobile market sales reached more than 2.6bn euro. This was down, however, from the all-time high of 2.8bn euro in 2006. Overall, mobile phone penetration in Austria reached 129 percent of the population, corresponding to 10.8 million active numbers. This is well above the EU average of 119 percent.

    Fixed-line telephony remains under the firm control of the incumbent Telekom Austria, which holds more than 60 percent of the market. The much larger and more dynamic mobile telephony market is divided among four main competitors. Mobilkom, the mobile arm of Telekom Austria, had 42 percent of the mobile turnover in 2008, leading the market against T-Mobile (Deutsche Telekom) with 32 percent and Orange with 20 percent. Hutchinson 3G (“Drei”) ranks forth (6 percent). Measured on the Herfindahl-Hirschman Index, the mobile market reaches 3.542, which means medium to low market concentration.

    A comprehensive source for information on Austrian telecommunication, television, and radio is the annual report of RTR (2009; and once every year: Kommunikationsbericht).


    2.6 Sources [top]


    3. New Media [top]



    3.1 Online [top]

    Austria has a relatively high rate of PC ownership and Internet connection. By the first quarter of 2009, some 74 percent of all households were connected to the Internet. In 1999 only 45 percent of all households were equipped with a personal computer and 32 percent had Internet access.

    There is still some digital divide among the Austrian Internet population. 53 percent of all Internet users were males in 2009. The number of Internet users increased in the age bracket of 20 to 39 years.


    3.2 Digital media [top]

    Many web services from traditional mass media companies can be found among the most frequently visited websites in Austria,. The ORF, with its broad variety of Internet services, reached 4.3 million unique clients in October, 2009, generating some 241m page impressions.

    The online network of the daily newspaper Österreich, oe24.at, reached 1.9m unique visitors. In third place was derStandard.at with 1.7m unique visitors. The online media provided by News (magazine), Kleine Zeitung, Presse, Neue Kronenzeitung also reached more than 1m unique clients each (data from OEWA).
    Apart from these news websites, web portals like Ebay, MSN network and e-mail services like GMX and AON (Austria Telecom) are highly popular.

    Recent research shows that online sites in Austria are in many cases little more than extensions of the main medium. The ORF, Der Standard and the Kronenzeitung (krone.at) have established independent online newsrooms and their websites do not merely correspond with the content of the main media outlet.


    3.3 Sources [top]


    4. Media organisations [top]



    4.1 News agencies [top]

    Most Austrian mass media publishers receive their international, national and economic news from the national news agency Austria Presse Agentur (APA). It was founded right after Second World War in 1946 as a cooperative of almost all Austrian newspapers.

    In 1959, the Kronenzeitung was founded but did not join the APA as a member. It never became a member. In 1963, however, the ORF, the second-largest mass media conglomerate in Austria, joined the APA. In a few years it became the member paying the most important membership fee. Today, APA is utilising new information technologies. In addition to its members, it serves a large number of public and private clients.


    4.2 Trade unions [top]

    Media employers and journalists belong to separate professional organisations in Austria. Journalists have founded their own union, Sektion Journalisten, within the National Union Federation of Austria (Österreichischer Gewerkschaftsbund). The role of these organisations within the Austrian mass media landscape is relatively important; the Federation participates in all relevant deliberations on media policy issues and negotiates collective agreements for all employees. Within the National Union Federation, the major print journalist’s union moved in 2001 from the arts and sports section (where radio and television journalists are still members) to the paper and print section.

    Newspaper publishers are organised in the Verband Österreichischer Zeitungen (VÖZ). This association has played a key role in all media policy decisions since the Second World War. It represents the collective will of a majority of newspaper publishers and is part of all formal and informal deliberations concerning press policy and press subsidies as well as radio and television legislation.

    In 2003, private radio and television broadcasters founded the Verband Österreichischer Privatsender (VÖP). By 2009, private radio and television stations were members. One important issue for VÖP is the debate about the definition of the public service remit of the ORF and – in conjunction – the question of whether the ORF makes lawful use of the licence fee revenues or whether the ORF goes beyond its remit. In 2005, the VÖP filed a lawsuit about this issue against the ORF before the European Commission.


    4.3 Other media outlets [top]

    Austria was rather successful in exporting media concepts during the 1980s and 1990s. Several magazine ideas first realised in Austria were successfully launched in Germany. Equally, management staff has moved from Austria to Germany. Austrians have managed the largest private German television group since its beginnings (Helmut Thoma and Gerhard Zeiler).

    Over the last decade, Austria’s largest media conglomerates have invested in central and eastern Europe. For example, news markets in Slovenia and Croatia are penetrated by Austrian investment from media companies.


    4.4 Sources [top]


    5. National media policies [top]



    5.1 Media legislation [top]

    Austria's media policy is characterised by strong regulation with few self-regulatory elements. The strong market player ORF, governed by its council, dominates radio and television. Despite a law restricting fulltime politicians to become members of the council, the ORF became strongly politicised after the new law was enacted in 2001.

    Journalists frequently claim that the political influence of the government and attempts to streamline transmissions – in particular in the area of daily news broadcasts – increased. In 2005, a news anchor publicly announced his frustration with direct interventions. In the following months some 80,000 Austrians signed a resolution called SOS ORF calling for more distance between political powers and the ORF. Similar activities were taken up again in 2008.

    In August 2006, the candidate from the then-opposition, the Social Democrats, Alexander Wrabetz, was elected director general for a five-year term.

    Media and politics are close relatives in Austria. One good example of this close relationship is the subsidy scheme for the press. Since 1974, the state provides all daily and weekly newspapers with annual, direct payments. Subsidies go to all daily papers on their request (smaller amount) and to a few papers considered especially important for the diversity of opinions (larger amount). In 2003, a new law reformed the press subsidy scheme. The new scheme provides subsidies for the distribution of newspapers, for contributions to regional diversity and for the professional development of journalists (schools of journalism) and special projects.

    In 2008, about 12.8m euro were allocated to the press according to this subsidy scheme; 4.5m euro for the distribution scheme, 6.6m euro for a diversity scheme and 1.7 euro for journalism schools and special projects. When it comes to subsidies, it is irrelevant to the government whether a newspaper is profitable or not. All receive their share of the subsidy as long as they make a request. There is no auditing or reporting obligation.

    Another controversial media policy concerns the high degree of media ownership concentration in Austria. Although early legislation about private broadcasting contained elements to increase the number of media owners and restrict dominant media organisations at the regional level, most of these barriers have been removed.

    The reality is that the largest newspaper also owns the only terrestrial national radio channel. In almost all provinces the dominant newspaper publisher also owns the main radio channel and in some cases also the regional television channel. This cross-media concentration happened despite the fact that the cartel law in Austria requires its Cartel Court to check whether the merger or acquisition in question would endanger journalistic and media diversity. The latest case about this issue concerns the fusion of two regional newspaper publishers, from Carinthia and Styria on the one hand, and from Tyrol on the other. The resulting conglomerate was intended to become the largest newspaper publishing company in Austria. The case was still pending with the Cartel Court at the end of 2009.

    Austrian cable networks must carry all national channels, including the two channels of the ORF, and relevant local and regional channels. Other than this general rule, cable operators are free to allocate their bandwidth to television, radio or other services. Some large cable networks offer “triple play services,” including radio and television as well as telephony and broadband Internet connection. In accordance with European law, all foreign channels can be received in Austria without restrictions.


    5.2 Accountability systems [top]

    A reform of Austrian broadcasting legislation established a Federal Senate of Communication (Bundeskommunikationssenat). This senate examines alleged violations of the Broadcasting Act as well individual complaints against radio and television programmes.

    Violations of personal rights or a breach of the journalist's code of ethics were prior to 2002 handled by the Press Council (Presserat). Its verdicts were not legally binding. It made recommendations rather than decisions. It was composed of representatives of professional bodies and journalists’ unions. In 2002, the Presserat was dissolved after disputes among its members.

    Up to 2009, no formal institution has replaced the Presserat, although talks were going on for the last few years to re-establish this self-regulation body. Its code of ethics still exists, but no organisation systematically watches over its implementation. Subsequently, several individuals (journalists, editors-in-chief, scientists) founded an organisation for quality journalism; it has little formal recognition and therefore limited relevance.


    5.3 Regulatory authority [top]

    Several authorities regulate electronic media, telecommunications and the press. The most important authority is KommAustria, which was legally founded by the Telecommunications Act and the KommAustria Act (both 2003). KommAustria acts under the supervision of the federal chancellery and is responsible for the allocation of frequencies and licences for private broadcasting. Moreover, it observes compliance with advertising rules by public and private broadcasters.

    KommAustria is supported by the Rundfunk- und Telekomm-Regulierungs GmbH (RTR), which acts as its secretariat. RTR is responsible for the implementation of the press subsidy scheme, the Fund for Digitalisation and several other duties. It publishes a useful yearbook on the development of the media and telecommunication sector in Austria (in German).

    The aforementioned Bundeskommunikationssenat is the court of appeal for any decision made by the KommAustria.


    5.4 Sources [top]


    6. Media resources [top]



    6.1 Learning and support [top]

    Three universities in Austria teach students and do research in mass communications. The universities of Vienna, Salzburg and Klagenfurt (Carinthia) have integrated courses to obtain bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mass communication. They do not offer specific programmes for journalists apart from single courses. The Austrian Kuratorium für Journalistenausbildung offers several journalism courses for the further education of professional journalists.


    6.2 Prime sources for detailed information [top]

    Information on Austrian media is scattered over many institutions. The ORF publishes some basic statistics on market shares and programme profiles on its website. The mass media regulator RTR has some useful information on regulation, law, press subsidies, et cetera, on its website. The Publishers' Association publishes an annual handbook on the press (Pressehandbuch), containing most relevant data on printed media in Austria.

    There is a specialised press (e.g. Horizont Austria; on advertising and agencies) and media sections in newspapers (Der Standard, Die Presse). Furthermore, the Austrian News Agency (APA) publishes a weekly bulletin on media developments. More popular information can be found in the weekly journal TV Media, which functions not only as television programme guide but also as a forum for debate on media policy issues. Finally, the monthly magazine Extradienst reports on media business affairs.


    6.3 Sources [top]


    7. Conclusions [top]



    7.1 Development trends [top]

    Austria’s media system has undergone a long process of tabloidization; there are now many journalistic competitors in this space. Since the Second World War, the tabloid press has represented an important element of the Austrian media landscape. Kurier (a traditional paper)and Kronenzeitung (founded in 1959, took over the popular Express in 1970) have prepared the market for many more print titles in this segment. In 1992, a new daily newspaper, Täglich Alles, challenged the market leader with short stories, many colours, pictures and tabloid-style journalism. It survived only until 2000. In 1992, a similar concept for younger audiences was introduced to the weekly magazine market. News rapidly became Austria’s best-selling magazine.

    Online journalism, starting in the middle of the 1990s, reinforced the trend toward low-cost journalism and strong reliance on material from news agencies. Freesheets launched by domestic publishers continue in this pattern; low-cost journalism dominates these new media outlets. In September, 2006, the all-colour newspaper Österreich joined the list of popular print media with a mission to reach a mass audience.

    In general, Austria’s media landscape is likely to remain highly concentrated with a low number of media owners. This includes the public service broadcaster, which plays a major political role in Austria. This strong position guarantees, on the one hand, the future of the public service system, as politicians depend heavily on the ORF. On the other hand, this strong position conflicts with the independence paradigm of public service broadcasting.

    As part of a large language area, international developments might gain importance for the Austrian media landscape. While readership is still low for German newspapers and magazines, large parts of the television audience is increasingly oriented toward German channels.

    Another trend concerns the growing importance of European regulation in the broadcasting field. Following up on several complaints made by private commercial television operators, the European Commission developed a policy towards state aid with regard to public service broadcasters. Its principles are codified in the 1997 Amsterdam Protocol and more recently in the Broadcasting Communication of July 2009. There, a number of principles are set for the creation of national rules on financing public service broadcasting. The Austrian case was settled in October, 2009. In 2005, private commercial broadcasters represented by the VÖP filed a complaint in Brussels.

    Subsequently, the Austrian government had to negotiate the details of its financing for the public service broadcaster. At the time of writing, the entire compromise was not published. The main line, however, is the following: The public service remit has to be clarified and the ORF is no longer entitled to undertake entirely commercial operations online (such as partnership sites). Moreover, public and commercial activities need to be funded from strictly separate accounts. The presumably most complicated condition is the EU request to monitor, on a regular basis, the public value of the ORF. Every new service introduced by the ORF needs the approval of the responsible (but not yet existing) regulatory body for public value. The process will include a public hearing.


    7.2 References [top]

    • Fidler, Harald (2008): Österreichs Medienwelt von A bis Z. Wien: Falter.
    • Seethaler, Josef/Melischek, G. (2006): Die Pressekonzentration in Österreich im europäischen Vergleich. In: Österreichische Zeitschrift für Politikwissenschaft, No. 4, pp. 337-360.
    • Steinmaurer, Thomas (2009): Das Mediensystem Österreichs. In: Hans-Bredow-Institut (ed.): Internationales Handbuch Medien. Baden-Baden: Nomos, pp. 504-517.
    • Steinmaurer, Thomas (2002): Konzentriert und Verflochten. Österreichs Mediensysteme im Überblick. Innsbruck: Studienverlag.
    • Trappel, Josef (2007): The Austrian Media Landscape. In: Terzis, Georgios (ed.): European Media Governance. National and Regional Dimensions. Bristol, Chicago: intellect, pp. 63-72.
    • Trappel, Josef (2004): Austria. In: Kelly, Mary/Mazzoleni, Gianpietro/Mcquail, Denis (eds.): The Media in Europe. The Euromedia Handbook. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi: Sage, pp. 4-15.

    7.3 Contact [top]

    Josef Trappel
    IPMZ transfer
    University of Zurich
    Andreasstrasse 15
    CH-8050 Zürich, Switzerland
    Tel.: +41-44-635 20 71
    Fax: +41-44-634 49 34
    Email:j.trappel@ipmz.uzh.ch
    Website


    Media landscape : Portugal


    Last updated: 29 November 2010


    1. Introduction [top]

    image

    Mainland Portugal is located on South-western tip of the Iberian Peninsula and covers an area of 92 thousand square kilometres. It borders Spain to the North and East and the Atlantic Ocean to the West and South. The territory of Portugal also includes the Azores and Madeira islands. Portugal has a population of approximately 10.7 million inhabitants. Lisbon is the nation’s capital and a metropolitan area of 1.8 million inhabitants. Regarding some economic figures: Active population – 5.6 million people; Gross Domestic Product – 164.5 billion euro; Gross Domestic Product per capita – around 15 thousand euro.

    By the beginning of the 20th century (I Republic, 1910-1926) the economic and financial situation was very serious due the country’s political instability – a circumstance that would ultimately lead to a military coup followed by a dictatorship and the so-called “New State” (1926-1974), an authoritarian regime based on a estate-centred corporatist economy, which severely hindered individual liberties, in particular freedom of the press. Following a military coup in April 1974 and the Carnation Revolution, civil liberties were restored.

    After the widespread turbulence and radicalism of the revolutionary period of 1974-76 cleared away, Portugal eventually settled into a liberal democratic political system. Socialist (centre-left) and Social-Democratic (centre-right) parties are dominant in the political party spectrum and have been alternating in power for the last 30 years. The former prime-minister Aníbal Cavaco Silva has been the President of the Portuguese Republic since 2006. In the aftermath of the parliamentary elections of September 2009, José Sócrates, the leader of the Socialist Party, was re-elected as Prime-Minister. The Portuguese Parliament currently houses representatives from the Socialist Party (97 seats), the Social-Democratic Party (81), the Democratic-Christian Party (21), the Leftist Block (16) and the Communist Party and Ecologist Party “Os Verdes” coalition (15).

    Descending from Latin, Portuguese is the third most widely spoken European language in the world and is the mother tongue for about 200 million people. Countries in which Portuguese is the official language are: Angola, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, Mozambique, San Tome and Principe (Africa), Brazil (South America) and East-Timor in Asia.


    2. Traditional Media [top]



    2.1 Print Media [top]

    Main features

    • The written press has endured a deep crisis throughout the last years, with loss of readers and advertising. Notwithstanding new editorial projects still come about occasionally
    • The evolution in the market for free newspapers is somewhat ambiguous, as some of the editorial projects failed to survive and the average circulation tends to decrease
    • A new media conglomerate, Ongoing, has suddenly emerged within the media owners “club”, holding important assets in television and economic press
    • Catholic Church maintains, directly or indirectly, a strong presence in local and regional press

    Almost all of the great expansion media are integrated in large economic groups (large at a Portuguese level, but with small significance at a European level), a trend which started to consolidate since the middle 1980s, resulting from the introduction of liberal policies strongly influenced by the European Union and the switches in property of the main newspapers from the hands of traditional families to large groups. This was due to two main reasons:

    1. Internal media reasons, like the rise in production costs, the considerable investments needed, the open possibilities of offer enlargement and the advantages of large scale operations and group synergies;
    2. General reasons, like the integration of Portugal into the European Common Market, the re-privatisation of companies which had been nationalised after the April Revolution of 1974, and the Governmental policies favouring concentration of the share capital.

     Some features of the concentration phenomena:

    1. It results from the attempt by some large-scale economic groups to expand their business to the media sector and from the growth of companies already established in the business;
    2. Concerning the top holdings, it plays a part in a multimedia strategy, including, after the year 2000, an emergent participation in Internet and new media;
    3. It is mostly aimed at goals of economic nature, while also taking into consideration certain political and social motivations;
    4. It is  backed by a significant participation of foreign-held capital.

     Besides the State and the Catholic Church, six other major groups dominate almost everything related to press and audiovisual in Portugal. They are:

    • COFINA. Great influence on the press sector, owns the dailies Correio da Manhã, Jornal de Negócios and Record, the free newspapers Destak and Meia-Hora and the magazines Sábado (news magazine), TV Guia and several other specialised magazines.
    • CONTROLINVESTE. The only of the four main groups with presence in all media sectors: Jornal de Notícias, Diário de Notícias, 24 Horas, O Jogo, National Geographic and several other specialised magazines and newspapers; TSF (informational radio) and Sport TV (cable).
    • IMPRESA. Property of the former prime-minister Francisco Balsemão. In the press, it holds: Expresso, Visão, Jornal de Letras, Exame, Telenovelas, Caras and half a dozen of specialised magazines. In television, it holds the commercial channel SIC and also SIC Notícias, SIC Radical, SIC Mulher and SIC Internacional channels.
    • MEDIA CAPITAL. Very strong in the audiovisual sector, owns the leading commercial channel TVI and radio stations Rádio Comercial, Rádio Clube Português, Cidade FM, among others. In the last decade Media Capital strongly invested in the audiovisual production and more recently in music promotion and distribution.
    • SONAECOM. This branch of the holding Sonae, run by Belmiro de Azevedo, one of Portugal’s most notorious entrepreneurs, owns the daily newspaper Público and holds assets in telecommunications and Internet.
    • ZON MULTIMÉDIA. A major player in the subscription television, cinema and audiovisual content production and distribution, as well as in Internet and telecommunications services. Zon Multimédia owns TV Cabo / Zon after the sale of this company by Portugal Telecom. Portugal Telecom, on the other hand, has created a television subscription service competitor called Meo. 

    Media Capital is the only major holding owned by a non-Portuguese shareholder, Spanish Prisa, but all the others include foreign-held capital to variable extents. In 2009 some important changes occurred within this group due to Prisa's economical difficulties and Ongoing’s offer to purchase roughly 30 percent of the shares of Media Capital. Ongoing already owns 23 percent of Impresa, which runs SIC. Regarding the cumulative assets in television and business press in the last two years, one can look at Ongoing as a rising media conglomerate in Portugal.

    Besides these groups, there are two other important media owners, the State and the Catholic Church.

    The Portuguese State holds: 

    1. Lusa news agency;
    2. Two generalist television channels, RTP1 and RTP2, RTP Açores, RTP Madeira, RTP Internacional and RTP África and, in cable, RTPN (news) and RTP Memória (historical archive);
    3. Seven radio stations, Antena 1 (generalist), Antena 2 (classical music), Antena 3 (younger public), RDP Madeira, RDP Açores, RDP Africa and RDP Internacional.

    The Roman Catholic Church runs the leading radio network in terms of audiences, Renascença Group, with three main channels, namely Rádio Renascença, RFM and Mega FM. It also owns, directly or indirectly, dozens of radio stations and local and regional newspapers, including, in the North of the country, Diário do Minho.

     ****     

    Forecasts assessing the advertising market indicate a decrease in 2009 for all media, except for the Internet. Television still captures the main slice of ad revenues (according to Marktest, 71 percent in 2008, which amounts to 3.3 billion euro), followed by the press (18 percent, which sums up to 835 million euro). Around 40 percent of the advertising investment in the press is allocated to general information publications, 20 percent to local and regional press and 13 percent to feminine, society and television magazines. Radio, outdoor advertising and cinema sum 11 percent of the ad expenditure.

    Notwithstanding, other ad market assessments sharply contrast with Marktest’s, first of all because the latter basis its calculations on “board prices“, i.e., the established prices before negotiation. In fact, the comparison between Marktest’s analysis of the ad market with other assessments focused on the “real prices” of commercials shows that media companies, especially television networks, frequently offer generous discounts while negotiating ad prices, which sometimes reaches as high as 80 percent. For instance, according to an alternative source analysis, Omnicom, the Portuguese ad market value is worth 797 million euro - which is far behind Marktest’s estimations -, 52 percent of which allocated to television.

    In a country historically associated with weak newspaper reading habits and persistent illiteracy, the crisis affecting the written press has been especially harsh also due to the downsizing of paid circulation, the increasing preference for online media, especially among the youngest people, the fierce competition of free newspapers, and the decrease of ad revenues due to the economic recession. The uncertainty regarding the future of print papers is pushing editorial enterprises to broaden their scope and diversify their editorial strategies, to some extent in creative ways, reinforcing traditional brands within a multimedia environment or creating new editorial projects.

    If Portuguese national newspapers, both daily and non-daily, are relatively young - with few exceptions, like Diário de Notícias or Jornal de Notícias, which were founded respectively in 1864 and 1926 –, the last years have seen the shut-down of A Capital – a former afternoon daily newspaper –, of O Independente - an irreverent weekly newspaper, whose editorial formula combined tabloid with investigative reporting features, of the weekly Tal & Qual – also with popular characteristics – and of Semanário, a centre-right oriented weekly.

    On the other hand, two new national newspapers were created in the last years: the weekly Sol in 2007 and the daily i in 2009. The latter, owned by Sojormedia, the media holding of the industrial conglomerate Lena Group, was launched against all odds in the peak of the economical crisis. This was surprisingly enough for the New York Times to pay attention to it and write an article on the feat. According to journalist Eric Pfanner, from the NYT: “It would be hard to find a less promising country in which to start a newspaper than Portugal. Not only are readers defecting to the Internet, as they are elsewhere, but relatively few people ever picked up a paper to begin with. And print advertising has plunged by more than 40 percent this year.” The investors and editor of i are optimistic about the future and in fact the newspaper has increased its average circulation: in its fourth month (August 2009) the daily reached 16,340 copies.

    Regarding the written press evolution in the last years, one can also highlight the acquisition of the holding Económica - relevant publisher in the business news segment, holding the papers Diário Económico, Semanário Económico and OJE - by Ongoing, an emergent media group in Portugal. One can also stress the launching of the Portuguese edition of Playboy in 2009. In the last years three new free papers, owned my Portuguese major media groups, were also launched - Meia-Hora, Global Notícias, and Sexta. The latter - a joint venture between the newspapers Público and A Bola, published on Fridays - was halted in the beginning of 2009.

    Several publications suffered decreases in circulation both in daily and non-daily segments. According to Associação Portuguesa para o Controlo de Tiragem e Circulação (APCT) - whose mission is to audit the circulation of Portuguese press -, Correio da Manhã kept the leadership among the dailies and Expresso among the non-dailies. Visão is the main news magazine. Regarding the specialised editorial segments, one can notice ambivalent trends: the increasing circulation within the economic, business and management publications (which is understandable in an economic crisis context) and decreases within sports newspapers, free periodicals and women and fashion, male and social magazines.

    The pole position, in terms of general paid papers with daily issues, is held (all the editions indicated refer to the average circulation in 2008) by Correio da Manhã (122,207 copies) and Jornal de Notícias (103,165 copies), both bearing rather “popular” features. Next on the list are Público (43,642) and Diário de Notícias (41,333), both qualified as “quality” papers. Another “popular” daily,  24 Horas, actually the closest to a tabloid editorial format within the Portuguese national daily press, has an average circulation of 38,476 copies.

    There are three daily sport papers (predominantly dedicated to football): Record (73,939), O Jogo (32,794) and A Bola, which is not audited by APCT but boasts a circulation similar to Record.

    The weekly generalist paper segments is topped by Expresso (121,107), followed by Sol (47,813). Also in the news magazines area there are two major publications, Visão (102,350) and Sábado (76,829), followed by Focus (13,126).

    The business press includes ten newspapers and magazines, including the dailies Diário Económico (14,724), Jornal de Negócios (9,343) and the free paper OJE (26,964).

    In spite of decreases in average circulation, the women, society and TV magazines are still publications of great circulation, like in past years. The leader is weekly magazine Maria, created in 1978, with a paid average circulation of 222,492, followed by TV 7 Dias (150,484), Nova Gente (134,611), Telenovelas (95,226) and Caras (89,845).

    Readers of all the newspapers and magazines above mentioned are mostly from Lisbon and the South part of the country, except for Jornal de Notícias and O Jogo, whose readers are concentrated in Oporto and in the North.

    Free press appeared in Portugal in 1996, with Jornal da Região, which would somewhat loose its importance with the conversion of Destak into a daily newspaper and the launching of the Portuguese edition of Metro and other free papers. In 2008 the four daily free papers Destak, Global Notícias, Meia-Hora and Metro reached an average circulation of 590,000 copies per edition.        

    There are around 650 local and regional newspapers in Portugal, mainly with a weekly periodicity. The disproportion between the large number of publications and the size of the country strongly impacts on the modest size and low quality of the majority of local and regional press. The number of daily newspapers within this segment is not very significant (around 20), neither their circulation (usually circulation doesn’t exceed 10,000 copies). Nevertheless, we can mention some historically relevant local and regional publications such as Açoriano Oriental, Jornal do Fundão or Reconquista. The Catholic Church is, directly or indirectly, the main owner of regional and local press. Advertising revenues come predominantly from local institutions and enterprises and from public institutions.


    2.2 Radio [top]

      Main features 

    • RFM and Rádio Renascença are the more listened radio stations in Portugal, followed by Rádio Comercial and Antena 1 (2008)
    • The radio broadcasters haves been losing advertising revenues to other media in the past years but a recent study concludes that the value of local radio ad market is being underestimated
    • Radio is rapidly adapting to digital technologies and diversifying the means of distribution           

    In terms of advertising revenues, according to Marktest, radio holds a share of only 3.8 percent of the market, after television, written press and outdoor publicity, which indicates a persistent decrease of ad expenditure allocated to this medium. On the other hand, academic and market studies traditionally overlook the radio sector, particularly local radio broadcasters. A recent study conducted by the media regulating authority shows, for instance, that local radio advertising market has been underestimated in the last decades (cfr. O Sector da Radiodifusão Local em Portugal, 2009). A media reception study conducted by ISCTE concluded, on the other hand, that “radio is considered less important than the newspapers as a source of information and, notwithstanding, it is considered a more credible medium” (Estudo de Recepção dos Meios de Comunicação Social em Portugal, 2008). So further investigation is required to confirm the real scope of radio audiences and the real value of advertising expenditure in this medium.

    The ownership of national and regional stations is concentrated in the hands of the State and a handful of Portuguese media groups. Public service radio broadcasting company, RDP, includes seven stations (view description on previous point). There are 347 local radios in Portugal, mostly in the districts of Lisbon, Oporto and Aveiro. The majority, 326, are classified as generalist stations and only 21 as thematic stations (16 musical and 5 informational).

    Renascença Group continues to lead the radio segment in Portugal (view description on previous point). In the last few years, Media Capital, through its affiliate Media Capital Rádios, reinforced its presence in this sector. The company’s portfolio includes Rádio Comercial, Rádio Clube Português, Rádio Cidade, Best Rock FM and the website Cotonete. On the other hand, TSF, created in 1988, is the main thematic Portuguese radio station specialised in news. In 2005, the company which owned TSF was bought by Controlinveste.

    According to Marktest, Portuguese radio listeners dispense a daily average of 3 hours and 11 minutes listening to radio. RFM and Rádio Renascença are the most listened radio stations in Portugal, followed by Rádio Comercial and Antena 1. Greater Lisbon, Inland and Seaside North regions register the highest shares of radio audience. The South is, by contrast, the Portuguese region with the least significant radio consumption. Generally speaking, men listen to radio more often than women (a proportion of 55 to 45 percent). Radio is mainly consumed by individuals between 25 and 44 years of age.         

    In recent years, the Portuguese radio sector has been influenced by the worldwide trend of diversification of distribution platforms and equipments, which alters the listening experience. Such platforms and equipments include the Internet, the cable network, cell phones and podcast. The majority of Portuguese radio stations can be also listened through the Internet.


    2.3 Television [top]

    Main features 

    • Television continues to stand as the dominant medium regarding audiences and advertising revenues
    • Each Portuguese watches an average of 3 hours and 35 minutes of television per day
    • Television commercial channels SIC and TVI, the latter with more popular characteristics, continue to dispute audience share leadership
    • Portuguese “telenovelas“, football and information are the television genres which gather the public preferences
    • TV Cabo and the most direct competitor Meo hold the main market share of subscription television.      

    Three national generalist television operators coexist in strong competition in the hertz space: RTP (channels RTP1 and RTP2), holder of the public service and submitted to a set of obligations defined by the State; SIC and TVI, both commercial stations created at the beginning of the 1990s and bestowed with a renewed licence to broadcast until 2021.     

    In spite of the Government's prospects for launching a fifth hertz channel, in March 2009 the media regulation authority disqualified both applications to the granting of an operating licence put forward by competitors Zon and Telecinco. Such decision has been challenged by the proponents before the courts and a final decision is yet to be dictated.        

    According to different sources, television continues to concentrate the major slice of advertising revenues (from 50 to 70 percent, according to different sources). RTP1 has a mixed funding model based on advertising and public subventions settled annually by the State Budget. Additionally the “contribution for the audiovisual”, a tax collected every month with the electricity bill, is the main source of funding for public radio and RTP2 (in both cases, commercial advertising is banned).              

    Between 2000 and 2008, the average daily time of television consumption remained very stable. According to Marktest, in 2008 each Portuguese watched, in average, 3 hours and 35 minutes of television per day. The above mentioned media reception study conducted by ISCTE concluded as follows: “The first major impression  that comes out from a panoramic perspective of the Portuguese media field is that of the dominance of television. This is really nothing surprisingly nor genuinely Portuguese. But we should always highlight it. Everyone watches television regardless of their education background, age or gender”.      

    In 2008 the two hertz channels of public service television held a combined share of 29.46 percent (RTP1, 23.8 percent; and RTP2 5.6 percent). Commercial broadcasters hold the largest slice of television audiences: SIC, 24.9 percent; TVI, 30.5 percent.

    Generally the major audiences live in the Inland regions, come from the lower social classes (C2 and D), are mostly made up by women (actually there is a tendency towards flattening this gender difference), and are older than 64 years of age (in spite of the increasing consumption among the youngest). But there are slight differences among the audiences of  the diverse channels. Television audiences profile shows that “RTP1 audiences are less educated, older and predominantly masculine. SIC audiences are more educated, younger and balanced in a gender perspective. TVI audiences are more feminine, inter-generational (that is, no significant differences among the several age scales) and, above all, are the ones including less individuals with a higher education” (quoted from the media reception study mentioned above).         

    In recent years programming choices for the two commercial operators increased, namely in Portuguese fiction, “telenovelas”, talk shows, quizzes, movies and series. Sports, in particular football matches, and information are the other two television genres which gather public preferences and where the competition between channels stands out most visibly. Public service second channel, with a audience share of around 6 percent, is focused on more demanding and segmented groups and, in terms of programming, emphasises culture, education, social activities, sports, religious confessions, independent production, Portuguese cinema, audiovisual environment and experimentalism. It hosts as well programmes produced by the so called “civic society”.

     ****      

    Cable television services were launched in Portugal in 1994. Combined with the licensing of commercial channels, this new distribution platform had a major impact in the Portuguese audiovisual landscape. TV Cabo (now integrated in the holding Zon Multimédia) and Meo (Portugal Telecom) are the two major players in subscription cable television.      

    According to ANACOM, the Portuguese communications authority, in 2008 cable television services were subscribed by around 1.5 million customers, which represent a penetration rate of 26.4 percent of Portuguese households. Lisbon region concentrates 47.7 percent of the total number of subscribers, followed by North (25.7 percent), Centre (11.9 percent), Algarve (3.7 percent) and Alentejo (3.1 percent). Madeira gathered 4.8 percent of subscribers and Azores 3.1 percent.

    In 2008 the satellite television service (DTH-Direct to Home) was subscribed by 586,000 customers, a penetration rate of 10.5 percent of Portuguese households. The number of subscribers of other television platforms sum up 224,000 at the end of 2008, which represents a penetration rate of 4.1 percent.

    In short, the penetration rate of subscription television services reached 40.9 percent at the end of 2008, with a total number of subscribers of 2.29 million, concentrated in Lisbon and North regions. The growth was leveraged by the appearance of a new cable service provider, Meo, which started a massive distribution in 2008, and the subscription of alternative subscription television platforms.          

    Cable service subscription and subscription of codified channels (cinema, erotic, children, etc.), allowing a more diverse and segmented television offer, will most likely continue to increase. However, it is interesting to observe that traditional channels (RTP, SIC and TVI) are still the most popular among cable service programmes offer. 24 hours a day information channels such as SIC Notícias, RTPN and, more recently, TVI 24, were also a winning bet. The company Económica, which runs the newspapers Diário Económico and Semanário Económico, is also preparing the launching of a new 24-hour economic news channel.


    2.4 Cinema [top]

    Cinema audiences are concentrated mostly in the regions of Lisboa, Porto, Setúbal e Faro, also the most populated in the country. These regions, including Faro, are also the ones that feature a wider offer of movie theatres. Most movie theatres in Portugal are single-screen venues, whereas multiple screen theatres are located mostly in the most densely populated urban areas, home to the most frequent cinema-attending public in the country.

    According to Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual (ICA), box office revenues amounted to 33 million euro throughout the first semester of 2009, as a result of the attendance by 7.2 million spectators. 133 films premiered during the aforementioned period, including 14 domestic productions. In 2008, 234 films premiered in Portugal, attended by 16 million spectators with total box office revenues of 70 million euro. During this same year only 15 domestic productions premiered in the country, whereas the remaining lot was made up mostly by American productions or American/European co-productions.

    Lusomundo Audiovisuais stands out as the main distributor in the country: the company boasts a market share of over 50 percent. Prisvideo, Castello Lopes Multimedia and Columbia Tristar Warner are also relevant players in the domestic distribution business. As regards film projection to audiences Lusomundo Cinema holds a dominant market share of roughly 50 percent, followed by Socorama – Castello Lopes Cinema and UCI – Cinema International Corporation. In comparison with the most successful films produced in the EU throughout the last decade, American and American-led US/EU co-productions clearly stand out in terms of box office revenues.

    The most viewed films during the first semester of 2009 were Angels and Demons, The Strange Case of Benjamin Button and Slumdog Millionaire (up to 300,000 attendants each). In contrast, the most successful Portuguese production in terms of attendance was Second Life, attracting a relatively modest audience of around 90 thousand attendants. American films have long and steadily held to the top of the distributors’ catalogues, as the distribution market is essentially led by the American major labels.

    In Portugal and across Europe alike, the cinema industry heavily relies upon public funding. Enacted in 2004, the new law of cinema and audiovisual sets out a shift in public policies by promoting cinema, including the production, distribution and exhibition industries from a market-oriented perspective, and by stimulating the participation of private investors in the sector. The new law contemplates the creation of a Capital Fund of Investment (FIC – Fundo de Investimento de Capital) to support the cinema and audiovisual markets, whose contributors are subscription television services, cinema and video distributors, advertisers and cinema exhibitors.


    2.5 Telecommunications [top]

    The Portuguese telecommunication sector was deregulated at the beginning of the 1990s, which had as an immediate effect the end of the monopoly by Portugal Telecom and the entrance of new competitors in the market of telephone fixed telephony. After the deregulation it occurred an expansion of telecommunication services, supplied by private companies, which comprised not only fixed telephony services but also mobile communications and cable television services.

    In 1996, Portugal Telecom was privatised and enlarged its intervention to the markets of mobile, cable television, Internet, content production and distribution. The Portuguese State holds a golden share in the company's capital. According to latest data available, mobile phone penetration  in Portugal reached about 146 percent of the population in the third trimester of 2009, which corresponds to 15.5 million subscribers. In the European Union, Portugal holds the 5th most high penetration rate of mobile phones users. The UMTS services is increasing since 2007 (up to 5.2 millions users in the 3rd trimester of 2009). Vodafone Portugal, TMN and Optimus are the main service providers.

    Mobile phone service clearly supplants the telephone fixed telephony. This service has a penetration rate of about 38.5 percent of the population, which corresponds to 4.2 million subscribers. Portugal Telecom holds the main position in this market, with a share of around 65 percent, followed by Sonaecom (15 percent), Zon (10 percent), Cabovisão (6 percent), Vodafone (2 percent), Oni (1 percent) and Ar Telecom (0.8 percent).

    The telecommunication market is supervised by Anacom – National Authority of Communications, which monitors the electronic communications as well as the postal sector in Portugal, including telephony and the Internet and radio.


    2.6 Sources [top]


    3. New Media [top]


    3.1 Online [top]

    Main features 

    • In the first trimester of 2008 the penetration rate of Internet climb to 49.8 percent of the households
    • The majority of national and regional media, including press, radio and television, holds an Internet website
    • Web-Tvs are becoming very popular in the short term but no prospects can be traced for the future

    According to Instituto Nacional de Estatísticas (INE - National Statistics Institute), in the first trimester of 2008, 49.8 percent of the households possessed computer and 46.0 percent were connected to the Internet. ANACOM statistics indicate that, at the end of 2008, there were around 1.7 millions subscribers of Internet services in Portugal, the majority (98 percent) using broadband connection. The ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line) technology and cable are the main platforms of access to broadband Internet.

    Broadband Internet mobile networks service is also becoming popular and rapidly increasing, with the number of active consumers reaching up to 1.16 million at the end of 2008.

    ****

    The first online media projects were created in the second half of the 1990s. Setúbal na Rede, a regional newspaper brand, was the first media project created on the web, in 1998. General information national dailies Jornal de Notícias, Público and Diário de Notícias were the first to update their respective electronic editions.

    Today the majority of national and regional media, including press, radio and television, holds an Internet website. It is interesting to observe the evolution of established editorial projects. For instance the closest and bi-directional relationship with readers or the integration of “blogosphere” and social networks into traditional media. The launching of exclusively electronic projects was attempted (for example, Diário Digital, Portugal Diário, Cotonete). Cotonete, an innovative project created in 2001, consists of a website which allows individuals to customise their own radio station (“personal radio”) according to their own music preferences.

    The sustainability of Internet projects, including web-TVs, is however the major concern of media companies, confronted with the funding issue: ad market remains problematically cautious and there are doubts regarding the willingness of readers to pay for online news contents.       

    Like in other countries, the question of whether online journalism shall rise as a fourth type of journalism is still unanswered. The fact is that separated newsroom for “traditional” and “online” media is deemed a flaw and now the tendency is to merge in one single newsroom.


    3.2 Digital media [top]

    Main features 

    • The introduction in Portugal of digital terrestrial radio and television has been rather slower than expected. Switch-off must occur until 2012
    • RDP didn't start yet the massive distribution of  national digital network of radio broadcasting

    Although there is some optimism around new technologies and the process of migration to digital, the introduction in Portugal of digital terrestrial radio and television has been rather slower than expected. The license ascribed in 2001 to a consortium to operate a platform of Digital Terrestrial Television ended up being revoked. After the launching of a new license opening contest in 2008, Portugal Telecom application was the selected one, against the Swedish Airplus. The commercial exploration should begin in 2010. Portugal is behind schedule in this field comparing to other European countries and bearing in mind that the switch-off must occur until 2012, according to European policies.

    RDP has won the bid for management of national digital network of radio broadcasting – in which it invested significantly over the last years, having adopted the DAB system - Digital Audio Broadcasting. In Portugal digital radio emissions can be heard since 1998, but massive utilisation of this technology will only take place if large scale distribution of equipment to cars as well as to homes occur.


    3.3 Sources [top]


    4. Media organisations [top]



    4.1 News agencies [top]

    Main features 

    • At the national level there is only one news agency, Lusa, with a shareholder structure combining public and private stakeholders
    • Lusa is in the process of implementing a new strategy to become a “multimedia news agency”

    Lusa, Agência de Notícias de Portugal, is a company mostly made up by State-owned capital, with the participation of the main media national companies. Lusa is bounded through contract celebrated with the Portuguese State to provide news and informational services of public interest. Some 200 journalists, joined by 80 collaborators in Portugal and abroad, work in its newsroom. It has a web of delegations and correspondents that cover almost all countries, as well as Portuguese speaking countries. There are correspondents in more than thirty major cities in the five continents. Traditional media are still the main clients, representing around 50 percent, but electronic media and non media clients are growing in importance. Among its clients we find a great number of regional and local newspapers and radio stations as well as media published within Portuguese communities abroad. Other of its specific characteristics is the privileged connection which maintains with African Portuguese spoken countries.   

    Lusa offers content available in text format, photography, audio and television, and covers the following news services: national, economics, sports, international and Africa. As a way of making the company more profitable, Lusa has expanded also to production services, namely in the business field, designed for companies with no media liaison.  

    In 2008 the news agency starts implementing the configuration of the newsroom into a “multimedia newsroom”, within the project to transform its concept into a “multimedia news agency”.


    4.2 Trade unions [top]

    Main features 

    • Journalists and media owners have the most powerful organisations within media organisations        

    There are about 7,500 journalists in Portugal, accredited with the appropriate professional title, although not all are actually employed. About 3,000 are organised in the National Journalists Union (Sindicato Nacional dos Jornalistas), an European Federation of Journalists (FEJ), and International Federation of Journalists (IFJ) member.

    Other organisations

    Besides the Union, there are many other journalistic organisations, which act in cultural, training and health assistance fields. Clube de Jornalistas (Press Club) publishes every three months a magazine, Jornalismo e Jornalistas (Journalism and Journalists); every two weeks it broadcasts a TV program in public channel RTP2, where media and journalistic issues are debated; it also has a website (Clubedejornalistas.pt) and every year awards journalists with Prémios Gazeta (Gazeta Prizes), the most prestigious awards in journalistic field (endorsed by the President of Portuguese Republic).

    Casa da Imprensa (Press House) is a mutual association, founded in 24 April 1905.

    Confederação Portuguesa de Meios de Comunicação Social (Portuguese Media Confederation) is the largest entrepreneurs' association in media sector, direct or indirectly representing more than a thousand media players. Some of Confederation reference members are Associação Portuguesa de Imprensa (Portuguese Press Association), which represents 450 newspapers and magazines; Associação Portuguesa de Radiodifusão (Portuguese Radio Association), which represents more than 200 national and local radio stations; and furthermore RTP, SIC, TVI and Agência Lusa. Within its members we also must indicate Associação de Imprensa de Inspiração Cristã (Christian Press Association), and Associação de Rádios de Inspiração Cristã (Christian Radio Association), the latter with 70 members.           

    CENJOR, Centro Protocolar de Formação Profissional para Jornalistas (Journalistic Professional Training Centre), founded in 1986, associates official professional training institutions, the journalists union and entrepreneur associations. CENJOR financing program is assured by public funding: state and European Social Fund. The nature of CENJOR training is mainly practical, supplementing the kind of teaching offered by more than 30 undergraduate and graduate media and journalism courses in Portugal.


    4.3 Other media outlets [top]

    There are two other news agencies in Portugal. Agência Ecclesia belongs to the Catholic Church and is more concerned with religious issues. Agência Financeira (Media Capital group) is a media outlet specialised in business news. The main international news agencies have delegations in Portugal, such as Reuters and Associated France Press.


    4.4 Sources [top]


    5. National media policies [top]



    5.1 Media legislation [top]

    Main features 

    • The revision of the law concerning the journalists’ status generated adverse reactions and much controversy within the class
    • The President of the Republic pushed back the Government proposal to regulate the property concentration of media companies    

    Media regulation, legal framework revision, local and regional media public grants, property media concentration and political pluralism are major concerns of political representatives in the last two decades, expressed in public policies applied to media sector.              

    Cavaco Silva Governments (1985-1995) brought a media policy characterised by privatisation and liberalisation. Cavaco Silva’s Cabinets decided, between 1985 and 1995, to open television sector to private initiative and to legalise hundreds of local radios which spread all over the country since the 1980s. The same liberal policies, which meant the progressive withdraw of State from media sector, were applied to press market (for instance, Diário de Notícias and Jornal de Notícias were privatised).         

    After Antonio Guterres’s six-year socialist Governments (1995-2001), XV Constitutional Government Program, conducted by José Manuel Durão Barroso (2002-2004), defined again more liberal policies for media sector.         

    In 2005, the XVII Constitutional Government Program, headed by José Sócrates, proposed the following major measures for the media sector: the creation of a new media regulator; the prevention of a more relevant State economic participation in media enterprises besides RTP, RDP and Lusa; the devise of new legislation to control property concentration and abuse of dominant position; the limitation of horizontal, vertical and multimedia property concentration among media companies; the transition to digital platforms.          

    Although the Government attempts to propose new legislation in order to regulate property concentration and abuse of dominant position within media companies where frustrated by President Cavaco Silva, who in 2009 vetoed the Pluralism and Non-Concentration Media Property Law.           

    The revision of the Journalist Status was, on the other hand, followed by intense controversy within professional journalists, who criticise the virtual shrinkage of the protection of confidential news sources. Journalists were also in profound disagreement with the creation of a professional ethics committee within Comissão da Carteira Profissional dos Jornalistas - the organisation which grants access to the profession. Such controversy did not stop the revision of the law and the ethical committee is already in functions.


    5.2 Accountability systems [top]

    The professional ethics committee created within Comissão da Carteira Profissional do Jornalista, an organisation headed by a judge and where journalists and entrepreneurs are represented, will eventually enforce compliance with professional ethics principles, admonishing or punishing journalists in case of misconduct.           

    In turn, Union Journalists Professional Ethics Council addresses recommendations based on Ethic Journalist Code principles, document approved by journalists in May 1993.          

    Created for the first time in Portugal in 1997, an ombudsman exists nowadays in Record, Diário de Notícias and Público daily newspapers. In April 2006 the figures of television and radio ombudsmen were created, which deal with audiences' commentaries, complaints and suggestions addressed to RTP and RDP.


    5.3 Regulatory authority [top]

    The reform of regulatory framework implied the creation of a new media regulation entity in 2006 with reinforced power and tasks, the Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (ERC).

    The new media regulator - Entidade Reguladora para a Comunicação Social (ERC) – initiated functions in March 2006, articulated with Autoridade Nacional das Comunicações (Anacom) and Autoridade da Concorrência (market and competition authority). The reform of regulatory framework implied the extinction of Alta Autoridade para a Comunicação Social (AACS – Media High Council) and Instituto da Comunicação Social (ICS – Institute for the Media), the latter reorganised as Gabinete para os Meios de Comunicação Social (Media Services Office).

    ERC is a public agency independent from the Government and whose board members are elected by Parliament. It pursues the assurance of the following structuring principles: pluralism and diversity; freedom of information; citizens fundamental rights; protection of more sensitive public and audiences, such as children and elderly people; accuracy and reliable nature of information. To avoid an excessive media property concentration affecting principles such as pluralism and diversity, is one of ERC's main tasks; the media regulator watches over the attempts of economic and political power to influence and jeopardise media independence. In addition, ERC should promote co-regulation and encourage self-regulation mechanisms.


    5.4 Sources [top]


    6. Media resources [top]


    6.1 Learning and support [top]

    Several universities (in Lisboa, Braga, Coimbra, Porto, Aveiro, Covilhã) offer research and investigative centres in media and communication studies. Two national institutions congregate professors, investigators and professionals: Associação Portuguesa de Ciências da Comunicação (SOPCOM – Portuguese Association of Communication Studies) and Centro de Investigação Media e Jornalismo, the latter turned specifically to the study of the journalistic field and now being hosted by the New University of Lisboa (Faculdade de Ciências Sociais e Humanas, Universidade Nova de Lisboa).

    There are several magazines and journals concerned with media studies: Jornalismo e Jornalistas (every three month), edited by Clube de Jornalistas; Media XXI (every two month), which also focuses publicity, marketing and managerial activities; and, in the academics field Media & Jornalismo (two numbers a year), published by CIMJ; Revista de Comunicação e Linguagens (two numbers a year), published by Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e Linguagens from Universidade Nova de Lisboa; Trajectos (two numbers a year), published by ISCTE – Instituto Superior de Ciências do Trabalho e da Empresa; Comunicação e Sociedade (two numbers a year), published by Centro de Estudos de Comunicação e  Sociedade from Universidade do Minho; Comunicação e Cultura, published by Universidade Católica Portuguesa; Comunicação Pública, published by Escola Superior de Comunicação Social.


    6.2 Prime sources for detailed information [top]


    6.3 Sources [top]


    7. Conclusions [top]



    7.1 Development trends [top]

    Portuguese media market is a very stable one in its uncertainty, so there aren’t many changes to register in the last few years. Of course the decrease of ad revenues and investment affects dramatically the performance of the sector, with implications in terms of quality of the content and services provided. And again this is not specifically a Portuguese juncture but an international one. The free daily press still is in good shape, with the launching of new publications, but the future of print press, free or paid, is unpredictable. Surprisingly, against all odds, new editorial projects arise like the national daily i, and creative and multimedia strategies are being defined and implemented to reinvent traditional brands or create new ones.      

    In spite of the economic difficulties they go through, main media conglomerates reinforce their positions and probably will grow even further, in the country and abroad, which raises questions regarding the future of pluralism (social and political) and of employment of journalists and other professionals. Government may again attempt to approve the law to promote pluralism and non-concentration of media companies property but one must bare in mind that legislative diplomas in themselves do not automatically guarantee such principles and may even contribute to distort the functioning of the market.

    Issues such as the future of journalism and journalists have never been risen so strongly as in contemporary advanced democracies, which shows the interdependency between journalism and democratic system. Nowadays it deepens the professional fragility and identity crisis of journalists, tied up between contradictory demands: the respect for professional and ethic rules and the corporate interest for information essentially turned to audiences and commercialisation.     

    As a consequence of progressive development of convergence processes, stimulated by growing implementation of new technologies, it is notorious the decrease of journalism specific weight and its dilution within a content industry predominantly driven by commercialism and entertainment. Digital journalism identity evolution is an incognito in the short term but it appears that in the future the distinction between traditional and online journalists will be blurred.            

    Transition to digital radio and television and digital switch-off are taking longer than previously foreseen, but European constraints my push this development. 

    Convergences between technologies, networks, services and enterprises will most probably stimulate an approximation between media and communication regulators but for the next political cycle (2009-2013) separated regulations will still hold.


    7.2 References [top]

    • Autoridade Nacional das Comunicações (ANACOM)
    • Associação Portuguesa de Imprensa (API)
    • Associação Portuguesa para o Controlo de Tiragem e Circulação (APCT)
    • Change Partners/ Escola Superior de Comunicação Social, O Sector da Radiodifusão Local em Portugal, ERC, Lisboa (2009)
    • Correia, Fernando, Jornalismo, Grupos Económicos e Democracia, Editorial Caminho, Lisboa (2006)
    • ERC, Relatório de Regulação 2008 (2009)
    • Eric Pfanner, “Publisher in Portugal picks a fine time to start a newspaper”, In The New York Times, November 8 2009
    • Instituto do Cinema e do Audiovisual (ICA)
    • ISCTE, Estudo de Recepção dos Meios de Comunicação Social, ERC, Lisboa (2008)
    • Faustino, Paulo, A Imprensa em Portugal. Transformações e Tendências, Media XXI, Lisboa (2005)
    • Marktest, Anuário de Media e Publicidade 2008 (2009)
    • Rebelo, José (coord.), “Os Jornalistas Portugueses”, Trajectos – Revista de Comunicação, Cultura e Educação, n.º 12, Casa das Letras (2008)

    7.3 Contact [top]

    Fernando Correia
    Professor
    Univesity: Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias
    Campo Grande, 376
    1749 - 024 Lisboa
    Tel:+351 808 200 739
    Email: fernando.antonio.correia@gmail.com

    Carla Martins
    Professor
    Univesity: Universidade Lusófona de Humanidades e Tecnologias
    Campo Grande, 376
    1749 - 024 Lisboa
    Tel:+351 808 200 739
    Email: carlamartins@netcabo.pt


    Media landscape : The Netherlands


    Last updated: 08 November 2010


    1. Introduction [top]

    image

    The Netherlands has a population of 16 million and is one of the most densely populated countries in Europe. The national language is Dutch, which it shares with the northern part of Belgium. The kingdom of the Netherlands has a stable parliamentary democracy for more than a hundred years. Centre-left and centre-right governments have been ruling the country alternately since the World War II. Since the turn of the century two populist movements have gained substantial public support, first the movement under Pim Fortuyn, who was murdered in 2002; and since 2004 the right-wing anti-Islam movement of Geert Wilders.


    2. Traditional Media [top]



    2.1 Print Media [top]

    The Netherlands is still a newspaper-reading country, although circulation and readership are declining like in almost every other western newspaper market. A paid newspaper is read in half of the Dutch households , in total this concerns 3.5millioncopies. Apart from that more than a million free dailies are distributed every day. Ten years ago paid circulation was still 4.2millionwhile there were 500,000 free copies distributed. Two thirds of the population reads a newspaper on an average day; 60 percent reads a paid newspaper. In 2002/2003, 76 percent of the Dutch read a newspaper, 71 percent read a paid newspaper.

    More than half of the paid circulation in the Netherlands, 1.9 million copies, consists of national newspapers. National popular broadsheet De Telegraaf is market leader with around 600,000 copies, Algemeen Dagblad – the only national paper with special local editions, distributes 400,000 copies, quality paper de Volkskrant is third with 230,000 copies, while evening quality broadsheet NRC Handelsblad distributes 200,000 copies (all 2008 data). No other national daily distributes more than 100,000 paid copies.

    Since 1999 the Netherlands is familiar with the concept of free dailies distributed to commuters. In June of that year both Metro International and incumbent publisher De Telegraaf launched a free daily on the same day: Metro and Spits. Both papers increased their circulation over the last decade from 250,000 to 400,000 copies. Readership is 1.9 million for Metro and 1.7 million for Spits. Most other attempts to launch a free daily ended without success. De Telegraaf operated a free afternoon daily news.nl in 2000 and 2001 while the other major national publisher PCM started the free daily DAG in 2007; it closed down after less than 18 months. The only competitor De Pers, launched in 2007 by independent publisher Mountain Media, cut circulation from almost 500,000 to 200,000 and is now only available in the major towns in the western part of the country.

    Less than 15 independent regional newspapers are published in 2009, against more than two dozen ten years ago. The main reason for the decline is the consolidation of publishers of regional dailies and newspaper mergers. Paid national dailies are mainly distributed in the western part of the country (in the four major cities Amsterdam, Rotterdam, The Hague and Utrecht and the areas around that), regional papers are stronger in the rest of the country. The largest regional dailies are De Gelderlander, Noordhollands Dagblad, Dagblad de Limburger, De Stentor and Brabants Dagblad; each with a circulation of more than 125,000.

    Apart from daily newspapers, some paid non-dailies (mostly weeklies) exist, but this concerns only 50 titles with a joint circulation of less than 250,000. More common are free local weeklies, distributed in almost every part of the country, sometimes up to three or four different titles per household. Publishers of regional dailies own most of these papers.

    There are no more Sunday papers in the Netherlands. Regional paper TC / Tubantia and De Telegraaf both introduced a Sunday edition in 2004; but these were terminated in 2008 and 2009. The Dutch media landscape lacks also sensational tabloids or ‘boulevard’ newspapers like Bild (Germany) or The Sun (UK), while there are also no specialized sports newspapers. The majority of the Dutch papers are now printed in tabloid format - although publishers rather talk about ‘compact’ newspapers.

    Ownership is very concentrated in the Netherlands with three companies dominating more than 90 percent of the paid market. De Persgroep (formerly PCM) owns five national dailies: de Volkskrant, Algemeen Dagblad, NRC Handelsblad, nrc.next, Trouw and Amsterdam daily Het Parool; total market share is almost 40 percent. Telegraaf Media Groep (national daily De Telegraaf and four regional dailies in the western part of the country) and Mecom, with regional newspapers in the eastern and southern part of the country, are the other two main publishers.

    The only publisher owning more than one newspaper is the Noordelijke Dagblad Combinatie, which owns Dagblad van het Noorden and Leeuwarder Courant in the northern provinces Friesland, Groningen and Drente. Free newspaper Spits is owned by De Telegraaf, while Metro (Metro International) and De Pers are independently owned. In total there are no more than a dozen newspaper publishers in the Netherlands. Mecom (UK), De Persgroep (Belguim) and Metro (Sweden) are foreign owned, which means that the majority of the Dutch newspapers are in foreign hands. Both De Persgroep and the newspapers owned by Mecom changed hands recently; although the PCM was owned for some years by UK investment firm Apax, while De Persgroep acquired Het Parool already in 2003. To meet the requirements of the NMa (Netherlands Competition Authority) the Persgroep has sold NRC Handelsblad and nrc next in December 2009 to the TV channel Het Gesprek in combination with the private equity fund Egeria.

    With declining readership revenues from subscription - less than 10 percent of the Dutch circulation is distributed through single copy sales - total revenues for newspapers, however, were stable as newspapers increased their copy price over the years. Advertising income was less easy to influence, a declining market share of newspapers, increased competition from the internet and free dailies, and the recession of 2009, led almost every company to problems: there were massive job cuts and other measures to control costs. Hundreds of journalists and many other employees lost their jobs in the last years. Ten years ago Dutch newspapers received 60 percent of their income from advertising, now this is less than 45 percent.

    Most Internet versions of newspapers are still losing money, mostly because competition on Internet advertising is high and rates are low. Therefore many newspapers are experimenting with other sources of income like web shops (books, CDs, DVDs, seminars, holiday, wines) and paid *.pdf versions. Also flexible subscription models (only weekends or short-term subscriptions) are possible; students can buy a subscription for a low price as well.

    There are more than 9,000 different magazines titles distributed in the country, with TV-guides, women’s magazines, youth magazines and gossip magazines being the segments with the highest circulation. Also this market is very concentrated with Sanoma magazines (Finnish owned), publishing more than 70 titles, and dominating the market for weekly magazines. Leading national publishers Audax and Weekbladpers are both much smaller.

    Dutch bookshops (including the ones on the Internet) sold in 2008 for 645 million euro worth of ‘general’ books, which was an increase of 2.3 percent compared to the previous year. In numbers, this meant 51 million books (more than 4 per ‘reading’ inhabitant), which was 4 percent more than in 2007.


    2.2 Radio [top]

    Dutch media historians claim that the first radio program ever was broadcast from Scheveningen in the Netherlands in 1919. A government-controlled system whereby public organizations, organized along party and religious lines, replaced this private commercial operation in the 1920s. This system is still operating, although there are now many more organizations with a broadcasting license and also a strong joint national program by NOS (Nederlandse Omroep Stichting).

    The two public radio networks from the '20s expanded over the years to five channels, four with an FM frequency, one only on AM and a sixth online-only program. Radio 1 is for news and information, Radio 2 for family listening, 3 FM is the rock radio targeted at youth, Radio 4 broadcasts classical music and cultural programs, while Radio 5 is for spoken word, minorities and education. Internet channel Radio 6 focuses on non-mainstream music.

    Commercial radio in the Netherlands means music radio in most cases, while the music is targeted at young people in general. Popular DJ’s are competing in the morning hours for audiences at some stations, while others (like Sky Radio) broadcast middle-of-the-road music without any spoken word except for the hourly news broadcasts. There is one news-only commercial radio channel in the Netherlands: BNR (Business News Radio), connected to financial daily Het Financieele Dagblad.

    Every Dutch province (12 in total) has its own public regional radio and TV station; in particular the radio stations outside the western (Holland) part are among the most popular stations in those areas. Almost all local communities also have their own local station, subsidized by a levy on the community tax. Almost 300 local radio stations are operating, broadcasting in more than 400 communities. Some regional and local commercial stations exist, but these usually have a marginal existence because of heavy competition and low advertising rates. It is believed that only a few Dutch commercial stations make a profit, Radio538 (RTL Nederland), Sky Radio (De Telegraaf) and Qmusic (Belgian De Persgroep) are in this select group.

    Radio listening in the Netherlands has been stable since 2000 around three hours on average daily. The most popular stations in 2008 were Radio538 (11 percent market share) Radio 2 (10.5 percent), Sky Radio (9 percent), 3FM (8 percent) and Radio 1 (7 percent). National commercial stations have a market share of 50 percent, public channels of more than 40 percent.


    2.3 Television [top]

    With an average viewing time of more than three hours a day, television is the most used medium in the Netherlands, even with Internet use increasing at a rapid speed. The time spend on the medium has been increasing until 2007. Twenty years ago, before the introduction of commercial TV, the Dutch spend just over two hours on television. In 2003 this was increased to three hours, and in 2007 to two hours and 27 minutes. In 2008 a small drop in viewing time showed, but it is too soon to say whether this is the beginning of a structural decline or just a temporal drop. Not everybody, however, has been watching more TV over the years; there is a clear trend that the younger generation watches less while the older generation watches more.

    Watching TV in the Netherlands means having the choice between 30 channels at least as the country is almost totally cabled – already in 1999, 95 percent of the households had cable. Although the majority of the Dutch households have the opportunity for digital TV with extended possibilities, only 35 percent use that option, probably because the regular offering is already good enough for most people. Those 35 percent, plus the 5 percent that uses satellite TV can receive more than 30 channels, and also have interactive options.

    As almost all Dutch viewers have at least 30 channels, the options are more or less the same for every viewer. Dutch national TV occupies the first three channels with Nederland 1, 2 and 3; the first is meant for ‘family programs’ (including sports), the second network focuses on news, information and culture, while Nederland 3 contains programs for the younger audience and is meant to be more innovative in its programming.

    There are two competing commercial broadcasters, each with several channels. The German/Luxembourg RTL group operates RTL 4 (family), RTL 5 (youth), RTL 7 (business, men) and RTL 8 (mostly US-series and soaps); the USA-owned SBS group has three channels: SBS6 (family), Net 5 (women), and Veronica (youth). Apart from those ten channels, there is Het Gesprek (talk shows), MTV (youth), TMF (music), Discovery Channel, National Geographic, Eurosport, and at least one regional and in most cases one local station; all of these broadcast in Dutch or have Dutch subtitles.

    With the two Belgian public broadcasters as well there are 20 Dutch language channels available for the TV audience – and BBC 1, BBC 2, one or two German channels, and often a French, Italian, Spanish or Arabic channel. With such a variety, switching to digital TV is not a real necessity for many viewers.

    The market share of the public channels has dropped from almost 100 percent in 1989 ago to less than 40 in 2009; a share that has been quite stable over the last years, although having the rights for major sports events like the Olympics, the Football Championship or the major football league is still very important for attaining a substantial market share. Nederland 1 and 2, RTL 4 and SBS6 are the most popular channels, each with a market share of more than 10 percent - Nederland 1 even had more than 20 percent in 2008.

    All Dutch public TV channels have advertising as an extra revenue source – apart from the regular tax-based public funding; the three national channels received around 200 million euro from advertising in 2008. This revenue stream is not only criticized by the commercial broadcasters but also by newspaper publishers who argue that this means unfair competition for commercial parties – the discussion has become more heated in 2009 as the recession has hurt the advertising revenues of commercial broadcasters and newspapers. There seems, however, not enough political support for a law change in this respect. The many websites of public broadcasters are often attacked by newspaper publishers because these threaten the already marginal operations (in terms of revenues) by the newspapers themselves. The website of the national public broadcaster NOS is one of the most visited websites in the country.

    Dutch media law is meant to ‘keep the state at a distance’; the public broadcasters are not directly operated by the government who installed a Media Commission (Commissariaat voor de Media) to regulate broadcasting – including the regulation of commercial broadcasters with a Dutch license. This commission regulates frequencies for local, public and commercial broadcasters, checks the non-commercial character of programs and also keeps score of the maximum advertising time for broadcasters. There is a discussion, however, over the position of RTL, who claims it operates under Luxembourg law.

    The programs on three national channels are not made by one national broadcaster but by private organizations, several of them already being founded in the 1920s. These organizations reflected the religious, social and political groups of the time: socialist, catholic, protestant and liberal. New groups, claiming to represent a part of society that was not yet provided for on TV, have been added to the roster over the years; and as also churches and other religious groups and some educative organizations received a license.

    The Dutch radio and TV landscape is now inhabited by dozens of different broadcasters; some of them only airing a ten minute program every two weeks, others filling several hours a day. The largest broadcaster is NOS, a joint broadcasting entity, responsible for the daily news programs, main events, sports and culture. In 2010 two new (right wing) broadcasting organizations (WNL and PowNed) will receive a license for five years, while the green Link will have to leave, because it did not live up to the expectations of innovative television.


    2.4 Cinema [top]

    The Dutch visit a cinema 1.4 times per year on average, and do that very consistently since 2000; before that – during the 1980s and '90s, people watched less movies in cinemas, while going to the movies during the 1950s and '60s was even more popular than nowadays. The most popular movies are usually foreign-made, with Harry Potter, The Lord of the Rings, James Bond and the Pirates of the Caribbean topping the list since 2001. Dutch movies usually have a total market share of between 10 and 15 percent of the total visits in a given year.

    There is a clear trend in the Netherlands to have fewer cinemas with more but smaller viewing rooms per cinema. In the beginning of the 1990s there were 175 cinemas with more than 400 screens and 226 seats per screen. In 2008 there were 130 cinemas left, with 560 screens and 180 seats per screen. The market is very concentrated; the four major companies (Pathé, Jogchem’s, Minerva and Wolff) have a joint market share of almost 80 percent.

    Independent Dutch-funded movies in the Netherlands are an exception, without government support, European money or subsidies from broadcasters no Dutch movie could be made. In 2008 there were 30 movies made with Dutch money or co-produced with Dutch money.


    2.5 Telecommunications [top]

    The monopoly of the national telecom operator KPN ended in 1989. Since then other operators moved in, particularly in mobile telecommunication and in Internet access. Old-fashioned landline telephone is still dominated by KPN although only 60 percent of the population still uses this service to make phone calls, a percentage that is dropping since 2002. On a population of 16 million there are however, 20 million mobile phones. Also digital telephone services through cable or the Internet (VoIP) are gaining popularity fast.

    With the monopoly position of KPN gone, the mobile market is now divided between the former monopolist (market share 47 percent in 2008), T-Mobile (25 percent) and Vodafone (21 percent). All operators are now expanding their mobile networks, with a focus on high-speed broadband connection in the expectation that mobile communication will be even more important than it is now.

    The Dutch government founded a special telecom agency to oversee the new liberated market: the Onafhankelijk Post- en Telecommunicatie Autoriteit (OPTA) when the monopoly of KPN ended. OPTA regulates tariffs, controls competition on prices and services.


    2.6 Sources [top]


    3. New Media [top]



    3.1 Online [top]

    In 2008 the Dutch had the highest percentage of Internet access in the European Union: 87.5 percent. More than 75 percent of these users have a broadband connection for high-speed Internet access, based on ADSL or cable. Mobile connections are used regularly by 25 percent; 98 percent of the people younger than 25 years old have Internet access.

    More than 25 percent of the households have a so-called ‘triple play’ package offering telephone, digital TV and Internet in one subscription. Internet is used for all kinds of activities (web searches, email, gaming, downloading music, communities, banking, shopping, etc.). The Dutch version of Facebook, called Hyves, claims more than five million Dutch accounts. In 2008 more than 50 percent of the Internet users watches television and listens to radio via the Internet. Almost one in two users read or download news from newspaper websites.


    3.2 Digital media [top]

    All newspapers, magazines, TV-stations and broadcasting organizations offer a wide range of websites with news, backgrounds, interactive platforms, audio and video. The ‘program missed’ option, offered by public broadcasting to allow the viewing of an already broadcast program on the PC, is very popular. There are almost no news sites behind a pay wall (Financial newspaper Het Financieele Dagblad being the most notable exception), but newspapers offer the option to subscribe to the digital edition of the newspaper, including the newspapers archive. Every month more than 6.4 million people (13+) visit one or more newspaper sites.

    The news site with the highest ranking in visitors is Nu.nl, a web-based site with headline news; second best is De Telegraaf. In the overall ranking of all sites in the Netherlands these sites score 8 and 12, with broadcasting companies RTL and NOS on place 27 and 28. The public broadcasting organization also offers several thematic digital channels like Holland doc (documentaries), History and Politics. Very popular (38 in the overall ranking) is the so-called shocklog Geenstijl.nl, a critical and satirical right wing weblog.


    3.3 Sources [top]


    4. Media organisations [top]



    4.1 News agencies [top]

    Only few news agencies are active on the market in the Netherlands. Traditionally, the most important news agency is ANP (Algemeen Nederlands Persbureau), which was founded by the Association of the Dutch Daily Press (De Nederlandse Dagbladpers, NDP) in 1934. In 2000, ANP became an independent company, and in 2003 an investment company (NPM Capital NV) acquired the majority of the shares, leaving the rest in the hands of the newspapers publishers, who sold the remaining shares in 2007.

    Almost all Dutch news media subscribe to the news feeds of ANP. The press agency also sells news to online news sites like Nu.nl. ANP has offices in The Hague, Amsterdam, Rotterdam and Brussels. ANP represents foreign news agencies like AFP, EFE, DPA, and Belga in the Netherlands.

    The second press agency the GPD (Geassocieerde Pers Diensten), founded in 1936, delivers news for 17 regional newspapers. Novum (2001) is the smallest, Amsterdam-based press agency. All press agencies are struggling to survive the competition of all the free news on the Internet. In December 2009 ANP and GPD announced a close cooperation to reduce the costs of news coverage


    4.2 Trade unions [top]

    The most important organisation in Dutch journalism is the Dutch Association of Journalists (Nederlandse Vereniging van Journalisten, NVJ), which is a combination of a trade union and a professional organisation. The Amsterdam-based NVJ has about 9,000 members and deals with issues of press freedom as well as collective labour agreements and freelance fees.

    Reporters covering parliament in The Hague can join the Parliamentary Press Association (Parlementaire Pers Vereniging, PVV). Foreign correspondents can become a member of the Foreign Press Association of the Netherlands (Buitenlandse Persvereniging in Nederland, BPV). The Dutch Society of Chief Editors (Nederlands Genootschap van Hoofdredacteuren plays an important role in Dutch journalism. This society issued a journalistic code in 1995, and functions as an important platform for debate.

    The Dutch publishers are organised in the Dutch Publishers Association (Nederlands Uitgeversverbond), which organises publishers of daily newspapers, as well as magazines, professional and scientific journals, and books (general and educational). The Dutch Association of local newspapers (Nederlandse Nieuwsbladpers, NNP) organises publishers of weekly and bi-weekly newspapers and cable news.

    Professionals working in the film and television industry are represented by the Professional Association of Film and Television Workers (Beroepsvereniging van Film- en Televisiemakers, NBF). The production companies in this area are organised in the Dutch Trade Association of Independent Television Producers (OTP, Onafhankelijke Televisie Producenten). Local and regional media are united in the Dutch Federation of Local Public Broadcasters (Organisatie van Lokale Omroepen in Nederland, Olon).

    Apart from the professional organisations and unions, tehre are two other importan foundations who subsidize media projects. The Dutch Cultural Broadcasting Fund (Het Stimuleringsfonds Nederlandse Culturele Omroepproducties) provides grants to encourage the development and production of cultural radio and television programmes. The Foundation for Special Journalistic Projects (Fonds Bijzondere Journalistieke Projecten) supports journalists who want to realize special research projects.

    Advertisers are organised in the Association of Dutch Advertisers (BVA, Bond van Adverteerders), while advertising agencies are united in the Union of Communication Consultancy Agencies (VEA, Vereniging van Communicatie-adviesbureaus).


    4.3 Other media outlets [top]

    The development of commercial television since 1989 has stimulated the market for independent TV production companies. There are three big players, Endemol, Eyeworks and IDTV and more than 100 small companies working for commercial as well as public broadcasting. Endemol and Eyeworks also operate on the international market. Endemols greatest hit was the Big Brother format, sold to 58 different countries. 


    4.4 Sources [top]


    5. National media policies [top]


    5.1 Media legislation [top]

    The fundament for Dutch media policy is article 7 of the constitution: “Nobody needs permission in advance to make thoughts or feelings public use of the press, except everybody’s responsibility according to the law.” The latter phrase refers to slander, libel, insult and wrongful acts. Advertising is excluded from this freedom of speech: there are laws prohibiting or limiting advertising, for instance, of tobacco, alcohol and medicines.

    The Media Law regulates radio and TV, but there is no advanced state supervision (censorship) regarding the content of broadcasted programs. Media policy in the Netherlands is mainly broadcasting policy, defining the organization of the public broadcasting system. Regarding print media, the government’s policy is focused on preventing disruptions of the free market due to vertical and horizontal media concentration.

    Dutch media policy in regard to the EU has always been quite defensive, successive administrations tried to prevent commercial competitors to enter the TV market. But EU policy made it possible for Dutch-based commercial stations to broadcast from outside the country. The ‘Television Without Frontiers’ EU Directive is now fully implemented in Dutch legislation. The Netherlands also participates in the Media Plus (2001-2006) program, supporting the development of European audio-visual productions.

    In 2009 the Dutch government decided to lay down in law the right of non-disclosure for journalists who want to protect their sources. But the protection of the source is not an absolute right. The right may be suspended if, for example, a more important interest such as national security or a very urgent investigation interest is at stake. The courts will ultimately decide whether the right to the protection of a source has been invoked correctly.


    5.2 Accountability systems [top]

    Two options – apart from complaining to the medium itself – are available for people with complaints about the press: the court or the Journalism Council (Raad voor de Journalistiek). Filing a suit is possible in the case of an unlawful act like slander, libel, insult, etc.; all other complaints can be brought before the independent Journalism Council, established in 1960 by the Dutch Association of Journalists (NVJ). In Dutch journalism several professional codes have been formulated over the years, which are used by the Council to evaluate complaints. The Councils’ verdicts and arguments in turn generate jurisprudence for the codes. Because of freedom of speech this Council is not able to force anyone to render account over their publications, or to impose any sanctions (like rectifications). Not all Dutch media support the Journalism Council, but the majority does, as well as the Dutch public broadcasting organisation NOS. Verdicts by the Council are published in the bi-weekly magazine of the Dutch Association of Journalists and on the website of the Council.

    The Dutch press does not have a national press ombudsman like Sweden, but several national and regional newspapers employ their own ombudsman who investigates complaints of readers and who writes critically about the newspapers’ policy. The national TV news program NOS Journaal also has its own ombudsman.

    Complaints regarding advertising can be filed at the Advertising Code Commission (Reclame Code Commissie). The Dutch Advertising Code states that advertising should not be deceptive, (unnecessarily) hurtful or in conflict with good taste and decency. The Advertising Code is based on self-regulation so only the supporting media organisations will accept the verdicts of the Commission. The Commission also monitors advertising messages on its own initiative.

    Pressures for self-regulation within the audio-visual industry resulted in the Kijkwijzer (Watchguide), aimed at protecting young viewers against possible harmful effects. This Watch guide, established in 1997, classifies films, TV programmes, videos and games, to give advice to parents. By using pictograms the public is warned for content with violence, fear, sex, bad language, alcohol and drug abuse or discrimination.


    5.3 Regulatory authority [top]

    The Commission for the Media supervises the implementation of the media law regarding public, as well as commercial television and cable operators. The Commission allocates broadcasting time to national, regional and local public media, and gives licences to commercial stations. Broadcasting organisations have to meet two criteria to get into the public broadcasting system: they need at least 300,000 supporters and they have to carry out the requirements of the media law to broadcast a prescribed amount of programmes in categories like information, culture and education. Public broadcasting organisations also have to produce a certain share of domestic programmes. The Commission also monitors the financial situation of public broadcasting and is authorized to fine the broadcasting organisations for clandestine advertising, illegal sponsoring, or commercial sidelines.

    The Netherlands Competition Authority (NMa, established in 1998) investigates and sanctions cartels and misuse of economic power in all sectors, not only in the media, and assesses mergers and acquisitions. The NMa ended the tradition of price arrangements in the newspaper business. On several occasions the NMa took action against mergers of newspapers and ordered to maintain the independence of the newspaper that was taken over. The government has limited concentration in the newspaper market to a maximum share of 35 percent – part of the parliament wants that to expand to 50 percent. Also cross-ownership in newspaper and television is now less restricted than before.

    Another important goal of the Dutch media policy is to stimulate media diversity. The Dutch Press Fund plays an important role in that respect: it is an independent authority that supports newspapers, magazines and websites with loans or subsidies. The Press Fund also supports research projects and joint efforts to improve minorities’ access to the media.


    5.4 Sources [top]


    6. Media resources [top]



    6.1 Learning and support [top]

    The Dutch higher education system knows two types of institutions: the Universities (with bachelor and master levels) and on the other the polytechnics for professional training (de hogescholen). There are four-year full-time bachelor journalism programs at the Hogescholen in Utrecht (founded in 1966), Tilburg (1980), Zwolle (1986) and Ede (1995). The universities of Amsterdam, Groningen, Leiden and Nijmegen offer Master programs in journalism for bachelor students (varying from 12 to 18 months), while Rotterdam (8 months) has a postdoctoral program. All programs offer internships of three or six months with newspapers, magazines or radio and TV-programs.

    Apart from that, there are several programs with individual courses and mid-career training, offered by the Expertise Centre for journalism at the University of Amsterdam and at the Center for Communication and Journalism at the Hogeschool Utrecht.

    Journalism Studies research centres can be found at the Universities of Amsterdam, Groningen, Leiden, Nijmegen, Rotterdam and at the Hogescholen in Utrecht, Zwolle and Tilburg. The Newsmonitor (Nieuwsmonitor) in Amsterdam, founded by the publishers in combination with the NVJ and the government, monitors the content of the news in Dutch media.


    6.2 Prime sources for detailed information [top]

    The main source for statistics in the Netherlands is the Bureau of Social Statistics (Sociaal Bureau voor de Statistiek, CBS), while the Social Cultural Planning Bureau (Sociaal Cultureel Planbureau, SCP) gathers information on media and cultural activities.

    The JIC (Joint Industry Committee) in which advertisers, advertising agencies as well as the media work together supervises media research like the National Research Multimedia (NOM), the Foundation for Viewer Research (SKO, Stichting Kijkonderzoek), or the Circulation Figures Institute (Het Oplage Instituut, HOI).

    Nielsen Media Research is the leading company in the area of advertising spending. The Central Agency for Newspaper Publicity (Centraal Bureau voor Courantenpubliciteit, Cebuco) supports the marketing of the Dutch newspapers. 


    6.3 Sources [top]


    7. Conclusions [top]


    7.1 Development trends [top]

    Since the beginning of the 1990s newspapers have been losing ground, first to TV and later to the Internet. Although there seems to be some substitution, the main reason seems to be that coming generations use the media that they grew up with as their media of preference. This was TV in the 1980s and '90s, the Internet in the 1990s and in the 21st century, and the mobile phone in the last decade. Generations that grew up with newspapers still treat this medium as their medium of preference. This explains not only why newspapers have problems reaching the younger generation but also why they still have a firm foothold in the Dutch society.

    News, not only in newspapers, but also on TV, are still very popular. The national daily 20:00 o’clock newscast NOS Journaal often has two million viewers or more, and is usually in the top 10 of every day’s best-viewed programs. Also the other newscasts of the public broadcaster, daily talk shows and the daily newscast of commercial broadcaster RTL, the ‘light news’ program of SBS and ‘entertainment news’ programs occupy places in the top 20 every day. There is no shortage of people wanting to read, watch or listen to news.

    Internet penetration – or to be more precise broadband Internet penetration – is very high but has not yet resulted in a total shift in media use. This could happen, however, when new generations grow up and take over in numbers from the older ones.


    7.2 References [top]

    • Bakker, P. & Scholten, O. (2009). Communicatiekaart van Nederland. Overzicht van media en communicatie (7th edition). Amsterdam: Kluwer.  A reference book on the Dutch media with many tables and other data that is updated every two years.
    • Annual reports by the Commissariaat voor de Media (2005-2008). Gives a yearly update on media use, ownership and regulation in the Netherlands. Can be downloaded from

    7.3 Contact [top]

    Peter L. M. Vasterman
    Assistant Professor
    Department of Media Studies
    University of Amsterdam
    Turfdraagsterpad 9,
    1012 XT Amsterdam,
    Tel: + 31 20 5253647
    Email: vasterman@uva.nl
    Website

    Piet Bakker
    Professor Cross Media Content
    School of Journalism and Communication at the Hogeschool Utrecht
    Padualaan 99 / Postbus 8611
    3503 RP Utrecht
    Tel: +31 30 219 32 25
    Email; piet.bakker@uva.nl
    Website


    Media landscape : Luxembourg


    Last updated: 08 November 2010


    1. Introduction [top]

    image

    With a size of only 2,500 square kilometres and a resident population of little more than 500,000, out of which only half hold citizenship,

    Luxembourg is the smallest Member State of the European Union, after Malta. The country is a founding member of the European Community and hosts important EU institutions such as the European Court of Justice, the European Court of Auditors, and the European Investment Bank. It enjoys the highest per capita income worldwide, with a thriving economy based mainly on services such as banking and insurance.

    The economy is oversized thanks to the presence of the headquarters of major global players such as Arcelor-Mittal, the world’s largest steel producer, RTL Group, Europe’s largest private broadcaster, and SES Global, the world’s leading satellite operator. The working population of 340,000 reflects this. It includes some 150,000 commuters from neighbouring countries. Altogether 67 percent of the working population are foreigners, either immigrants primarily from Portugal, Italy and Spain or commuters.

    Three official languages are in use: Luxembourgish, French and German, plus of course the languages of the most important immigrant groups. The linguistic diversity is also present in the media.

    The country enjoys a remarkable political stability with cabinets achieving their legislative term as a rule. The main political party is the Christian-Social CSV with about one third of the vote. It forms coalition governments alternating with the Social-Democratic LSAP or the Liberal DP as partners. The integration of the large foreign part of the resident population doesn’t create too many difficulties thanks to the fact that over 90 percent of the immigrants come from EU countries.


    2. Traditional Media [top]

    • Print Media are large in number, have a great diversity and a strong readership.
    • The main reasons for this atypical situation have to do with close links to political parties or trade unions and generous public subsidies.
    • Competition from other media on advertising markets is limited since press revenues are protected and free press sheets have appeared as outlets of established press groups.
    • Audiovisual media used to be dominated by the local radio and TV programmes produced by RTL.
    • The liberalisation introduced in the early Nineties produced a certain diversification, especially as far as radio goes.
    • Full-fledged programmes for local audiences suffer from the smallness of the country and the strong demand for foreign programmes, which is being fostered by the near complete coverage of the country by cable television and satellite reception.

    2.1 Print Media [top]

    Interests closely linked to political parties or trade unions control the press as far as ownership and editorial policy are concerned. These partisan links explain to a large extent the surprisingly high number of daily newspapers (6 plus 2 free sheets) for such a small country. The other explanation for the vitality of the press is the generous public aid scheme provided by the government, both directly and indirectly. Ten publications (the six dailies plus four weeklies) benefit from this scheme. It amounts to over 15 m euro per year, one third is evenly divided between the ten beneficiaries and two thirds of the public subsidies are proportional to the volume of printed pages carrying original content, the so-called "pages rédactionnelles".

    Circulation figures are not very reliable since no independent auditing is available, except for the two main daily newspapers Luxemburger Wort and Tageblatt whose circulation is controlled by the Belgian CIM. The figures we give are based on indications from the publishers. The necessary adjustments and corrections have been made under the author’s sole responsibility. Notwithstanding this remark, newspaper readership is doing quite well and slightly on the increase according to most statistics. Because of the partisan orientation of the daily press, many Luxembourgers subscribe to, or read, more than one publication in order to get the full picture.

    The largest daily newspaper, Luxemburger Wort (circulation ca. 79,000), belongs to the Catholic Archbishop of Luxembourg and has close links with the dominant political party, the Christian Social Party (CSV). The Imprimerie Saint-Paul, the country’s largest printing outfit, is its publisher. The paper is published since 2005 in tabloid format. The parent company Groupe Saint-Paul controls also the largest weekly, Télécran (ca. 37,000), a magazine focused on TV programmes, commercial radio stations DNR and Radio Latina, a number of other publications, and extensive book publishing activities. It also edits a weekly, Contacto, in Portuguese (ca. 10,000). Since 2001 the pages which provided a French language résumé of the Wort, predominantly written in German, were incorporated into an autonomous daily, La Voix du Luxembourg (ca. 6,000), entirely written in French, which however shares commercial advertisements and family related announcements (“petites annonces” or “annonces classées”) with the Wort. For about 10 years Groupe Saint-Paul had a 16 percent stake in Medi@Bel, the second largest publishing group in Wallonia, which it gave up in 2003 when confronted with economic difficulties.

    The second largest newspaper, Tageblatt (ca. 26,000), belongs to socialist trade unions and has close links with the Socialist Party (LSAP). The Editpress group, with its own printing facilities, publishes also a weekly, Le Jeudi, in French (ca. 6,000) as well as a weekly, Correio, in Portuguese (ca. 8,000). The Luxembourg edition of Républicain Lorrain (ca. 10,000) was a local edition of the Metz-based French regional newspaper of the same name. It was stopped in 2001 and replaced by Le Quotidien (ca.6,000), a common venture between the publisher of the Lorraine newspaper and Editpress, the parent company of  Tageblatt, which in 2001 also bought the weekly magazine Revue (ca. 27,000). This publication, whth a 60-years-old tradition as a family magazine, now has the same approach as Télécran, providing an overview of TV programmes and dealing with “popular issues” such as events related to the Grand-Ducal Family. Editpress also holds a stake in the commercial radio Eldoradio.

    The Lëtzebuerger Journal (ca. 4,000) is owned by the Liberal party (DP). The Zeitung vum Lëtzebuerger Vollek (ca. 2,000) is owned by the Communist Party (KPL). The influential weekly d'Lëtzebuerger Land (ca. 6,500) is the only truly independent publication together with the satirical weekly Den Neie Feierkrop (ca. 12,000). Both of these publications lack the party or interest group affiliation typical for the other press products in Luxembourg. The weekly Woxx, the former Grënge Spoun (ca. 3,000), rebranded and renamed in 2002, and ceased its affiliation with the Green Party, Déi Grëng.

    In the magazine sector, the publications of the independent publisher Mike Koedinger Editions (mke), especially monthly City magazine and the business magazine paperJam, with circulations of around 25,000 each, play an increasingly influential role and have a growing share of the advertising revenues, which allows them in turn to be distributed largely for free. Two publications in English have changed ownership and are published by an independent publisher: the weekly 352 Luxembourg News and the monthly Business Review, which have an estimated readership of around 5.000 each.

    In 2005, the advertising market in Luxembourg was estimated to be worth around 110 m euro (source: IPL). The market share of the press, although declining, after the broadcasting liberalisation of the early 1990s, is still at around 70 percent despite the multiplication of commercial radio and TV stations. The reason for this high share has to do with the slow start of the new commercial radio stations and limitations on RTL's advertising revenues in Luxembourg. The multinational broadcasting group has been observing a kind of self-restraint as far as advertising revenues of its Luxembourg programming activities are concerned. Another reason can be seen of course in the limited TV and radio outlets RTL, still the country’s main broadcaster, offers to the resident population. Even though programme activities have been considerably increased, there still is no around the clock radio and television service dedicated to local audiences.

    The 1991 law on the promotion of print media, revised in 1998, has however led to a doubling of the direct state aid to the press, in order to compensate for possible loss of advertising revenues following the liberalisation of the radio landscape. The law also contains a provision that calls for periodic review of the level of press subsidies (in 2009 direct and indirect subsidies such as preferential postal tariffs, reduced VAT rates on print paper and services, and the paid inclusion of the verbatim of parliamentary debates in 4 daily newspapers, amounted to nearly 15 million Euro).

    In late 2007, two free sheets were launched on the initiative of the two largest publishing houses, Groupe Saint-Paul and Editpress. Editpress took the lead with the launch of L’Essentiel. This initiative was a joint venture with the Swiss TAMEDIA Group, publisher among others of the TagesAnzeiger and the free sheet 20 Minuten. Groupe Saint-Paul, not very keen on the idea, had to follow suit and launch its own free sheet, Point 24. These two publications are clearly aimed at the 150,000 commuters who everyday come to work into Luxembourg from the neighbouring regions of Belgium, France, and Germany. Three quarters are French-speaking citizens from Lorraine an Wallonia. These two papers are published on work days in French. In mid-2009, Point 24 has added a few pages in German. No reliable figures exist on the advertising market share of these publications. Judging from the amount of ads they get, compared to the established press, their percentage can be estimated at around 5 percent.


    2.2 Radio [top]

    The 1991 media law (see below) formally abolished the monopoly RTL enjoyed on a contractual basis since 1930. Broadcasting franchises were allocated in 1992 to four consortia involving the written press to some extent. Eldoradio, the most successful of the new radios with an estimated audience share of 15 percent, is indirectly controlled by RTL. Other shareholders are newspaper publishers such as Editpress, the Lëtzebuerger Journal and the d'Lëtzebuerger Land.

    Eldoradio is a typical music radio, targeting the younger audiences. Den Neie Radio (DNR), with an estimated audience share of 7 percent, has amongst its shareholders the Groupe Saint-Paul, Luxembourg's leading press group, some Catholic associations and some business interests. This radio aims at competing with RTL Radio Lëtzebuerg as far as news and current affairs coverage is concerned. Radio Latina, with an estimated audience share of 10 percent, addresses itself primarily to the foreigners residing in Luxembourg (44 percent of the country's total population). Its shareholders are immigrants' associations, the Christian trade union LCGB and Régie Saint-Paul, the advertising outlet of Groupe Saint-Paul. Radio Ara (estimated audience share is 4 percent) is owned by organisations belonging to the so-called associative movement. It is the only radio station that tries alternative programming, taking into consideration the needs and desires of all kinds of marginal groups and English-speaking foreigners living in Luxembourg.

    The law identified a third category of radio stations, the so-called local radio. In theory, some 40 locations are possible, but in 2009 only 14 were in operation, most of them broadcasting only for a few hours a day or week. These local radios have to respect strict technical limitations (power of 100 Watt, radius of 5 kilometres) and they are subject to tight restrictions as far as advertisement financing is concerned.

    In 1993, the government established a public radio station called RSC ("établissement public de radio socio-culturelle") or 100.7, which refers to the frequency it uses. RSC, which initially had to share its national FM frequency with RTL, started with broadcasts limited to only a few hours per day. Since 1998 it transmits a 24-hour programme and has the exclusive use of its frequencies. It still relies however on transmission infrastructure owned by RTL. This radio station, which benefits from substantial public funding (around 7 million euro in 2009), and which pursues an ambitious, rather elitist programming policy, has not been a great success so far. Its audience share still does not exceed 2 to 4 percent, a fact that in the eyes of its critics proves the point that it is superfluous in a liberalised environment.


    2.3 Television [top]

    The law enables the government to grant TV franchises besides those held by RTL. This provision has however not been used on a large scale for the obvious reason that advertising revenues are too limited to support a second national TV programme. Two franchises have been granted to regional initiatives carried on cable networks in specific areas of the country a few hours a month (Uelzechtkanal, a non-profit undertaking and Nordliicht, a commercial operation with limited ambitions). In 2002 a licence was granted to Tango TV, a national commercial programme operated by Tele 2, the cellular phone operator, which belongs to the Swedish Kinnevik Group. But it closed down its operations in 2007 for lack of revenue. In 2004, an Open Channel, called DOK (“Den openen Kanal”), started broadcasting on cable networks. It is used by some associations and individuals, but has no ongoing programming. Since 2000, the Luxembourgish Parliament broadcasts life plenary sessions and background information about legislative activities via Chamber TV.

    Despite these timid attempts at liberalisation, RTL continues to dominate the Luxembourg audiovisual landscape. Its radio programme, RTL Radio Lëtzebuerg, remains the most popular with an audience share of above 50 percent. Its local television programme, RTL Télé Lëtzebuerg, has no real challenger and enjoys an audience share above 40 percent for its daily one-hour broadcasts. This programme is broadcast  repeatedly at regular intervals, including a version with an audio channel in French, and carried also via an Astra satellite thanks to government subsidies.

    Luxembourg television audiences consum foreign television programmes with great eagerness. They have a strong preference for programmes originated from Germany, according to the sketchy audience surveys.


    2.4 Cinema [top]

    The movie business in Luxembourg is controlled by one major group, Utopia S.A., which owns all theatres with few exceptions. It has expanded into neighbouring Lorraine and Wallonia. Audiovisual and cinema production is encouraged by the government through a tax shelter scheme which has produced quite a lot of international coproductions.


    2.5 Telecommunications [top]

    The Luxembourg historic operator, Entreprise des Postes et Télécommunications (P&T), is still 100 percent government-owned, which is in itself a curiosity nowadays in Europe. Despite this handicap, in 2008 it has proven to be rather innovative by venturing in the coveted television market. Its subsidiary, Tele vun der Post, offers quite competitive packages consisting of an attractive offer of some 80 programmes. It has also adopted an aggressive strategy in the mobile communications markets, which, though liberalised is still controlled by P&T up to 60 percent via its subsidiary Lux GSM, by offering all kinds of new, media-related content in cooperation with RTL. The same goes for Internet-related applications.

    P&T is trying to regain the ground it lost by not playing a leading role in cable developments over the last decades. The cable landscape in Luxembourg is characterised by an almost pointilist approach, with some 80 cable operators running under very diversified conditions as far as the technical qualities of their networks, offers and prices are concerned. This is a major challenge, considering that 83 percent of households are connected and that more than 30 percent of them have access to Internet via cable TV modems.

    The satellite operator SES Global, whose headquarters are in Luxembourg, has blurred the lines between telecommunications and broadcasting right from its creation in the 1980s. Its core business remains direct-to-home television broadcast platforms, but over the years it has consistently diversified its offer by providing broadband access to populations not served by terrestrial infrastructures, or by proposing satellite services for business and government agencies worldwide (ASTRA Platform Services and ASTRA2Connect for instance). SES Global is the leading provider of satellite communications and broadcast services . With its fleet of 44 satellites at 26 orbital positions its spans the globe and it provides coverage of 99 percent of the world’s population.


    2.6 Sources [top]


    3. New Media [top]


    3.1 Online [top]

    Online Media are slowly taking off, despite the fact that close to 80 percent of the population are at present connected to Internet, most of them regular users. About 60 percent of the people connected have access to broadband. Internet connections are used for all kinds of purposes. First comes information gathering of all sorts, followed by e-mailing, electronic banking, and electronic commerce in that order. 


    3.2 Digital media [top]

    Most media operators have their web sites and the content of newspapers is available online, but most of the time restricted and not totally free of charge for the archive offers. Except for Wort.lu, which employs 6 Internet journalists, there are no separate newsrooms for online offerings. The most popular sites are those operated by Wort, paperJam and RTL. These sites attract most of the advertisement on the net, which represents less than 2 percent of the advertising pie.

    Internet radio (MP3 format) is proposed primarily by RTL and to a lesser extent by RSC and DNR. Digital radio (T-DAB) is not going to happen. Prospects for BRM look better, because RTL finds an obvious interest in such application for its programmes aimed at international audiences.


    3.3 Sources [top]


    4. Media organisations [top]



    4.1 News agencies [top]

    No news agencies operate in Luxembourg. All media outlets use foreign agencies or internal sources.


    4.2 Trade unions [top]

    Except for some activities in the audiovisual and film production, which require foreign producers who want to make use of the tax shelter arrangements to team up with local companies, most of the time on an ad hoc basis, there are no significant spin-off effects from the many media activities that still take place in Luxembourg. The exception being of course the legal profession, especially business lawyers specialising in rights issues. They benefit from the activities of international operators such as RTL Group, SES Global, SES Astra and some online businesses established in Luxembourg.


    4.3 Other media outlets [top]

    The main employers' organisation is the “Association luxembourgeoise des éditeurs de journaux”(ALEJ), which regroups the publishers of daily newspapers, a very efficient lobby in matters of concern to its vested interests (its share of the advertising pie, and the level of public subsidies).

    Journalists are organised in three separate associations, the largest and oldest being the “Association luxembourgeoise des journalistes” regrouping some 180 professional journalists. The “Union luxembourgeoise des journalistes” (UJL) is the platform of journalists working for the media controlled by Groupe Saint-Paul (some 60 affiliates). Altogether there are more than 500 professional journalists, i.e. holders of a press card. About two thirds of them work for print media. One third of all journalists are foreigners living in Luxembourg or neighbouring regions and one-third women.


    4.4 Sources [top]


    5. National media policies [top]


    5.1 Media legislation [top]

    • Media developments in Luxembourg have almost exclusively been the affair of private initiative.
    • The government has encouraged through subsidies and some regulation some developments, especially in the field of print media and international activities in the broadcasting, satellite and electronic commerce fields.
    • Content regulation and ownership rules have been for most of the time inexistent and it is only with the advent of a regulatory framework at the European level that some measures have been taken.

    Media activities have always been almost exclusively the domain of private initiatives. With the exception of videotext and satellite developments (SES, the Luxembourg-based operating company of the ASTRA satellite system), the public sector never had any real stake in media developments, notwithstanding the 'oddity' of RSC. The government has however been instrumental in providing a 'liberal' environment for entrepreneurial developments in the field, encouraging Luxembourg's role as a platform for international operators. This was the main concern of Luxembourg's media policy until 1991 when a new broadcasting law was passed with the intention to diversify the audiovisual offer beyond RTL's de facto monopoly.

    The RTL strategy to become a major player in European broadcasting, highlighted by its takeover by Bertelsmann in early 1997, inevitably has led to a dislocation of its programming activities away from Luxembourg. Only the group headquarters remain in Luxembourg. The growing internationalisation of RTL and the dislocation it entailed led the government to realise that something had to be done to improve the broadcasting offer for the resident population. The considerable success of pirate radios since the early eighties clearly indicated that there was a demand for local broadcasts not fulfilled by the minimalist programmes RTL proposed.

    The government was and is however keen to keep some links between Luxembourg and RTL Group (as the company is called since Bertelsmann became its owner in 2001). To that effect the new franchise agreement signed in April 1995 between the government and RTL Group (called at that time CLT-UFA) establishes a contractual relationship for the next 15 years. All the existing radio and TV licences are prolonged for that period. RTL continues to enjoy a certain commercial exclusivity for its international operations out of Luxembourg.

    The government pledges to grant licences to third parties only if they do not compete with RTL activities. RTL succeeded in being freed of most of its public service obligations, including the requirement to maintain a symphony orchestra, as well as franchise fees. In return for these favours RTL has pledged to keep some activities in Luxembourg and to offer TV and radio programmes for local audiences (the cost of these local programmes, which result in loss-making activities, have been estimated at 120 million euro for the duration of the franchise agreement). The substance of this deal was confirmed after the change of ownership in 2001.

    Luxembourg's media remain only loosely regulated, despite some attempts (notably the 1991 law) to introduce elements of supervision. Press legislation is rudimentary. The constitution mentions freedom of the press with hardly any limitations. An antiquated law of 1869 deals with infractions committed by the press and regulates the right of reply in a not very satisfactory way. A new Press Law of 2004 has brought some progress on these matters but most trials that involve the press are based on damage suits along the lines of civil liability (articles 1382 and 1383 of the 'Code civil').

    A 1976 law introduced the already mentioned direct subsidies to the press in order to safeguard diversity. There are no ownership rules or limitations except for cross-media ownership. The 1991 law on electronic media has limited the stake one single shareholder can have in one of the commercial radios to 25 percent. There is some pressure coming from RTL to get rid of this limitation in order to increase its stake in Eldoradio. No particular content rules are applicable except for offending comments dealt with by the 1869 law and now the 2004 law, which are governed for all practical purposes by the general rules pertaining to civil liability. In the absence of specific legal provisions, the press is subjected to general legislation, and litigation before ordinary courts remains the preferred means to call the media to account. In 2009 the Government has introduced some rather substantial amendments to the existing legislation.


    5.2 Accountability systems [top]

    Main features:

    • Content regulation of the media is not very well developed.
    • Self-regulation is supposed to deal with contentious issues, especially as far as print media are concerned.
    • Regulatory matters are hampered by the government’s policy to promote the country as host to international media developments and vested interests of local media.

     For the last 150 years the issue of the responsibility of the media for their deeds was dealt with according to common law principles. The 2004 Press Law introduced some interesting innovations but encouraged the media to go for self-regulation. Journalists' unions have their code of conduct, albeit vague, and a Press Council (“Conseil de Presse”), composed at par by editors and journalists, is supposed to police the profession. It is guided by a “Code de déontologie” and has a complaints’ commission chaired by a magistrate. Its main activity consists however in delivering press cards.


    5.3 Regulatory authority [top]

    The 1991 law established supervisory or regulatory bodies such as the Independent Broadcasting Commission (“Commission indépendante de la radiodiffusion”) in charge of granting broadcasting authorisations and controlling applications, an advisory Programme Commission (“Conseil national des programmes”) and a consultative Media Commission, which has been dormant since its creation.

    Only the Programme Commission has taken up issues of accountability, but it is not empowered with sufficient authority to have any real impact. All it can do is to attract the attention of the government or public opinion to offences in the media. It has nevertheless been very active in its attempts to police the media and especially RTL radio and TV programmes. But its attempts to extend its competences to the latter’s programming activities abroad, at least those programmes that sail under the Luxembourg flag to bypass national prescriptions in the target countries (Belgium, the Netherlands and Poland among others) have failed for lack of human resources. The Programme Commission was also instrumental to bring about a Code of Ethics (“Code de déontologie”) adopted in 2006 by the Press Council. It is expected that this instrument will enable this body to increase the self-regulation of the profession.

    After long-drawn preparations a new Press Law was finally adopted by Parliament in 2004. It redefines the right of reply and it introduces the right for journalists to protect their sources among its main provisions. In the fields of new media, telecommunications and Internet developments, the “Institut luxembourgeois de regulation” (ILR) is  supposed to arbitrate between the incumbent operator, the EPT, and new players. Its role has been rather discreet, to say the least.


    5.4 Sources [top]


    6. Media resources [top]



    6.1 Learning and support [top]

    The scarcity of data and the lack of research has to do with the fact that no specialised research institutes exist in the country and that the young Université du Luxembourg (started in 2005) has a faculty of Science, Technology and Communication (FSTC). There is no formal journalism education. The Government’s Service des Médias et des Communications offers some facts and figures on its website. So does the Government’s Statistical Office STATEC.


    6.2 Prime sources for detailed information [top]

    Apart from the above mentioned two Government bodies, there re no comprehensive media statistics available other than sparsely released information from media operators. Another Government body, the Centre des Technologies de l’Information de l’Etat, provides some useful information on ITC.


    6.3 Sources [top]


    7. Conclusions [top]


    7.1 Development trends [top]

    Main features:

    • Despite a remarkably lively media landscape, Luxembourg’s media will have to take on sooner or later the market test of their viability.
    • Luxembourg has been for decades at the forefront of media liberalisation in Europe (RTL and the Astra satellite system). It could become a victim of developments it has initiated so successfully for so long.

    Over the last years, Luxembourg has experienced significant changes in its media organisation. The abolition of RTL's monopoly status in 1991 was certainly overdue, but so far it has not let to dynamic media activities alongside RTL's domestic activities. The radio liberalisation that started in 1992 was too ambitious and a concentration process is likely to take place, particularly as the government has pledged to abolish ownership ceilings in radio activities. It has also announced that it is going to lift the limitations on advertising revenues imposed on RTL's local radio and TV activities.

    The Luxembourg press is of course a special case. Its amazing diversity can be attributed to the generous public subsidies but also to the more than obvious links between political parties and newspapers. Provided these two requisites stay in place, Luxembourg will continue to enjoy pluralism in the printed press, which is unusual in the European context and a remarkable endeavour by itself.

    The audiovisual media are rapidly switching from analogue to digital modes of transmission. This should be achieved by 2011, even though analogue transmission will go on for some time. This eagerness for an all-digital environment is related to ambitious plans by the government to push broadband developments by setting up LuxConnect, a competing company to the incumbent telecoms operator, Entreprise des Postes et Télécommunications, which is 100 percent state-owned. It has also to be seen in relation with SES Global’s plans to force the pace of digital developments, notably HDTV, in particular in Germany.

    As far as its traditional role as home for international activities in the broadcasting field is concerned, Luxembourg certainly suffered some serious setbacks. RTL has outgrown its Luxembourg origins, especially after its absorption by Bertelsmann. The main reason why broadcasting as one of Luxembourg's preferred export articles has declined in importance has of course to do with the fact that commercial broadcasting has become a common feature in Europe. Consequently, the detour via Luxembourg is no longer necessary.


    7.2 References [top]

    • On the press:  Hilgert, R. (2004) “ Les journaux au Luxembourg  1704-2004”, Service Information et Presse, Luxembourg.
    • On the media landscape and in particular audiovisual media, see the chapters on Luxembourg written by Mario Hirsch in the Internationales Handbuch für Rundfunk und Fernsehen, Hans-Bredow-Institut, Nomos, and Baden-Baden 2009 and in The Media in Europe: The Euromedia Handbook, Sage, London 2004.

    7.3 Contact [top]

    Mario Hirsch
    director of the Institut Pierre Werner
    28, rue Münster
    L-2160 Luxembourg
    Tel. +3524904431
    Email:: Hirsch@ipw.lu


    Media landscape : Ireland


    Last updated: 05 November 2010


    1. Introduction [top]

    image

    The Republic of Ireland is situated on the western fringes of Europe. It is militarily neutral but a member of the EU and is in the Eurozone. Six of the 32 counties are within the United Kingdom, which has a devolved government and has a different media legal and regulatory environment to the Republic of Ireland. The population of the Republic of Ireland is estimated to be 4,203,200. Even with a rise in the number of foreign national settling in Ireland over the past 10 to 15 years, 87.4 percent of the population are classified within the census as white Irish. 7.5 percent of the population are white European, mainly from other EU countries. There are also relatively small numbers from Asian and African countries.

    The official language is Irish, or Gaeilge, which is spoken as an everyday language by the people who live in a small number of communities along the west coast. However, in recent years there has been a revival of interest in the language and there has been a growth in the number of schools that teach through Irish. However the main spoken language is, by far, English, which is also the language of most of the media. Irish language media has tended to be government supported as part of its policy to support the language.

    Ireland has a relative underdeveloped economy since southern Ireland gained independence in 1922, a fact that was underlined by high emigration, unemployment and other factors common to struggling economies. Since the mid 1990s, however, that changed dramatically with the emergence of what came to be known as the Celtic Tiger, and Ireland experienced one of the fastest growing economies in the world. Growth, measured in GDP, averaged six percent between 1995 and 2007.

    In a single decade unemployment fell to about four percent, which is more or less full employment. Factors that fuelled the economic boom were low corporation taxes, greater access to third level education, and social partnerships between governments and trade unions. Low taxes and a light regulatory regime attracted foreign investment, mainly from the US, and consequently by 1997, nearly half of all manufacturing jobs were in foreign-owned companies, illustrating the importance of a growth-orientated approach, helped by EU funding. However, a huge reliance on a property bubble- property prices rose more rapidly in Ireland between 1996 and 2006 than in any other developed country- meant new houses mushroomed right across the Irish landscape.

    The property boom meant the Irish economy and the banking system was especially vulnerable when a downturn came, which happened with the banking crisis of 2007. Just as in Iceland, the boom came crashing down as it became clear the economic growth had been fuelled in recent years by huge loans given for property development or for buying property.

    In 2008 the Government gave guarantees in order to recapitalize the banks, nationalized one bank, and in 2009 brought in the toughest budget in the history of the state, with huge reductions in public servants’ pay, a pensions levy, cuts in social welfare payments, and cuts in other tax funded area. A growth in unemployment has led to a severe reduction in the government’s tax take. There has been a halt in building and a severe reduction in consumer spending. It has also established the National Asset Management Agency, a ‘bad bank’ that will take over the bad debts incurred by the banks lending policies during the period of the property boom.

    All these developments, both the boom and the subsequent downturn, have had a profound impact on the media environment with implications for ownership, employment as well as media diversity.


    2. Traditional Media [top]



    2.1 Print Media [top]

    Ireland has traditionally had a strong and highly competative print media. It is divided into daily national newspapers and a strong regional sector of weekly newspapers. The national newspaper market is further divided into distinct daily and Sunday markets. Northern Ireland has its own newspapers. There are few sales of Belfast newspapers in the South and similarly with south newspapers sales in Northern Ireland, with a few exceptions, are insignificant.

    There is little tradition of subscribing to newspapers and there is increasing evidence of readers willing to change newspapers depending on the front page. The strong link between newspapers and ones political affiliation, which was a strong feature of the Irish newspaper market broke down during the 1980s and 1990s, and saw its death knell in the demise of the Irish Press Group in 1995. The three newspapers in the group had been established by one of the founders of the State, Eamon DeValera, in 1931and for many years was read by those who held a traditional nationalist view and supported DeValera’s Fianna Fail party. Due to a number of factors and after many attempted to save the group, including going tabloid, which drove away its aging traditional readers without attracting new younger readers, the newspapers finally collapsed.

    A unique feature of the Irish print media scene is the strength of the British press in Ireland. It is obviously a factor of both the geographic, cultural and linguistic closeness of the two countries combined with a degree of post colonialism, but it is still a unique phenomenon. Since the mid 1990s newspapers published in London had targeted the Irish market, using Irish editions- often little more than then the word ‘Irish’ appearing on the mast head and two to four Irish pages wrapped round British content. British newspapers have always been available in Ireland and read, often for sports coverage of British soccer and horse racing, but as the Irish economy grew it became an increasing attractive proposition to specifically target Ireland in order to gain advertising revenue. Rough circulation figure comparisons suggest about one quarter of all daily newspaper sales are for newspapers published in London and one third of Sunday purchases.

    The sales of Ireland’s national newspapers, including those British published newspapers that offer Irish editions are about, Irish Independent, 152,204; Irish Examiner, 50,346; The Irish Times, 114,488; Irish Daily Star, 102,884; Irish Daily Mirror, 64194; The Irish Sun, 96,725; Irish Daily Mail, 52,144; Evening Herald, 71,187. The total sales of daily national newspapers stands at 704,172

    The sales for Sunday Titles are: Sunday Independent, 272,174; Sunday World, 277,504; The Sunday Business Post , 57,783; The Sunday Tribune, 65,727; Irish Daily Star Sunday, 59,691, Irish News of the World, 134,461; Irish Sunday Mirror, 40,224; The Sunday Times, 116,541; Irish Mail on Sunday, 122,991. Total Sunday Titles Circulation: 1147096. These figures are for the six months, January to June, 2009.

    However, like newspaper sales throughout most of the western world circulations are on a downward trend, a trend that appeared to quicken towards the end of last year. Sales for the second half of  2009 shows:

    •  The Irish Times: down 7.4 percent
    •  Irish Independent: down 3 percent
    •  Evening Herald: down 7.4 percent
    •  The Irish Examiner: down 6.6 percent
    •  The Irish Daily Star: down by 6.9 percent

    Sunday newspapers also suffered. The Sunday Business Post's circulation was down 4.9 per cent over the last six months, the Sunday Independent was down by 0.8 per cent, the Sunday Tribune was down 9.5 per cent and the Sunday World was down 5.2 percent.

    British newspapers that publish Irish editions were not uniformly affected by the trend, with some showing small increases.

    The Irish Times is the oldest national newspaper, founded in 1859 as a ‘unionist’ newspaper, that is one that supported the union of Britain and Ireland. However, since the middle of the last century it has developed into a liberal newspaper, which would see itself as in the same newspaper tradition as the Guardian of London, Le Monde or Liberation of Paris, or El Pais of Madrid. It has strong European and world coverage. It is owned by a non-profit making trust since the early 1970s. It was a pioneer in online newspaper presence. It hit financial crisis about seven years ago and was forced to cut down on the numbers employed, which impacted on its world coverage and it reduced the number of correspondents it maintained overseas as well as the number of journalists employed in its Dublin newsroom. It still has resident staff correspondents in London, Brussels, Washington, Paris as well as contract journalists in Berlin, Eastern Europe and other areas of the world.

    It has diversified over the past ten years, investing in an expensive online property site, called MyHome.ie,  a small investment in radio, as well as a group of Dublin local newspapers, the Gazette Group and a women’s magazine, The Gloss. The Gazette Group has had to make severe cuts in recent times and the Gloss now only appears as an insert in the Irish Times.

    The Irish Independent is the mainstay of the global media company, Independent News and Media (INM) and was founded out of the merging of a number of newspapers that reflected political change at the end of the 19th century. It has traditionally been a mid market, conservative newspaper, loyal to the Catholic Church and the more conservative of the two political parties that emerged out of the struggles for national independence and the civil war in the first years of the Irish state in the 1920s. Today it is a mid-market paper that remains conservative, but is less loyal to traditional sources of authority in Ireland, which, of course, have also lost their authority. Its Sunday version has developed into a mix of fierce polemic combined with gossip-led celebrity journalism. The group has interests in Australia, India, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom. It is also the largest newspaper group in Northern Ireland.

    Since 1973 Independent Newspapers, later INM, has been controlled by Dr Tony O’Reilly, a businessman and former chairman of Heinz Corporation. However, in 2009 Dr O’Reilly (79) stepped down as chief executive in favour of his son, Gavin. He did so in the middle of a battle for control of the company led by businessman, Dennis O’Brien, who also controls substantial radio interests in Ireland and abroad. Mr O’Brien has managed to gain 25 percent of INM and has very publicly fought with O’Reilly over differences concerning the direction of the company and issues of corporate governance. In March of 2009 the board was restructured and O’Brien gained three nominees on the board of INM. The boardroom battles for control of the company, worth about €1.5 billion world wide, were a mystery for most Irish people and times it seemed more personal than related to business. The story has moved from the business pages of the newspapers and has taken on some aspects of a soap opera. One of O’Brien’s demands was that the group sells off the loss making London Independent and Independent on Sunday, which have never made money since INM purchased the two titles in 1995. However, talks are taking place with the Russian tycoon and former KGB agent, Alexander Lebedev, the owner of the London Evening Standard and the Russian liberal newspaper, Novaya Gazeta.

    The Irish Examiner emerged out of the Cork Examiner, founded 1841, the Republic’s only regional daily newspaper, serving mainly county Cork and surrounding areas. The group Thomas Crosbie Holdings (TCH), owns 17 newspapers, including the Examiner and three radio stations. The group’s newspaper holdings are mainly regional newspapers with the exception of the country’s main business paper, the Sunday Business Post. The Examiner has been in the hands of the Crosbie family since 1872. In 1996 the newspaper’s name was change to The Examiner and in 2000 to the Irish Examiner.

    Until the 1970s Irish newspapers were essentially serious, seeing their role as involved in nation building, a role common in newly independent states. Some attempts at lighter formats, such as the Sunday Review, an early tabloid owned by The Irish Times, which was published between 1957 and 1963, failed to find an audience. In 1972 the Sunday World was established. It was a traditional tabloid in the British model, with its red masthead and cheeky style. It specializes in crime and showbiz coverage. A number of other newspapers have adopted a tabloid format. The Evening Herald, owned by INM is a tabloid format and the Irish Independent comes in both broadsheet and tabloid versions, but is not a tabloid in the traditional sense.

    The Irish Star is a daily tabloid owned by INM and Express Newspapers in the UK. It does carry some content found in its British version, but the Irish version has evolved into a different newspaper and is clearly an Irish tabloid, rather than simply an Irish edition. It is offers a mix of campaigning journalism, with much sport, showbiz and celebrity journalism.

    The other tabloid daily newspapers are the Irish Sun and the Irish Daily Mirror. Both are Irish editions of British newspapers and in Britain both are highly successful. The Sun, for instance, is Britain’s most popular newspaper that specializes in irreverent stories and headlines. However, what is interesting is that the very consciously Irish tabloid, the Irish Daily Star outsells both and with a higher cover price.

    Regional Newspapers

    It is possible to count over 100 local and regional weekly newspapers in Ireland, but probably about 60 with significant circulations and impact within their local areas. Until the 1990s most were family owned and had long histories, often going back to the 19th century. However, as the Irish economy experienced growth, regional newspapers, many operating as monopolies in their circulation area, were seen as attractive and profitable investments and were bought by major media groups. Today most regional weekly newspapers are owned media groups, as the following shows:

    Independent News and Media now owns: the Kerryman;  The Corkman; the  Bray People;  The Wicklow People; The Carlow People; The Wexford People;  The Dungarvan People; The Enniscorthy Guardian; The Gorey Guardian; The New Ross Standard; The Fingal Independent; The Drogheda Independent; The Argus; The Sligo Champion;  Ireland’s Own;  The Belfast Telegraph and  The Sunday Life in Northern Ireland.

    The company also owns two newspaper wholesale and distribution companies, Newspread  and in Northern Ireland, Wholesale Newspaper Service Ltd, as well as the the Irish Independent; the Sunday Independent and the Evening Herald titles. The company also has a half share in the country’s biggest selling tabloid, the Irish Daily Star, a controlling share in the Sunday broadsheet, the Sunday Tribune and the Sunday tabloid, the Sunday World

    Thomas Crosbie Holdings, the owner of the Irish Examiner owns The Kildare Nationalist; the Laois Nationalist; the Wexford Echo; the New Ross Echo; the Waterford News and Star; the Roscommon Herald; the Corey Echo;  the Down Democrat; the Western people; the Evening Echo; The Kingdom; the Sligo Weekender’ the Enniscorthy Echo; the Gorey Echo as well as three local radio stations, Red FM and Midwest Radio and WLR FM.

    The Alpha Newspaper Group, which owns 12 regional weeklies in Northern Ireland bought a number of newspapers in the south, including the Longford News; the Roscommon Champion; the Midlands Tribune and the Tullamore Tribune.

    The Celitc Media Group now owns the Westmeath Examiner; the Anglo Celt;  the Meath Chronicle; the Westmeath Independent and the Offaly Independent.

    The Gazette Group of newspapers, a string of weeklies that serve the Dublin suburbs is owned by The Irish Times,

    Many analysts maintained the amount of money that changed hands for newspapers in the early years of the economic boom was unrealistic. However, given the health of the advertising market, especially in areas such as property and recruitment, it appeared any amount of money was worth to get in on the economic windfalls. The newspaper sector today is totally unrecognizable to anyone who knew it in the late 1990s, with most family owned titles now owned by media groups. However, many of the same papers that were so eagerly bought up are now on the market again, victims of the advertising downturn.


    2.2 Radio [top]

    Radio is and has been hugely popular in Ireland. Listenership surveys show a consistent 85 percent of adults listen to a mix of national, regional and local radio everyday. The most popular programmes have traditionally been news-driven morning programmes, drive-time news programmes in the evening, and magazine and phone-in programmes. Increase in unemployment has hit the drive-time programmes listenership figures since the downturn, but there is still a healthy interest in news-driven, talk radio in Ireland, with news-led programmes constantly coming top in the listenership surveys. While the majority of the commercial radio stations are music driven, there is little doubt that Irish audiences like talk.

    RTE operates four national radio channels; Radio 1 with traditional public service radio programming; 2 FM a 24-hour music radio station; Raidio na Gaeltachta with public service radio programming in the Irish language, and Lyric FM, a 24-hour classical music and arts channel. RTE Radio 1 is the most popular single station, though in some areas of the country some local radio stations, in particular, have successfully challenged its supremacy, like Highland Radio in Co Donegal in the north west of the country, which has the highest market penetration in its area in the country.

    In early 2006 there were 54 licensed independent ‘sound broadcasting services’ (radio stations) in Ireland. Like print one of the issues with radio has been ownership and there is little doubt radio has been regulated with a light touch.

    Communicorp, which is controlled by the businessman, Dennis O’Brien, owns Dublin’s 98 FM, and Spin 103.8; Spin South West, the national music and talk station, Today FM and the national talk radio station, Newstalk. Communicorp did control Independent Network News (INN), which supplied national news to local radio stations, but closed it, with the loss of 16 journalists’ jobs. It was said the reason was the down turn in the advertising market.

    Meanwhile the Northern Ireland holder of the British commercial television franchise, UTV, has entered the radio market and now has eight radio stations in Northern Ireland and in the Republic. These include stations in major urban areas, such as Dublin’s Q102, and FM 104Limerick, Live 95 FM, Galway’s Galway Bay FM, Beat, based in the south east and includes Waterford City and Cork City’s Cork 96 FM. It also has the station for the two counties, Meath and Louth, LMFM. In Northern Ireland it operates the radio station, U105, and, of course, the TV channel, UTV.

    RTE, the public service provider, operates two national stations, and Irish language station and an arts and classical music station. However, it has also began broadcasting digital radio, with six stations now available on a DAB system.


    2.3 Television [top]

    Ireland’s public service broadcaster Radio Telifis Eireann (RTE) has dominated broadcasting in Ireland since the 1920s and even in a more competitive world continues to do so. It is funded by both a license fee and advertising. RTE operates two national television services: RTE 1, and Network 2. Ireland has a third public service broadcasting channel, the Irish-language Telefis na Gailge (TG4). Apart from the public service broadcaster TG4, indigenous competition to RTE television is the private commercial general television channel TV3.

    The year 2006 saw the start up of three additional commercial television channels: a sports channel; a general entertainment channel, Channel 6, which has since been rebranded by its parent company TV3 as 3e; and the Dublin City Channel, a cable television channel. They have been joined by a number of other ‘city’ channels, for Cork, Galway and Waterford. Three community channels have also been licensed. In total the regulator has licensed 14 television services

    Even before RTE television was established in 1960 people living on the east coast of Ireland or near the border with Northern Ireland were able to receive British television, especially the BBC. At that time and for many years afterwards, massive aerials that could pick up British television from either Northern Ireland or Wales dominated the skyline of Dublin. For over 40 years, however, British television has been received via cable and more recently satellite. In terms of channel share of viewing in 2005 the 2 RTE channels were the most popular with over 30 percent market share. The other main channels were TV3 (11.5 percent), BBC1 (8.6 percent), UTV (7.2 percent), Channel 4 (5.1 percent), BBC2 (4.3 percent), TG4 (2.7 percent), Sky1 (2.5 percent). The commercial channels seek advertising revenue in the Republic, making the island of Ireland in effect one media market. UTV is unique in that it has more viewers outside its franchise area of Northern Ireland, in the Republic of Ireland, than within it. This environment, which now includes many specialist sports, film and other channels offered to viewers to opt for particular satellite or other packages, means RTE operates in a highly competitive media market.

    50 percent of RTE’s broadcast material is domestic product, but in the case of the other Irish stations, domestic product content ranges from 27 percent to 45 percent.


    2.4 Cinema [top]

    The Irish film industre grew from a tiny, rather amateur activity prior to the 1990s to a vibrant and commercially viable industry with significant employment into the 21st century. Its growth can be put down to a supportive government, led by the then Minister for Arts and Culture, Michael D Higgins, tax breaks and the revamping and professionalising of the An Bord Scannán na hÉireann (the Irish Film Board) as well as organisations such as the Irish Film Institute. Another impetus to the industry was the encouragement of independent production companies and the policy of earmarking some of RTE’s budget for independent programme makers, who might also be involved in film. The EUs audio visual policy and the encouragement of European co productions had a major impact on the industry in Ireland. A report carried out for the Film Board suggested the industry was worth over €550 million and represented 0.3 percent of GDP. Probably more importantly it employed over 6,000 people. The report was carried out in 2008 and due to adverse economic conditions over the past two years, that figure has probably declined in the meantime.

    Over the past 20-years Ireland has produced a number of producers and directors giving it an influence disproportionate to its size. Film makers such as Jim Sheridan, Neill Jordon, Conor McPhersn, Martin McDonagh, Damien O’Donnell, Paddy Breathnach, Thaddeus O’Sullivan and Pat Murphy and film actors, such as Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Liam Neeson, Brenda Fricker, Cillian Murphy and Stephen Rea either have or are growing international reputations.

    In reality  there are two film industries in Ireland; the indigenous industry and the international productions that keep crews and actors working and brings in investment. Big productions have also brought  immeasurable benefits to Irish tourism and the promotion of Irish culture. The indigenous industry is increasingly seen as central to the creation of a smart digital economy, providing experience to those developing new technologies and giving outlets to writers and other creative workers.

    Some of the most successful Irish films include: The Wind That Shakes the Barley (2006): Michael Collins (1996): Angela’s Ashes (1999): The Field (1990): the Commitments (1991): Once (2007): Inside I’m Dancing (2004): In Bruges  (2008)

    Censorship of  films has been a feature of the Irish film landscape since Irish independence. The long list of banned films  and the cuts that often made films unintelligable were famous. The bans and cuts were usually made in accordante with a strict adherance to Catholic teaching. A liberalisation process of film censorship had begun in the 1960s under the then Minister for Justice, Brian Lenihan. The office of the film censor was changed in 2008, to that of the office of film classification in 2008. The change was made by the son of Brian Lenihan, himself also as Justice Minister.


    2.5 Telecommunications [top]

    Telecommunications in the Republic of Ireland, are regulated by the Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg). The Minister for Communications, Energy & Natural Resources has overall responsibility for national policy and regulation. All of Ireland's communications infrastructure is now digital but progress in broadband technology has been somewhat slow. ComReg’s role covers all kinds of transmission networks including:

    • Traditional telephone wire
    • Traditional television and radio
    • Radio Communications including fixed wireless
    • MMDS and deflector operators providing TV services
    • Mobile operators providing voice and data services
    • Licensing Framework for Satellite Services in Ireland
    • Postal delivery network

    ComReg’s role includes encouraging competition in the communications sector by facilitating those who wish to enter the telecommunications market and by regulating entry to the network and services. Its role is part of the liberalisation of the telecommunications market. In a rapidly evolving sector, both in technological and commercial terms, ComReg provides the framework for the introduction of new services such as 3G.

    Deregulation of the marketplace has meant new entrants to the market now account for 32 percent of the market share.

    Broadband is now available in Ireland via DSL, Cable, Wireless and Satellite. ComReg the Irish Communications Regulator has claimed  DSL is available to about 88 percent of homes and businesses, however this figure is disputed by many business and other pressure groups claiming it only reflects the number of telephone lines connected to a broadband enabled exchange, not whether those lines are of a high enough quality to receive a DSL connection. There are constant complaints about the actual speeds of the broadband connections available. New ways of viewing online material, such as file sharing and video streaming that requires constant speeds, rather than sporadic speeds, as is needed when looking at individual speeds, has exacerbated the problem.

    In 2008 the Minister for Communications, Eamonn Ryan, has announced new planned investment in broadband infrastructure, which may see every household in Ireland capable of receiving broadband speeds of 100mb by 2012. .Five percent of lines connected to broadband-enabled exchanges cannot avail of DSL, due to distance and other issues. Business interests complain that companies are falling behind in the area of online commercial activity because of lack of broadband and adequate speeds.

    There are four mobile telecommunications providers - 3 Ireland, O2 Ireland, Meteor and Vodafone Ireland.


    2.6 Sources [top]


    3. New Media [top]



    3.1 Online [top]

    The two most popular online services are provided by traditional media outlets, RTE- the public service TV and radio provider- and The Irish Times, the main quality newspaper. The Audit Burean of Circulation, which gives circulation figures for newspapers has also started proving a similar service for online services indicates that Rte.ie has recorded 2.93 unique users per month, while irishtimes.ie has 2.3 million. Independent Digital, which includes a number of news sites and classified advertising sites also recorded 2.3 million users, but the number of visitors to its news site, independent.ie was 1.8 million. Despite such credible numbers most sites run by traditional media are still struggling to make their online services viable, as advertising and other revenue is still small and in most cases hardly covers the operational costs. The Irish Times did charge for its online content for a number of years, but decided to return to the traditional free model, when it saw its users go elsewhere.


    3.2 Digital media [top]

    A range of online competitors to traditional media has emerged.  Many of these sites are generating significant traffic and operate with minimal resources and not all could be considered to be commercial ventures. They tend to be niche players, for example Politics.ie for political news and views, Beaut.ie for fashion and beauty, AskaAboutMoney.com for personal finance etc.

    Traditional advertising models are under threat and newspapers have lost much of their classified advertising businesses. Sites like Daft.ie are now dominant in property, while sites like CarZone.ie are dominating motoring classified.  The Irish Times and The Irish Independent have had very mixed fortunes with websites they have acquired.  The Irish Times bought MyHome.ie, a major property sales site at the top of the market, but it has since lost out to other sites, such as Daft.ie, with no traditional media connections.  Search engine marketing -- mainly Google AdWords -- is also sucking revenues away from newspapers, in particular.  In 2010, online will be the third largest advertising category in Ireland, behind press and TV and is expected to grow by 9 percent this year when the overall market is expected to decline by 7 percent (source: Billetts)

    The cost base for traditional media's online offerings is generally far higher than for online-only ventures, but traditional media might feel somewhat aggrieved as it is they who are covering news and current affairs that becomes the basis of the content of many online sites. However, there are indications that new news and current affairs sites are being planned that might generate original content.

    RTE now has a number of dedicated digital radio services and its FM services are also available in digital format. However, commercial radio has been slow to go digital.


    3.3 Sources [top]


    4. Media organisations [top]



    4.1 News agencies [top]

    Ireland had no national news agency. There was a government  funded agency which operated between 1949 and 1957. There are a number of private news agencies mainly operating within the court system, offering media outlets pictures and stories from the Courts of Law. Many Irish newspapers subscribe to international news agencies, such as Reuters, the Press Association, AFP, or take services offered by newspapers overseas.


    4.2 Trade unions [top]

    The National Union of Journalists, which operates in both Britain and Ireland organises  journalists in print, broadcasting and online, including photographers and production workers. It also has in membership many public relations practitioners and information officers, as well as civil servants who are working in communications, such as those who work for the Government Information Service (GIS). The NUJ is by far the most significant media trade union, with nearly 90 percent of all journalists as members. Its press card is the only one recognized by the Irish police and defence forces and other agencies. It also comments on issues relating to press freedom, legal issues relating to the media and campaigns for media reform. The NUJ, though linked to the union in Britain, has its own executive and structures and publishes its own small magazine in Ireland. It is affiliated to the Brussels based, International Federation of Journalists.

    Film workers, broadcasting production workers and other media workers who are not in the NUJ tend to be members of the largest general workers union, the Services, Industrial, Professional and Technical Union, SIPTU, which has special sections for media workers. In has also incorporated the actors union, Irish Actors Equity.

    Union influence had reduced in recent years. A number of new employers have refused to recognise union for bargaining purposes. These include the commercial television service, TV3 as well as a number of radio stations. News Corporation, which has been traditionally hostile to trade unions, does not recognise union in Ireland, similar to other countries where the company operates. Irish owned media tends to recognise union and have agreements with them. Despite a new refusal to recognise union, the majority of journalists still retain NUJ membership.


    4.3 Other media outlets [top]

    There are well over 100 production companies involved in film, programme making and animation. Many are also involved in making advertising and other media work. Independent production was given a major boost in 1996 with the established of TG4, the Irish language television channel, which operates as a publisher-broadcaster and has no production facilities itself and so relies on outside production companies.

    As well as producing programmes for RTE and other broadcasting companies, independent production companies also apply to the Sound and Vision fund to make programmes, both radio and television, reflecting Irish culture and heritage. This scheme is funded from five percent of the television licence fee under the Broadcasting (Funding Act) 2003.


    4.4 Sources [top]


    5. National media policies [top]

    It is hard to discern a national media policy in Ireland. It took nearly 20 years to reform libel law and government has yet to deal effectively with issues of media ownership. What has characterized the relationship between government and the media is a deep suspicion, especially of RTE. The new broadcasting legislation, which reduces the powers of the RTE Authority in favour of an authority for all broadcasting has been described by a number of observers as detrimental to public service broadcasting.

    A strong belief in the market has informed media policy, with government loath to interfere in issues surrounding ownership and other issues. A threat of privacy legislation hangs over journalists who have been told that legislation that has already been approved by Cabinet could be introduced at anytime.


    5.1 Media legislation [top]

    Debates surrounding media and the law have been dominated by defamation and libel in Ireland since 1991 when a government appointed body, the Law Reform Commission, recommended major changes in Ireland’s libel laws, easily the most draconian within the EU. Successive governments have resisted the campaign led by media organization until recently. A new defamation law came into affect on January 1st, 2010. As far as the media is concerned the new law has not materially changed the balance between the right to publish and the right to ones good name. The presumption of falsity remains- that is the assumption that the media is guilty and must prove the statement published is true and/or fair comment or honest opinion. There are new grounds for defence that have been incorporated into the law, including qualified privilege, and innocent publication. The new law gives a shorter limitation period, the possibility of the courts issuing a statement of wrong, without any damages and also it will now be possible for the media to issue an apology without the assumption that the newspaper or other outlet is therefore  admitting liability.

    There are still fears the government could bring in a privacy law, especially as one has already been prepared and approved by the government. Many politicians are fearful of what they perceive as a growing ‘tabloidisation’, or lowering of standards, within the Irish media. Whether politicians are being too sensitive or have a genuine point is for debate. Some editors have suggested the privacy bill would make it difficult to publish or broadcast contentious news stories, as subjects of stories would be able to stop publication, if contacted to comment, by claiming their privacy would be breeched. It could mean the normal and ethical journalism practice of giving people the opportunity to comment on stories concerning them might be dropped. There is little doubt that if the government goes ahead and introduces a privacy act, it would be challenged, probably to the European Court of Human Rights.

    The other area that has faced change has been in the broadcasting area. Late in 2009 the new Broadcasting Act came into force, which established the new Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, The Broadcasting Act 2009 provides for a significant expansion of the role and responsibility of the old Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, which had no responsibility for Public Service Broadcasting, namely RTE, which now comes within the ambit of the new body.

    Following a campaign led by members of the National Union of Journalists and other activists  through an organisation called Let In The Light, the Irish Government introduced a Freedom of Information Act in 1997. At the time it was considered a major contribution to accountability and openness and was praised internationally by free-speech advocacy groups. However, in 2003 the Government amended the Act, putting in place payments for Freedom of Information requests and limiting what the government, especially, was forced to disclose. This was seen by journalists as a major attack on press freedom.

    There are examples of cross-ownership of print, audiovisual and online media but there is no anti-trust legislation to prevent media concentration except general competition law, which has shown itself not really up to dealing with the complex area of media ownership.


    5.2 Accountability systems [top]

    The Press Council of Ireland was established on January 1st, 2008. The Press Council of Ireland is unique in that if has an ombudsman and a press council. The Council is a sort of court of appeal for complainants who are not satisfied with the actions of the ombudsman and his reading of the code of practice. The Council was established following a long debate and campaign for changed in Ireland’s defamation laws. The Press Council is funded by the industry and has a representative of the journalists’ trade union and members of the public, who apply to be members and are interviewed.

    There is also a legally established complaints structure for broadcasting, incorporated into the Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, which came into in 2009, succeeding the old Broadcasting Commission of Ireland and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission.

    Advertising has the Advertising Standards Authority, a voluntary body that regulates the industry. The Public Relations Institute of Ireland has its own code of conduct as well as offering training and other services for the industry.


    5.3 Regulatory authority [top]

    Late in 2009 the new Broadcasting Act came into force, which established the new Broadcasting Authority of Ireland, The Broadcasting Act, 2009.   It replaced the old Broadcasting Commission of Ireland, which was responsible for licencing independent commercial radio and television. The new authority is responsible for all broadcasting, including public service broadcasters including RTE.  The Authority has to consult with the Minster responsibility for Communicationson a range of public service broadcasting matters including assessing the extent to which RTE and the Irish language station, TG4, has fulfilled its public service commitments in respect of its public service objectives. It also reviews the funding levels to ensure there is the funding necessary to carry  the public service role.

    The BAI will also licence independent, commercial, broadcasters, examine ownership issues and operate a complaints procedure. However, it is its role within public service broadcasting that caused much controversy. There were those who worried about the new BAI, heir to a body, the BCI, which never had any public service remit at all, now taking over so much of the regulatory functions of RTE’s own Authority, which remains, but with diminished responsibilities. Obviously issues concerning the independence for the Public Service Broadcaster are uppermost in the minds of many employed in RTE and other interested observers.

    The Broadcasting Authority of Ireland has a number of functions, as set out in legislation. These functions include : to develop of a Statement of Strategy for the regulation of broadcasting services in Ireland: to develop broadcasting codes and rules; to develop of a right of reply scheme; to licence broadcasting and multiplex services; to provide guidance for RTÉ and TG4 and to consult with the ComReg on frequency planning and allocation for radio and television services.

    The Commission for Communications Regulation (ComReg) was established in 2002. ComReg is the statutory body responsible for the regulation of the electronic communications sector (telecommunications, radio communications and broadcasting transmission) and the postal sector.

    The printed media has a voluntary regulatory system, the Press Council of Ireland, which was established in 2008.


    5.4 Sources [top]


    6. Media resources [top]



    6.1 Learning and support [top]

    Practitioners, preferring ‘on the job’ training, have viewed journalism and media training generally, with some suspicion. Despite this, however, journalists are increasingly been recruited from degree programmes, both undergraduate and postgraduate.

    The two main providers of media and journalism education and training, are the Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT) and Dublin City University (DCU). DIT offers undergraduate programmes in journalism as well as media practice for film and broadcasting. It also has post-graduate programmes in public relations, advertising and in journalism, including a programme in international journalism as well as a number of digital media post graduate programmes. DCU has undergraduate journalism and media degree programmes as well as a number of masters programme. National University of Ireland, Galway, offer a one year Masters programme in journalism, while the University of Limerick has recently established an undergraduate and post graduate programme in journalism. There are many non-degree programmes also offering journalism, usually two year courses. There are also a number of private colleges that offer journalism courses.

    The main academic journal offering analysis on media and journalism is the Irish Communications Review, which is published by the School of Media at DIT. A number of other journals some times deal with media issues within the context of sociology, politics or culture. There has been a major increase in books concerning media and journalism in Ireland in recent years.

    There are a number of degree programmes for those seeking to pursue communications studies. Most of these are theoretical in emphasis. DIT offers a programme in film and broadcasting, with a fifty-fifty split between theory and practice. University College, Dublin and National University of Ireland, Galway, and Trinity College, Dublin have film studies programmes. The National Film School is based at the Institute of Art, Design and Technology, Dun Laoghaire, south of Dublin.


    6.2 Prime sources for detailed information [top]

    The Mediacontacts.ie  website gives details of media contacts and other information, including conferences, training and related material. The traditional source of much media information in Ireland has been provided by the Institute of Public Administration’s annual year book. Circulation figures for newspapers and magazines is provided by the Audit Bureau of Circulation, the ABC. Readership information tends to be considered commercially sensitive, though the headline figures are published in the business sections of the newspapers, especially The Irish Times and the Sunday Business Post.

    Radio listenership figures are published quarterly by the Joint National Listenership Research (JNLR) which can be found on the Radiowave website.  A number of academics are examining the Irish media and the most research active are to be found at the School of Media at the Dublin Institute of Technology and the School of Communications at Dublin City University.

    Information about the advertising industry can usually be found at the Institute of Advertising Practitioners of Ireland (IAPI), but also in the business sections of the newspapers.

    The bodies representing aspects of the industry, such as the National Newspapers of Ireland (NNI) publish reports relating to newspapers, as the BAI, which commissions  research relating to broadcasting.

    Information ragarding media law in Ireland can be found, among other sites, on that of the media law lecturer, Marie McGonagle, of the Department of Law at the National University of Ireland, Galway. She is the leading academic authority on media law in Ireland.


    6.3 Sources [top]

    Media and Journalism studies


    7. Conclusions [top]



    7.1 Development trends [top]

    The Irish media is going through a period of intense change. From the mid to late 1990s until 2008 the country experienced unprecedented economic growth. This had a profound effect on the media, increasing revenue and income, attracting huge investment from out of state. It changed the media ownership patterns of years, leading to a dangerous level of concentration of ownership in the hands of a few major media companies.

    The media and journalists have also been at the centre of major changes in society, opening up areas to public scrutiny that had hitherto been closed, especially the Catholic Church. It also investigated areas of public life and politics unearthing levels of corruption that few realized existed. Following media investigations a number of tribunals of inquiry have been sitting investigating the allegations first made by journalists.

    At another level there are fears the media has become increasingly tabloid with subsequent issues concerning privacy. However, the new Press Council has been introduced and it is hoped that the press will be able to regulate itself and so convince the government not to introduce privacy legislation. A massive reduction in advertising revenue has led to major financial problems for much of the media, especially print.

    The economic boom in Ireland can probably be dated from 1995 and ironically that was the year the Irish Press group collapsed. Along with an increasingly healthy economic environment the end of the Irish Press group, after years of struggling, meant a number of out of state media organization targeted Ireland, assuming there were readers now seeking a new newspaper. The British press had long been active in Ireland, but now it arrived in Ireland with a new aggression, offering more Irish content and going head to head with Irish newspapers. Some commentators have suggested a new tabloid culture arrived in Ireland at that time, which changed the Irish print media.

    The economic prosperity meant that regional newspapers, for many years, remained in the hands of small family owners were seen as valuable properties and were bought up and became part of major media groups. Following the crisis in the economy a number of newspapers have closed, others are up for sale while others are downsizing, with pay cuts and a reduction in resources available to journalists and other media professionals to carry out their work.

    There has been some increase in the number of online publications and activity, though developments in this area have been surprisingly slow. However, it is expected to speed up as more people are connected to broadband in line with government policy.

    The recession has halted major media developments, other than in the online line and digital areas. There is a government commitment to switch off the analogue tv service by 2012 and there is evidence of increasing developments in web based publications, given that online advertising appears to be the only area of advertising to hold up, all be it from a low base. The next few years should see a number of online developments as well as possibly a number of regional newspaper closures.


    7.2 References [top]

    • Brian O’Neill (ed), 2010, Digital Radio in Europe, Technologies, Industries and Culture, 2010. Intellect Book, Bristol, UK.
    • Burke, Ray, 2005, Press Delete; The Decline and Fall of the Irish Press. Curragh Press,  Dublin.
    • Corcoran, F, 2004, RTÉ and the Globalisation of Irish Television: Intellect Books, Bristol, UK.
    • Horgan, John, 2001, Irish Media, A Critical History since 1922. Routledge, London.
    • John Horgan, Barbara O'Connor and Helena Sheehan (eds) 2007,Mapping Irish Media: Critical Explorations: UCD Press, Dublin.
    • Julian Carlson (ed) 19990 Banned in Ireland: Censorship and the Irish Writer. Routledge, London.
    • Kiberd, Damien (ed) 1997 Media in Ireland, the Search for Diversity, Open Air, Dublin.
    • McGonagle, Marie 2003, 2nd edition, Media Law, Sweet & Maxwell, London.
    • Morash, Chris, 2010. A Media History of Ireland, Cambridge University Press.
    • Mulryan, Peter, 1988, Radio, Radio, the story of Independent, Local, Community, Pirate Radio in Ireland. Borderline Publications, Dublin.
    • O’Brien, Mark, 2001, De Valera, Fianna Fail and the Irish Press, Irish Academic Press, Dublin.
    • O’Brien, Mark, 2008, The Irish Times, A History, Four Courts Press, Dublin.
    • Ó Drisceoil, Donal,1996. Censorship in Ireland, 1939-1945. Cork University Press.
    • Rockett, K., Gibbons, L. and Hill, J. 1987, Cinema and Ireland, Routledge, London.
    • Rockett, K. 1996, The Irish Filmography, Red Mountain Press, Dublin.
    • Ship of Fools: How Stupidity and Corruption Sank the Celtic Tiger by Fintan O’Toole, Faber, London, 2009.
    • Walsh,  Maurice, 2008, The News From Ireland, Foreign Correspondents and the Irish Revolution. I. B. Tauris, London.

    7.3 Contact [top]

    Michael Foley
    head of journalism and communications department
    School of Media, Dublin Institute of Technology
    2 Aungier Street
    Dublin 2, Co. Dublin City, Ireland,
    Tel: +353 1 402 3000
    Email: Michael.foley@dit.ie


    Media landscape : Bulgaria


    Last updated: 05 November 2010


    1. Introduction [top]

    image

    Bulgaria is an industrialised country with a population of 7.6 million, including a Turkish minority of 746,664 people or 9.4 percent, a Roma minority of 370, 908 people or 4.7 percent and small minorities of Russians (15,600), Armenians (10,800), Greeks (3400), Tatars (1800), Jews (1400). Almost 83 percent of the population are East Orthodox Christians.

    The share of the aged population is increasing. Nine percent of the population is in the age group from 0 to10 years, 13.4 percent is aged from 11 to 19, 14.7 percent between 20 and 29, 41.8 percent between 30 and 59, and 22.7 percent are over 60 years old. Sixtynine percent of the population lives in urban or semi-urban municipalities. The area of the country is of 111,000 square km. Bulgaria is a member of NATO and on 1 January 2007 it became a member of the European Union.


    2. Traditional Media [top]



    2.1 Print Media [top]

    After the fall of the communist regime in 1989, the country introduced political pluralism and democratic institutions were set up. The transformations after 1989 radically changed the media situation in the country. The liberalization of the market and the free competition came into the media sphere very quickly. However, in recent years processes that restrict the media pluralism and the freedom of speech have been outlined. Besides that, the global economic crisis of 2008 affected both major industries and the media sector.

    After the changes, a general characteristic of print media in Bulgaria has been the exclusive dynamics in its numbers and type of development.

    There is no law governing the press in Bulgaria and newspaper publishing is entirely free and unregulated. An audit office doesn’t exist. This is why it is not possible to establish the exact number of publications currently in circulation.

    It could be claimed, however, that the numbers presented here are trustworthy as they are based on a check and comparison of various sources.

    In recent years some main features of the development of print media could be outlined, as follows:

    • the sharp drop of the circulation of almost all newspapers – between 2 and 3 times according to experts' opinion
    • the emergence in 2007 of a new aggressive player in the Bulgarian print media market (as well as in the television market)
    • an attempt to launch free daily newspapers

    In 2007 it was estimated that there were over 900 print media titles in the country. This number is much smaller nowadays. Despite the big number of publications compared to the size of the country (nationally distributed dailies are 14 in 2009), it could be claimed that circulation per capita is very low.

    As a whole, print media preserve one distinctive feature – the domination of both daily and weekly tabloid-format newspapers defined by Bulgarian media researchers as “hybrid tabloids”. They combine and integrate elements of both tabloids and quality press, of serious and popular, even scandalous reporting. One of the explanations of the convergence of the two types of press – quality and yellow – is based on the fact that several attempts at creating a quality press in Bulgaria have failed. None of the quality broadsheet newspapers initiated in the 1990s survived. They could not find a stable market niche. This situation enabled the developing popular dailies to expand into the territory of the quality press taking some of its functions.

    Dailies Trud and 24 Chasa, published by the German newspaper group WAZ (Westdeutsche Algemeine Zeitung) are the most typical examples for this type of “hybrid” newspapers. Both newspapers identify themselves as “serious and quality” ones. Actually, the newspapers published by WAZ are the ones whose circulation went significantly down. In 2003, the daily circulation of Trud was estimated at about 300,000 copies; currently it stands at between 70,000 and 100,000 copies. The circulation of the other WAZ-owned newspaper, 24 Chasa, also dropped drastically and from a circulation of about 150,000 copies to 60,000 copies.

    Among the other national dailies Standart, with a circulation of about 35,000 copies during the week and twice higher during the weekend, is worth a mention; others are Novinar – about 12,000 copies, Sega – about 9,000 copies, Express – about 15,000 copies, and Monitor – 10,000 copies. The only daily that increased significantly its circulation in recent years is Telegraph, whose circulation is currently estimated at over 100,000 copies.

    The main reason for the bigger demand is the lower price. Telegraph is also part of the yellow print, which represents the institutional information of more serious newspapers. Dnevnik daily, established in 2001, has a circulation of about 10,000 copies and is considered the most serious daily in Bulgaria, writing about business and economy in detail, and accepted as a trustworthy source of information. The daily for business and finance Pari, which belongs to the Swedish publishing group Bonnier, has a circulation of less than 10,000 copies and a weak influence, however it is read by business circles. Douma daily, which is related to the Bulgarian Socialist Party, as well as Ataka daily, a publication of the right-wing populist nationalist party of the same name, have a weak influence and a small circulation.

    There is a circumstance, which increases the influence of newspapers, despite the small circulation – the electronic media make a review of the newspapers and cite them often.

    In 2009, Noshten Troud which had existed for 17 years and was the only evening daily disappeared from the market. It was published by Media Holding, belonging to WAZ.

    Typical for the Bulgarian newspapers is that the revenues of advertising and sales cannot cover their costs. Trud, 24 Chasa and Dnevnik collect over two thirds of the advertising in newspapers. In the case of the other newspapers, advertising and sales are not the only source of funding. They are either completely owned by business circles, related to political parties, or easily influenced by political forces and business circles.

    Besides the existing national dailies, there are 10 regional dailies published in the major cities throughout the country, such as Plovdiv, Varna, Bourgas and Rousse. Most of the regional, as well as the local newspapers are published twice, three times or once per week.

    Regarding national weeklies, business-oriented Kapital and Banker could be characterized as quality papers. The other two weeklies, 168 Chassa and Politika are addressed to the mass audience. A specialized weekly of high quality, Kultura, has a very restricted circulation but has significantly higher influence.

    The appearance of yellow weeklies of high circulation, such as Show, Weekend and others are a new specific of the weeklies in the recent years. By end-2009 the noisily promoted weekly newspaper Galeria emerged with the ambition to take a place in the same market niche.

    Free newspapers had been discussed long before their actual appearance. This however, was prevented for different reasons. At the end of 2009 only the free daily 19 minutes remained from the few, which emerged in late 2008 and early 2009. A free weekly, Anons, published by the second-largest Belgian media group Rossel Media, also appeared.

    The magazine market had also changed in the same period. A total of 300 magazines are registered in Bulgaria. According to expert data, about 100 magazines were issued in the second half of 2009.

    The weekly social and political magazine Tema kept its character and is still published. The new magazine on the market, Praven Svyat, is oriented to social issues. In the second half of 2009 it was purchased by the owner of Darik Radio.

    The only Bulgarian tourist magazine Odysseus disappeared from the magazine market (in September 2009). The traditionally strong women’s magazines, such as Eva, Cosmopoltan and Grazia are losing advertisers. The situation with the giants for men, Playboy and Maxim is similar. The financial crisis causes some disturbances among the many life style magazines. Paradoxical is the fact that there are more than one magazine for yachts and yachting in Bulgaria, which is one of the rather poor countries in the European Union. Despite the disturbances, the Bulgarian variant of Rolling Stone, which had been expected for a long time, emerged on the Bulgarian market.

    After the appearance of WAZ in Bulgaria in 1996, the situation with the print media could be characterized as a period totally dominated by the newspapers owned by the German group. The latter made serious (and successful) efforts to target the regional market and succeeded in launching local editions or supplements. Local editions of WAZ have put many local newspapers out of business.

    According to expert appraisals, WAZ profits decreased in recent years and because of that reason the expert circles started even talking about a possible withdrawal of the group from the country. The future will show the trustworthiness of such claims and forecasts.


    New Bulgarian Media Group, which is considered to be related to the Movement for Rights and Freedoms (the party established after the changes of 1989 as a party of the Turkish ethnic minority), emerged on the printed media market in 2007. In 2009 the group owned Monitor, Express, Telegraph (dailies), Politika, Weekend, Meridian Match (weeklies), Borba newspaper and publishing house (in the city of Veliko Turnovo). The expansion of this group on the print media market will go on.


    2.2 Radio [top]

    Radio broadcasting was established in Bulgaria as a state monopoly in 1935. The state radio existed as a monopolist till 1989. After 1989 the situation thoroughly changed and is now dominated by an extremely high number of private radio outlets, including national and regional radio chains.

    In recent years radio market in Bulgaria has consolidated. Four foreign radio companies shape the image of the radio sector – the Irish Communicorp Group, SBS Broadcasting Group (Scandinavian Broadcasting System became in 2007 a part of ProSiebenSat.1 Media AG), US Emmis Communications, and News Corporation Group (owned by Rupert Murdoch).

    In the very end of 2009 a Bulgarian owner appeared as a fifth big player on the radio market. The owner of the web based news agency Focus who operated a network of ten radio outlets in the country received a frequency for Sofia.

    The four foreign companies own over 20 radio stations, which broadcast in the capital Sofia and have established chains across the country. There are a total of 30 radio stations serving the capital (with a population of 2 million). According to the last reliable data there are 17 major radio networks, 15 regional radio networks, and 51 registered radio outlets in various towns and areas of the country. The format of most of the radio outlets is musical or informational/musical.

    Bulgaria has two radio stations with national coverage, the private Darik Radio and the Bulgarian National Radio (BNR). The former state-owned radio BNR transformed relatively successfully in a public radio with two channels, the informational channel Horizont, and the Hristo Botev channel, with broadcasts dedicated to public, political, educational, and cultural topics and broadcasts for ethnic minorities, among others. BNP's Radio Bulgaria broadcasts abroad, as well as in 7 regional centres in the country.

    According to a 2005 study, the average listening time of radio amateurs is about 173 minutes daily. Indeed, the fact that due to the specifics of the radio as media the listening could be background rather than purposeful one cannot be ignored.


    2.3 Television [top]

    Bulgarian TV started in 1959 as a state TV. Immediately after the changes in 1989 the first private cable operators appeared.

    According to a study of the media market of the Central and Eastern Europe carried out in 2007, 71 percent of the Bulgarians watch television every day (for comparison, according to the same study 90 percent of the Slovaks and 88 percent of the Czechs watch television every day). The time Bulgarians watch television is the biggest – 329 minutes per day. Television is watched most in small towns and villages.

    In 2008, analysts started talking about a "television revolution" in Bulgaria. The decision of News Corp. to sell some of its companies in Eastern Europe, including bTV, was the first of a series of events, which were considered to prepare the change of the Bulgarian television market.

    It emerged at that time that Lehman Brothers was evaluating the finance and the assets of the biggest private national television in Bulgaria. According to the forecasts of various analysts at that time, the expected price of the Bulgarian channel was about 500 million euro. A sale of bTV has not been performed and is not performed yet.

    However, in 2008 two transactions were concluded within the frames of two weeks. The US company Central European Media Enterprices (СМЕ) bought TV2, a television of national range, established on the basis of 27 regional frequencies., and renamed it Pro.bg, The transaction was for a sum, evaluated as bigger than the whole Bulgarian television market for television advertising, 110 million euro. The transaction included also Ring TV cable channel, a Sofia terrestrial frequency, and a radio station.

    Some time later Swedish media company Modern Times Group (MTG) announced that it bought the whole Nova Television, which was owned by Greek group Antenna. The price of the transaction was unexpectedly high for the second large Bulgarian television channel, 620 million euro. Before that MTG had acquired a few televisions from the Diema Group.

    It emerged at the end of 2009 that Central European Media Enterprises (CME) company, which had acquired the ownership of the Bulgarian television channels Ring.bg and Pro.bg only a year before that, could merge with any of its competitors in Bulgaria or sell both companies. According to a representative of the top management of the company (with TV channels in 7 Eastern European countries), “the market situation in Bulgaria is such that there are three major players there, while there is place only for two".

    According to the latest data there are more than 200 registered cable operators in the country (at the national, regional and local levels). The cable network has been developing quickly and most recent data (from the second half of 2009) show that over 70 percent of households in the country are cable-operator subscribers.

    The contents of the commercial channel programmes, both terrestrial and cable ones, display a number of similarities related mainly to thel arge-scale introduction of many reality shows. The audience preferences are oriented to the morning TV magazine programmes. Besides the many Bulgarian television channels, the Bulgarian audience has also access to many foreign channels such as Mezzo, MTV, National Geographic, Animal Planet, Discovery, Hallmark, AXN etc.


    2.4 Cinema [top]

    During the whole 20-year period after 1989, the topic about the shortage of funds for production of films has never been out of public debates.

    In recent years Bulgaria produced annually three feature films and two documentaries with funds from the state budget distributed on a tender basis. There are also other opportunities, which are used, most of all sponsorship, which also support the production of Bulgarian films.


    2.5 Telecommunications [top]

    Competition turned into a powerful factor for the development of telecommunications in Bulgaria. The former monopolist in the sphere of telecommunications was privatised, and is now on the market under the name of Vivacom. Many new telecommunication operators also emerged, and various services started being offered on the market.

    According to information from the three Bulgarian operators of mobile services, Mtel (owned by Mobicom Austria Group), Globul (owned by Greek OTE), Vivacom (owned by American International Group Inc. with participation of the Bulgarian state), customers of mobile services stand at 7 million. On the basis of this information, a conclusion could be made that each Bulgarian has a GSM set.

    This however does not give the real picture. The inadequacy of the information is due to the fact that mobile operators consider owners of one or more prepaid cards as different customers and thus one and the same user could be accounted for several times.

    More precise information will be available at the beginning of 2010, when the registration of the prepaid cards, which started in late 2009, will be over. Anyway, the mass use of mobile phones is a fact.

    Mtel, which is the first and for a long time the only mobile operator in the country, has the biggest market share of about 50 percent, Globul ranks second with 38 percent. Vivacom is the newest mobile operator and, as a successor of the former sole operator of landline networks, has still preserved its domination in the sector of landline networks, despite the existence of many other proposals.


    2.6 Sources [top]


    3. New Media [top]



    3.1 Online [top]

    The Internet services develop quickly in the country. A representative study carried out by Market Test in July 2009 among respondents aged between 15 and 69, shows that 44.69% of the population of Bulgaria uses the Internet. However, this percentage is practically higher, as the use of the Internet among children aged below 15 is very high. Bulgaria is ranked among the EU best users regarding use of high-speed Internet (of over 10 Ðœbps).

    Bulgaria is among the countries, which have a quality of the broadband internet required for future web applications (such as HD Internet TV ), which will soon become a practice.

    In the last three years the internet penetration increased significantly. In 2006 it was 28.5 percent. The number of internet users is growing fast because of increasing access to broadband (70 percent of internet usage; 30 percent is wireless and satellite).

    The last detailed representative survey shows that in November 2009 the Internet users are 3, 45 million that means an increasing of 24 percent only for one year.

    The Internet users in Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, are 68 percent of the whole population of the city. There is a big difference in Internet usage between age groups. The youngest are the most regular internet users – 74.76 percent in the age group between 15 – 19 years old are internet users. 60 percent of them use internet at home. The regular users among the elder people in the age group over 60 are only 11.57 percent ( only 7. 61 percent of this group use internet at home).

    The survey shows the main areas of internet use in 2009 as follows – music/mp3 - 44.23 percent; e-mail – 38.37percent; news/on line newspapers 38 percent; sport – 24.22 percent; chatting 22.86 percent, on line TV – 18.92 percent; on line radio – 17.85 percent.


    3.2 Digital media [top]

    Almost all mainstream newspapers have already online versions with readers’ fora. The lack of Internet versions has proved an inefficient instrument in the efforts to maintain higher rates of circulation.

    The process of “migration” of the readers' audience to the Internet editions of some newspapers is significant. Most of the national dailies have online editions, which are not visited much, however Standart, Dnevnik and Sega dailies are read by more readers in the Internet rather than on paper (30,000 hits per day for Standart, between 16,000 and 18,000 hits for Dnevnik and between 14,000 and 16,000 hits for Sega). Dnevnik has a page with briefs in English, Standart has a page in English. The Internet version of Pari has a page of summaries in English.

    The three main TVs have well developed websites. The reach of the websites is relatively high especially among the Bulgarians living abroad. They can watch Bulgarian TV news and programmes in real time.

    The social networks like Facebook became very popular form of intercommunication between TV and the viewers.

    The Web-based media Mediapool.bg enjoys considerable prestige among the educated audience with its high quality and professionalism. It started as a web-based media in the beginning of 2000 and is developing very successfully.


    3.3 Sources [top]


    4. Media organisations [top]



    4.1 News agencies [top]

    The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA) is a state agency in the country, operating for 111 years. It was established by a decree issued by Prince Ferdinand I in 1898. BTA's operation is regulated by a Statute adopted by the 36th National Assembly in 1994.

    At present, BTA employs several hundred journalists and translators. The agency also possesses a network of correspondents throughout the country. BTA has a well-developed network of stringers in the Balkans and Western Europe.

    BTA has a considerable number of subscribers in Bulgaria and abroad. Practically, all larger media in the country are BTA subscribers. Institutions of public administration and other large departments also subscribe to the agency’s services. Apart from large numbers of information products (newsletters, review articles, photos, etc.), the agency publishes two weekly magazines.

    Along with BTA, Web-based private news agencies appeared. Focus news is developing very fast and became a competitive source of information. As it was mentioned Focus became in December the fifth actor on the radio market.

    A large number of news portals and information sites like Dir.bg, Novinite.com, Bgnes, Vesti.bg etc. have emerged in recent years. Their information is uncontrolled and unregulated, but they have been establishing themselves ever more firmly as news-making sources. It is practically impossible to find reliable data on the number of Web-based news sources. It is clear, however, that their number is continually increasing.


    4.2 Trade unions [top]

    There are two organizations representing interest groups in the media sector of Bulgaria. The Union of Publishers in Bulgaria (UPB) unites a part of the publishers of newspapers, magazines and books. Quite a big part of the publishers are not members of the Union. The other organization, which is also an interest group, is the Association of the Bulgarian Broadcasters (ABBRO). The Association represents the interests of the radio and television industry in Bulgaria. According to the last available data of 2007, members of ABBRO are 60 companies, which represent about 160 licensed radio and television operators from across the country.

    The existing Union of Bulgarian Journalists, a successor of the Union existing before 1989, could not turn into a respectful professional organization protecting the interests of the Bulgarian journalists. There are also non-governmental organizations in the country, whose activity is related to the implementation of projects oriented to protection of the freedom of speech, to the media professionalization and raising the level of journalism. Access to Information Program, Media Development Centre, Centre for Independent Journalism, among others could be mentioned in this respect.


    4.3 Other media outlets [top]

    The development of private TV channels was followed by the appearance and establishment of production companies. Independent producers aimed in the beginning at commercial channels. Practically, almost all reality shows and a large part of the entertainment programmes are realized by independent producers. Public service TV – BNT – also includes productions of external independent producers in its programme.

    The share of the external TV productions is increasing in compliance with the broadcasting act. The most active production companies are Seven eighth, Dream Team, Global vision, Intermediary station.


    4.4 Sources [top]


    5. National media policies [top]



    5.1 Media legislation [top]

    The Radio and Television Act was adopted in Bulgaria in 1998, and since then has been amended and supplemented many times.

    However unsolved issues, shortcomings and weaknesses existed during the whole period and still exist, such as lack of sufficient guarantees for the independence of the regulatory body, insufficient expert knowledge and professionalism of the regulatory body, lack of transparency of the licensing procedures, lack of transparency of the ownership, issues related to the ways of funding and spending the sums which the Bulgarian National Television and the Bulgarian National Radio receive from the state budget, etc.

    Bulgarian Parliament had to introduce the EU Audiovisual Media Services Directive (2007) in Bulgarian legislation by December 19, 2009. Within the frames of this term, Parliament adopted on first reading amendments meeting the requirements for cultural diversity and popularization of European works through linear and non-linear audio and visual media services. The amendments of the act are supposed to be adopted in January 2010.


    5.2 Accountability systems [top]

    After 1989 a number of media and professional organizations (as the Union of Bulgarian Journalists, the Free Speech Forum and the Centre for Independent Journalism) drafted and adopted Codes of Conducts.

    Media self-regulation was a long time a topic, permanently existing in the discussions of the professional media circles. So far efforts to set up a self-regulatory body, as an ethics committee or committee for complaints have been unsuccessful.

    In 2004, under a EU-funded Phare project on technical assistance for improving professional standards of journalism, an Ethical Code of Bulgarian Media was drafted with the participation of EU experts. It was approved by various organizations and media. A part of media, both print and electronic, didn’t approve the Ethical code and till this moment ignore the self-regulation activities.

    In late 2005, after debates regarding the mechanisms of the establishment of committees on ethics, and on the possibilities for the existence of separate self-regulatory bodies for the electronic and print media, the establishing of the Ethics Committee for the Print Media and of the Ethics Committee for the Electronic Media – through a procedure of nomination and election – was considered a success. Both committees started their activities.

    There are grounds to believe that self-regulation (that has been debated by professionals for years) will be tough to develop due to contradictions among partners. The positive process has, nevertheless, started.

    Regardless of the continuous efforts the ethical standards are often violated, particularly by the print media.


    5.3 Regulatory authority [top]

    Since there are no special statutory regulations of printed media, printed media in Bulgaria are deregulated and there isn’t a regulatory body supervising them.

    Texts from other laws, such as, for example, laws about slander and libel (under the Penal Code), can be applied both to printed and electronic media.

    The regulatory body for the electronic media was established immediately after the adoption of Radio and Television Act in 1998. In compliance with its functions, set by the Radio and Television Act, the regulatory body, previously the National Council for Radio and Television and now Council for Electronic Media (CEM), monitors compliance with the statutory requirements towards advertising, sponsorship, copyright, protection of youth and minors. CEM considers the cases of violation established by its experts and also complaints by citizens and organizations.

    The regulatory body consists of two quotas. The first one – five members – is elected by the parliament. The other quota – four members - is employed by the president. Nowadays the necessity of the members reduction (to five) is debated.

    Because of many controversial solutions of CEM the guarantees for the independence of the regulator from political or corporate pressure are permanently in the focus of the professional debate.


    5.4 Sources [top]


    6. Media resources [top]



    6.1 Learning and support [top]

    The oldest department of journalism is at St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia. The curriculum was completely changed after 1989. Nowadays the Faculty of Journalism and Mass Communication at St. Kliment Ohridski University of Sofia has full accreditation for training in journalism, including for postgraduate students.

    In recent years, education in journalism is carried out by three private universities as well. (New Bulgarian University in Sofia, Free University in Varna, Free University in Burgas. Media educational modules exist in the curricula of some other universities as well.

    There are other opportunities for professional qualification of working journalists. It should be taken into consideration that there are no educational requirements for taking a journalist job and the specialized education is not mandatory. However, the graduated journalists have good chances to be employed.


    6.2 Prime sources for detailed information [top]

    The financial difficulties have become a reason for the disappearance of printed publications dedicated to the reflection and self-reflection in the field of journalism and media. Currently there is no specialized journal in the field of media and journalism.

    Kapital weekly has a media section, where both analyses of the events and tendencies in the media sector and results from studies and statistics related to the sector could be found.

    The Internet site Predavatel.com (predavatel means ‘transmitter’ in Bulgarian) is a source of reliable information.


    6.3 Sources [top]


    7. Conclusions [top]



    7.1 Development trends [top]

    The media landscape of Bulgaria offers periodically unforeseen changes, under the conditions of economic crisis including. Some events related to the emergence and behaviour of a new actor both in the field of print media and on the television market are a proof for this.

    The forecast for the occurrence of some changes in the market of print media, where a new transformation of ownership is completely possible, is realistic. It is not possible the print media not to be influenced by the significant reduction of advertising in them. Changes in the television sector are also possible. These processes are elements of the common tendency to the concentration of ownership.

    Speeding up the process of digitization in the field of radio and television is very important. Despite the delay, there are positive symptoms for its compensation and overcoming and it could be considered to a great degree of probability that the digitization will be completed by the end of 2012, as it was initially specified.

    The quick increase of the Internet demand will continue in next years as well. The role of the Internet in seeking and finding news will increase more and more. The changes related to the functioning of the Bulgarian National Radio and the Bulgarian National Television are imperative for Bulgaria.

    The Radio and Television Act, adopted in 1998, already includes a text on financing of the public radio and the public television through collecting fees. This text did not “work” and their funding still comes from state budget.

    The decreasing tendency of the share of young people in the audience of public radio and public television is clear. The process of segmentation of the audiences is getting deeper and deeper.

    In the years to follow, some changes will occur in the regulation of the audio and visual activity in the direction of converging the two regulatory bodies, the Council for Electronic Media and the Committee for the Regulation of Telecommunications, an imperative change adequate to the processes of convergence in the media and communication field.


    7.2 References [top]

    • Mediite v zifri I fakti. Godishnik na FJMK (2008)
    • Ognianova, Nelly, Vesela Tabakova et al. (2007). Vyprosi na mediinata regulazia. Sofia: BMC
    • Statistika na potreblenieto na internet v Bulgaria. Internet – obshtestvo (2009)
    • Tabakova, Vesela. Svobodata na izrasiavane I journalistisheskata etika (2008). Sofia: Universitetsko isdatelstvo
    • Tzifrovisaziata na elekronnite medii (2008). Sofia: CRTC

    7.3 Contact [top]

    Vesela Tabakova
    Professor at the Faculty of Journalism
    Sofia University “St. Kliment Ohridski”
    Chairperson of the Centre for Independent Journalism
    1000 Sofia
    49 Moskovska str.
    Tel: +359 2 987 77 30
    E-mail: vtabakova@abv.bg


    Media landscape : Italy


    Last updated: 25 November 2010


    1. Introduction [top]

    image

    Located in the south of Europe on the Mediterranean Sea, Italy is a founding member of the European Union. The country is about 300,000 sq km with a population of 60 million inhabitants, according to the latest census. Its GDP is higher than the average of the 27 EU countries but growth has been slow in recent years.

    Italy has a parliamentary republic, with a Chamber of Deputies and a Senate. It is divided into 21 regions, five of them with autonomous power. Its official language is Italian, although minority languages have an official status as well, particularly in some communities near the Alps.

    From 2001 to 2006, media tycoon Silvio Berlusconi was simultaneously the Prime Minister of Italy and the owner of Mediaset, which controls the three most important commercial TV networks. Berlusconi’s governing centre-right coalition was defeated at the general elections of April, 2006. Romano Prodi's centre-left cabinet, sworn in during May, proposed a law to put some restrictions on media ownership; Berlusconi’s government had passed a 2004 law to protect Mediaset’s interests. Prodi’s attempt was ineffective, as his cabinet had a short life. Silvio Berlusconi's coalition won the general elections of April, 2008.


    2. Traditional Media [top]



    2.1 Print Media [top]

    In Italy, newspaper readership remains low compared to most of EU countries. Readership has not varied substantially over the last decade. There are about 150 paid-for dailies, both national and local/regional. Publishing trusts own the most important newspapers. The written press market has been particularly impacted by the overall decrease of advertising revenues in recent years. In Italy, the advertising market is historically dominated by TV, while the written press commands only a third of it. This accounts for the long-term weakness of the daily press. According to UPA, the association of advertisers, in 2008 the written press' share of the advertising market remained 30.7 percent of the global advertising market. Television took a 48.5 percent share of the advertising market, enjoying a 1.6 percent increase since 2007.

    The Italian print newspaper market can be divided into four main segments: paid-for national dailies; paid-for local and regional dailies; free dailies distributed in some cities; magazines.

    Among the most important national paid-for newspapers: L'Avvenire, Il Corriere della Sera, Il Giornale, Italia Oggi, Libero, Il Manifesto, Il Messaggero, La Repubblica, Il Sole 24 ore, La Stampa and L'Unità. Between May, 2008, and April, 2009, their average combined total sales were 2.032m. Although national paid-for dailies still maintain important revenues thanks to product distribution (books, etc.), they seem not able to increase their circulation: on the contrary, over the last five years, combined sales of the 11 main dailies has slightly decreased (in the period between May, 2003, and April, 2004, the group sold an average of 2.210m copies per day).

    Il Corriere della sera (average daily sales in 2008 and 2009 were 522,202) and La Repubblica (average daily sales: 467,116) have always competed for the top spot, outpacing competitors in terms of paid-for circulation. While Il Corriere della sera still is a broadsheet, La Repubblica adopted since the beginning the so-called “Berliner” format, a larger-than-usual tabloid. They both also publish their own weekly magazines.

    There are 48 local newspapers officially monitored by ADS, the association which certifies the circulation of paid-for written press. Their total sales over the last five years, decreased as well: there were 1.93m copies sold daily in 2003 and 2004 but 1.73m sold daily in 2008 and 2009.

    Freesheets are a rather recent development within the Italian press market. In Milan, Rome and some other cities, readers can find: Metro, which launched in 2000 in Italy; Leggo, born in 2001; City, from 2001; Dnews, which began in 2008; and E-Polis, a chain of free local newspapers launched between 2004 and 2009 by maverick publisher Nicky Grauso. Each version of E-Polis takes the name of the city where it is produced, like Il Firenze in Florence. In 2009, the market share for free dailies was estimated at more than 40 percent, but quantifying free dailies' actual circulation is difficult. It is s calculated differently from paid-for newspapers and based on distributed copies. The free press is not included in ADS monitoring.

    According to their publishers, the five free dailies together distributed more than 4m copies per day in 2009: Leggo was the most widespread, with 1m copies per day; City boasted 800,000 copies; Metro 730,000 copies; E-Polis circulated 590,000 copies; and DNews 650,000 copies. These are important results if we consider that the circulation of the most widely circulated paid-for newspapers, Il Corriere della sera and La Repubblica, distributed 749,000 and 667,000 copies per day in the period between May, 2008, and April, 2009. Nevertheless, the free press is undergoing a difficult stage in Italy, due to a crowded market (five free dailies may be too many in a country where newspapers readership remains very low) and the overall scarcity of advertising revenues.

    The periodical publications market includes 199 papers, of which 136 are monthly magazines and 63 are weekly magazines. In 2008 and 2009, combined sales of this sector were 20.5m copies. The total sales of weekly magazines was 10.56m; monthly periodicals sold 9.94m copies. In recent years this sector has shown a drop in profits: in 2004, its total sales were 24.773m. Weekly magazines show little change; the sector typically sold 1m more copies than in 2009, around 11.882m. Monthly magazines sold 12.891m copies. In 2004 there were 44 more magazines publishing in than in 2009.

    Italy does not have tabloid daily newspapers. The mot popular dailies are the sport papers like La Gazzetta dello Sport, whose sales on Mondays exceeds those of all newspapers but Il Corriere della sera and La Repubblica (411,166 copies).

    The Italian newspaper market is characterised by fragmented ownership. The L'Espresso group stands out as the most important group; it owns La Repubblica, three magazines – including L'Espresso, an important left-wing political magazine – and 15 local paid-for newspapers, some of which are among the most widespread dailies (as they are distributed in several regions).

    The RCS Media Group owns Il Corriere della sera, La Gazzetta dello Sport, the free newspaper City and two magazines. The Caltagirone Editore group owns the national newspaper Il Messaggero and four local paid-for newspapers, among them the free newspaper Leggo.
    The Mondadori group, controlled by Silvio Berlusconi's family, is among the most important book publishers in Italy. It owns 40 magazines, some of which are very popular; among them is Panorama, a widespread right-wing political magazine.


    2.2 Radio [top]

    Radio has shown no signs of stagnation: in 2008, it reached 73 percent of the Italian population aged more than 11 years old. Advertising revenues have been unstable: in 2007, they were 10.6 percent more than in the first seven months of 2006, reaching for the first time a 5 percent share of the global advertising market. This positive trend continued until 2008, when radio's market share became 5.9 percent (an increase of 4.2 percent compared to the end of 2007). The first six months of 2009, compared to the same period in 2008, registered a decrease of 17.5 percent. 

    Two public station lead Italian radio: the divisions of RAI, Radio Uno (news, public affairs, culture) and Radio Due (news, culture, music, entertainment ). In the first six months of 2009, Radio Uno and Radio Due were first and third in terms of most listened-to stations, with 6.214m and 3.87m listeners, respectively, on an average day.

    RAI also owns Radio Tre, a talk radio station with a good selection of classical music and information about theatre, movies, books, etc. Radio Tre is a niche channel that has maintained its audience's loyalty over the years (1.86m listeners on an average day).

    The larger share of the audience belongs to private networks. Among these, the clear leader is RTL (5.2m listeners on the average day in the first six months of 2009), followed by RDS-Radio Dimensione Suono (5.1m listeners) and Radio Deejay (5m listeners). The latter belongs to L’Espresso group. All these are music stations; each has over the years built followings among young people.

    Other stations have followed Radio Tre in adopting the “talk radio” format, with culture, news and public affairs. These include Radio 24, specialised in economic and business information. It is owned by the Il Sole-24 ore group and has 1.9m listener. Radio Capital, a part of the L’Espresso group, also has a talk format. It has approximately 1.4m listeners. In addition to these networks, there are a bevy of local radio stations on the FM frequency.


    2.3 Television [top]

    Italians can choose from eight free national TV channels: Rai Uno, Rai Due, Rai Tre (owned by the public broadcasting company RAI), Rete 4, Canale 5, Italia 1 (which belongs to the private network Mediaset, owned by Berlusconi), La 7 and MTV Italia. Additionally, there are about 800 local TV channels. In some Italian regions, Digital Terrestrial Television channels can be received. Both RAI and Mediaset offer paid-for as well as free channels on DTD.

    RAI started broadcasting in 1954 and quickly became popular. Although affiliated with the Italian government’s main political party, the Christian Democrats, the station has been the stomping grounds of many left-leaning intellectuals. Alumni include authors Umberto Eco and Andrea Camilleri, journalists Furio Colombo and Enzo Biagi. Privately-owned, commercial television was made possible in Italy in 1976 when Corte Costituzionale, Italy's supreme court, issued a judgment allowing private radio and TV channels to broadcast “within local ambit.” Without a law specifying what the “local ambit” was, private radio and television stations flourished; in 1978 there were already 400. The first broadcasting regulation was approved in 1990, Legge Mammì. 

    Since the ’80s, after the transition to a free market, the Italian TV system became a “duopoly” with RAI and Mediaset gathering 90 percent of the audience. The three Mediaset (at that time called Fininvest) channels were launched between 1978 and 1982. In 1984 the advertising revenues of Mediaset  were already greater than those of RAI. Berlusconi was extremely skilful in amassing large audiences to lure advertising contracts to his company. 
    Mediaset's channels tilt toward entertainment and advertising. They owe their popularity to TV series and films imported from the US, to Japanese cartoons and to telenovelas imported from South America and Mexico. At least in the beginning, RAI displayed a more cautious attitude toward foreign imports, as it had to combine a need to maximise audience ratings with the necessity to construct a national brand image separate from that of Mediaset, its main competitor. Over the years RAI has modified  its offers in order to keep up with its competitors. Today, RAI seems to find it more and more difficult to characterise itself as a public broadcasting company: its offerings, in terms of genre composition, are similar to Mediaset programming with a large number of reality shows, quiz shows, both foreign and Italian TV series and TV movies, talk shows and infotainment programmes.

    Initially, Mediaset channels did not offer news broadcasts: the first one started in 1991, on Canale 5 (Tg5), after Legge Mammì stated that commercial TV channels too should offer news. Today, the evening news broadcasts on Mediaset channels (Tg5, Tg4 and Studio Aperto) are competitive with public television news programmes. Why did it take a while for Mediaset to schedule news bulletins? The reasons relate to another important difference between RAI and Mediaset during the first 10 years of duopoly (since the launch of Mediaset channels to the mid-90s), that is, their attitude toward politics.
    News, politics and, more in general, the representation of Italian public life, had a large space on RAI schedules. On the contrary, Mediaset channels were more attune to the values of the private sphere: addressing controversial issues from politics, news and current affairs was likely to jeopardise the network’s goal of gathering the largest audience possible. It can be said that RAI addressed citizens, whereas Mediaset tried to talk to consumers. Its model spectator was the “ordinary Joe,” believed to be far from the public sphere, apolitical and interested in the representation of everyday problems, family life, and consumption (these were thematic preoccupations that Mediaset’s large offer of US serials, sitcoms and soap operas particularly matched).

    Mediaset TV lost its “apolitical” nature in 1994 when its owner, Silvio Berlusconi, decided to run in the general elections. The very start of Berlusconi’s political carrier exemplifies his conflict of interests; this remains a hot issue in Italian public life: Berlusconi announced the founding of Forza Italia, his party, on a pre-recorded video-message that was simultaneously and integrally broadcast by the three Mediaset channels (other TV channels, too, showed parts of it).
    The creation of Forza Italiaitself largely drew on the resources and the personnel of Fininvest group, and on its relationships to the business world. Funds for the new party came from Publitalia, the group’s advertising division. This division had also functioned as an important interface with the economic world, drawing on hundreds of big and small Italian enterprisers to invest in advertising on Mediaset channels. Also, many of Berlusconi’s MPs were former Publitalia executives. Further, during the 1994 election campaign, popular singers, actors and actresses, anchormen and showmen working on Mediaset channels openly declared their support for Forza Italia.

    After Berlusconi’s coalition won the 2001 general elections, RAI was again under the control of a government led by the owner of Mediaset, the state television’s main competitor. This time the government control was even stronger than in 1994. Meanwhile, RAI shares previously owned by IRI state holding company (99.5 percent) had passed to a new company, Rai Holding, entirely owned by the Treasury. Interestingly, this change was deliberated by the previous, left-wing government. This is a clear demonstration of what some say is the major problem plaguing Italy’s media landscape: political parties have always exhibited an intense desire to put communication system under the control of politics.

    In short, after 2001, Berlusconi’s power over the Italian TV system, paradoxically incremented by left-wing policies, became practically absolute, as demonstrated in the so-called “Bulgarian edict.” From a press conference in Sofia, Berlusconi accused the veteran and largely appreciated commentator Enzo Biagi, the talk show host Michele Santoro and the irreverent comedian Daniele Luttazzi – all of them among his most outspoken critics – of making "criminal use" of RAI. He suggested they be banned from working on state television. The RAI Directorate followed Berlusconi’s suggestion, suspending the three programmes disliked by the prime minister. Biagi and Luttazzi’s contracts were not renewed. Biagi and Santoro were reintegrated four years later; Luttazzi was not given any chance to work on TV anymore. 

    Over the last 10 years, the effects of Berlusconi’s long-running conflict of interest on media pluralism have appeared particularly evident in several occasions, among them the creation of Legge Gasparri, TV legislation approved in 2004 and designed to favour the Prime Minister’s interests in this sector (see section 6.1).
    The Press Freedom Index compiled by Reporters Without Borders in 2009 placed Italy at No. 49. It is undeniable that the Italian information sphere is experiencing a systematic exclusion of certain stories from the main TV news bulletins. With the exception of TG3, Italian jouranlism tends to under-cover the recession and its effects. There is little reporting about political scandals, presidential gossip and gaffes, or trials involving Berlusconi. His coalition, on the other hand, claims that the case for the lack of press freedom in Italy is a “farce” created by their political opponents, left-wing intellectuals, journalists, and magistrates, in order to hound Berlusconi out of politics.

    In October, 2009, the National Federation of the Press organised a rally in favour of freedom of the press. The event was a protest of regulations to control journalists, and against government interferences within the media. According to the organisers, 300,000 people took part in the demonstration. But a majority of TV news bulletins said the crowds numbered around 60,000.
    Pay TV in Italy was introduced by two organisations: Telepiù, born in 1990 and owned by Canal Plus-Vivendi group, and Stream, launched in 1997 and formerly owned by Telecom Italia and Rupert Murdoch. In 2003, their merger resulted in Sky Italia. Telecom Italia sold its part, leaving Murdoch as the only owner. In 2009, Sky reached 4.7m viewers per day. According to Auditel, its market share was 9 percent (more than four times the share that Sky had prior to of the merger). Supported by a strong position in the rich market of football matches, Sky has a monopolistic position within the satellite TV groups in Italy: in the first six months of 2009, the total share obtained by its channels was 3.15 percent (FOX: 1.68 percent, Disney: 0.80 percent, Turner: 0.42 percent, Discovery: 0.28 percent and Viacom: 0.27 percent).

    Until about 2002, RAI and Mediaset controlled 90 percent of the Italian audience. Today the two control less than 80 percent. Competition with Pay TV is increasingly strong, as reflected in the distribution of advertising shares. In 2008 Pay TV enjoyed a 12 percent increase in its market share while RAI lost 3.6 percent and Mediaset 0.3 percent.
    Nevertheless, in terms of income, RAI remains the leading media company in Italy with 2.7m euro. Sky Italia is in second with 2.6m and RTI-Mediaset is third with 2.5m euro.
    RTI-Mediaset is the leading company within the advertising market. It is gaining footing in the Pay TV sector as well (revenue from the paid-for channels that Mediaset offers on DTD increased from 125m euro in 2007 to 199m in 2008). 

    Despite increasing interest in Pay TV, audience shares are still concentrated among national free channels. On the first six months of 2009, the ranking of the 15 most popular TV channels was as follows: Rai Uno (share: 21.7 percent); Canale 5 (21.31 percent); Italia 1 (10.39 percent); Rai Due (9.22 percent); Rai Tre (9.00 percent); Rete 4 (7.96 percent); La 7 (2.98 percent); Boing, a free DTT channel for children, owned by Mediaset (0.52 percent); 7 Gold, a syndication broadcast almost nationally (0.43 percent); Sky Sport 1 (0.40 percent); Fox Crime/HD, owned by Sky (0.36 percent); Disney Channel, owned by Sky (0.32 percent); Sky Cinema 1, also owned by Sky (0.25 percent); Rai 4, a free DTT channel owned by RAI (0.24 percent); FOX/HD, which is operated by Sky as well (0.23 percent).


    2.4 Cinema [top]

    In the 1940s and ’50s, Italian cinema was dominated by neorealism. The ’60s saw the Italian movie industry in its golden age.

    But since the mid-1970s, Italian cinema has been on the wane. As in other European countries, the diffusion of television and of home video in the ’80s greatly contributed to the crisis of cinema in Italy. The social and cultural background of that period must be taken into consideration as well: at the beginning of the 1980s, once the huge mobilisations and demonstrations of the 1970s were over and terrorism started to shock the public, there was a gradual withdraw to the safe, protected space of a private and domestic life made more pleasurable by the diversified cultural and media consumptions available.

    This shift in entertainment habits and lifestyle resulted in the desertion of cinema theatres. The number of films screenings dwindled. In 1968, Italian cinema reached its peak with 450 films produced and screened. In the early 1970s, there were between 350 and 450. In 1993 – the worst year ever – there were around 50: that, is 17 percent of all films screened in Italian cinemas (70 percent were US films).

    In the mid-90s, the Italian movie industry started to recover, both in terms of box-office takings and in terms of number of films produced. The number of cinemas, which had also declined since the 1970s, was gradually compensated by an increase of multiplexes and cinemas with more than one screen. There were 20 multiplexes in 2000 and 83 in 2004, with 850 screens (almost half of all screens).

    Starting in 2001, Italian movie revenues started to grow, from 17-20 percent to 30 percent in 2006 and 2007. In 2007 Italian cinema set a new record: 103.5m spectators and 617m euro at the box office. The figures, the best in 10 years in terms of spectators and revenue, showed a renewed popularity of national cinema. In 2008, there were 123 national productions and 31 international co-productions, for a total of 154 movies: the highest numbers in a decade. The findings about admissions (99.4m) and revenues (617m euro), further confirmed the positive trend.

    Since 2000, Italy has produced 1,076 films, an average of 120 new titles a year. In terms of genres, melodrama is preferred: 48.4 percent of the films produced in Italy in 2008 were melodramas. About 33 percent are comedy, 11 percent documentary, 3.9 percent thrillers, 2.6 percent animation, 1.9 percent noir.

    Eighty-two out of the 123 Italian movies produced in 2008 were realised with private funds, 41 with public funds. Private investors provide 78.5 percent of private funds for Italian cinema. Public funding mostly come from the Italian state through a specific ministry (Ministero per i Beni e le Attività Culturali). In 2009, new tax concessions were passed in order to prompt investments for the production of new Italian films: a tax credit and tax shelter.

    Main funders, besides the state, include TV networks RAI and Mediaset: RAI invests part of its licence fee and Mediaset invests 10 percent of advertising revenues in the production of Italian and European films.

    Both RAI and Mediaset produce TV movies. In 2008 these covered 11.9 percent of broadcasting time on the national TV channels (19.9 percent on Canale 5; 13.7 percent on Rai Uno; 13.5 percent on Rai Due; 11,8 percent on Rete 4; 3,7 percent on La7). The 150 external movie producers working for RAI and Mediaset craft about 39 percent of these movies.

    As to the distribution of films in the Italian market, the greatest part is still played by the US, which provided 35 percent of the movies distributed in 2008 for 60 percent of the total income. Italian movies accounted for 25.5 percent of all movies distributed and obtained less than 30 percent of the total income. Other foreign productions covered the remaining 30 percent (23 percent of the films distributed came from other European countries and obtained around 11 percent of the total income; 7 percent came from the rest of the world and obtained 1 to 2 percent of the income).

    As in other European countries, the major roles within the Italian movie industry are played by a selected number of groups, among which US actors stand out.

    The 2007 ranking, by income, of the first 10 groups operating in the national movie market:  RAI Group (473m euro); The Walt Disney Co. (314m euro); Mediaset Group (255m euro); Warner Bros. Entertainment (252m euro); Paramount Motion (159m euro); Thomson H. Italy (154m euro); Kodak Italia (112m euro);  The News Corp. (97m euro); Quinta Comm. Italia (82m euro); Sony Italia (72m euro); Odeon & Cinemas Uci (72m euro).


    2.5 Telecommunications [top]

    The process of liberalisation in the telecommunication sector in Italy started in 1992 when two of the public companies that provided telephone services were privatised. In 1994, Telecom Italia was created out of several mergers. In 1997 this 'telecommunication giant' (it was the sixth-largest telephone company in the world) was privatised. In 1999, Telecom Italia was taken over by the Olivetti group. From 2001 to 2007, control was in the hands of Pirelli, led by financier Marco Tronchetti Provera; in 2007 Pirelli sold its share to Telco, a company created by Italian and Spanish groups. Today Telco controls 23.50 percent of Telecom Italia.
    Over the years, Telecom Italia’s market share has decreased, dropping from 78 percent in 2005 to 66 percent in 2008, thanks to an increasing number of competing operators. Residential, long-distance and mobile telephone services are offered by several operators which all offer Internet access, too.

    In addition to Telecom Italia, service providers include: Vodafone (formerly Infostrada), Wind (owned by Egyptian financier Naguib Sawiris), Fastweb, BT Italia (formerly Albacom, owned by British Telecom), Tele2 (Swedish group Tele2 AB), Tiscali (owned by the Italian industrialist and left-wing politician, Renato Soru), La 3 Italia (owned by the Chinese multinational Hutchison Whampoa Limited).

    Mobile phones have an exceptional penetration in the Italian market; owners of mobile phones outnumber citizens with house phones. Italians elected the mobile phone as their favourite media many years ago, almost taking over from Finland the world record. In 2009, 88.9 percent of Italian people between 11 and 74 years old (42 million people) owned a mobile phone.

    UMTS was introduced in Italy in 2001. The operator that invested in it most heavily was La 3 Italy. Since 2004, La 3 Italy has also provided  TV content receivable via streaming on the mobile phone. Neither video nor TV on the mobile phone have a large following; growth in these areas remains slow. 

    Mobile phones are not yet widely used to access the Internet either: according to Audiweb, connection via mobile phone, smart phone or PDA was available for 2.969 million people (6.2 percent of the Italian population) in 2009. Owners of a mobile phone with Internet connection are mostly men (8.3 percent of men between 11 and 74 years old) between the ages of 18 and 34.


    2.6 Sources [top]


    3. New Media [top]



    3.1 Online [top]

    Italians have been slow to embrace the Internet, although 61.3 percent of the population, about 30 million people, between 11 and 74 years old say they have access to the Internet from any place (home, office, school, etc.) and by any means. About 10 million people say they have an Internet connection at home (that is, 47.9 percent of households that include at least one member younger than 74 years old) as of 2009.

    According to recent data gathered by Audiweb about the use of Internet in Italy in July, 2009: In that month, 30.783m users accessed the Internet. There were 21,689 active users that month. Time spent on the web per person was 98 minutes; the number of pages visited was 179.

    According to the report by AgCOm-Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni (Italy’s main regulatory authority, see Section 6.3), broadband penetration in Italy is still low compared to other European countries. In March, 2009, 41 percent of Italian household had broadband Internet access. A strong difference among regions remains; in Lombardia and Lazio, 45 percent of households are connected through broadband whereas in some southern Italian regions less than 30 percent of households are connected. The differences in the diffusion of new communication services among Italian households can be attributed to socioeconomic factors but also to an overall low level of media literacy. According to an Audiweb survey: 59.4 percent of those who have never tried the web indicate an inability to use the PC as a main limiting factor.

    The most visited websites in 2009: Msn.it, 4.9m unique users a day; Virgilio.it, 2.4m unique views; Libero.it, 2.3m visitors; Yahoo.it with 2m; La Repubblica.it: 931,000 unique visitors; Tiscali.it, a search engine and web portal with 681,000 unique visitors; and La Gazzetta dello Sport.it with 529,000.

    In 2008 the Internet's market share of advertising revenue for the first time overtook radio: 6.3 percent of the global advertising market versus 5.9 percent. This positive trend continued into the first months of 2009 as well. By the end of the year, online advertising is expected to increase by 10.5 percent. This bucks the trend seen in more advanced European markets, where the growth of the sector slowed in the first six months of 2009).


    3.2 Digital media [top]

    Many newspapers started web versions in the mid-90s; today all Italian newspapers have digital versions. Nevertheless, only the websites of La Repubblica and La Gazzetta dello sport were among the most-visited websites in 2009.

    So far newspaper publishers have failed to grasp the opportunities opened by ICT. The digital versions of most newspapers often look like mere 'transpositions' of their paper versions and lack real value in terms of content, services offered and aesthetics. This is a as a missed opportunity in a country where traditional newspapers are bought by little more than half of the population, and where circulation of dailies among young people – who are heavy Internet users – is lower than in other European countries. 

    Online-only newspapers have been so far barely successful. To the contrary, some blogs - like Il Blog di Beppe Grillo, run by former TV entertainer Beppe Grillo – are enormously successful.

    A pillar of Law No. 112/2004 was support for Digital Terrestrial Television; the switchoff is due by 2012. An initial experiment was held in 2008 in Sardinia and Valle d'Aosta, the only two regions which are today already “all digital.” In 2009, other regions went digital: Western Piemonte, Trentino, Alto Adige, Lazio and Campania. Most areas went through the switchover, that is, the digitalisation of two channels, Rai Due and Rete 4. In those areas, Rai Due and Rete 4 can only be received via DTT.

    Berlusconi’s cabinet promoted the introduction of decoders that allow old TV sets to receive digital broadcasting, offering 250m euro in subsidies to families buying the decoders. According to Auditel, in August, 2009, the number of Italian families provided with a DTT set-top box (external or integrated with the TV) doubled from the year before, to 35 percent of all households (8.5m households).

    So far, there is a modest amount of digital broadcasting. RAI offers a few free DTD channels: Rai 4 (movies and TV series for young and adults), Rai Sport Più, Rai Storia (Italian and international history and culture), Rai Gulp (an interactive channel for children and teenagers), Rai News24 (a news channel). Mediaset has its own channels: Boing (extremely popular among children), Iris (offering movies, sitcoms, series and theatre pieces), Mediashopping (a home-shopping channel).


    3.3 Sources [top]


    4. Media organisations [top]



    4.1 News agencies [top]

    The Italian leader in this field is ANSA, a cooperative among Italian newspapers born in 1946. It used to be important in Latin America, but in recent years has lost its status as a medium-size world news agency. Smaller outlets include Radiocor, which specialises in economic news; Adn-Kronos; and ASCA.
    ANSA constantly loses money, even as it tries to enter the business of providing contents to various media, from free press to mobile phones; it is heavily subsidised by the government .


    4.2 Trade unions [top]

    The most relevant professional organisations in Italy are the Italian Newspapers Publishers' Association (FIEG-Federazione Italiana Editori Giornali) and the Federation of Television Broadcasters, both powerful lobbies. There is also UPA-Utenti Pubblicità Associati, Federazione Nazionale Stampa Italiana (FNSI) is a large journalists' union.

    Journalists must be members of a professional corporation (ODG – Ordine Dei Giornalisti), established in 1963. Journalists are admitted after verifying employment as a fulltime employee in a newspaper, radio or TV outlet, and after an admission examination.


    4.3 Other media outlets [top]



    4.4 Sources [top]


    5. National media policies [top]



    5.1 Media legislation [top]

    In the 1980s and 1990s, Italy's media landscape was shaped by a number of laws and Corte Costituzionale (Italy’s supreme court) decisions which reflect a discontinuous approach, partisan considerations and private interests. There has never been a bipartisan plan to shape the Italian electronic media vis-à-vis the challenges of globalisation. This present state of uncertainty and fogginess in the media landscape can be attributed to: turbulence in the political system, lack of transparent government programmes, a strong lobbying effort by major operators, and general short-sightedness of the Italian political parties.

    Law No. 249/1997 reformed the audiovisual and telecommunications system, creating a broadcasting frequencies blueprint. It divided broadcasting frequencies between three public channels (RAI1, RAI2, RAI3) and eight national commercial networks, including the most important three ones: Canale 5, Italia 1, Rete 4, all by Mediaset. About 800 small to medium-size independent private local television stations were also included.
    The current regulation is Law No.112/2004, also known as “Legge Gasparri” (for Maurizio Gasparri, Communication Minister under Silvio Berlusconi's government). The process leading to the creation of this law started in 2002, after Silvio Berlusconi's coalition won the general elections of 2001: Berlujsconi’s conflict of interests then became a hot issue again and preoccupations over media concentration and press freedom flared up again among his political opponents and among wide sections of Italian public opinion as well.

    In 2002, Carlo Azelio Ciampi, then Republic President, sent an official message to the Chamber of Deputies and Senatus, prompting them to devise a law that implemented both  European Union's directives and Corte Costituzionale's guidelines on the subject of information pluralism and impartiality. The law was also expected to structurally reform the Italian broadcasting system in order to solve the historic Italian problem of terrestrial frequency scarcity, to safeguard TV public service and to regulate the transition to DTD.  

    In September, 2002, Berlusconi's Government passed the first version of Legge Gasparri. During  the discussion of it, Mr. Berlusconi left the chamber, as if to deny the very existence of a conflict of interests. The law was widely criticised and judged unconstitutional by then Republic President, Carlo Azelio Ciampi. Before eventually approving the law, Ciampi sent it back to the Chamber of Deputies and Senate for revision; also, the European Commission activated an infringement case (procedura di infrazione) No. 2005/2006) against Italy because the legal system according to which the law distributed frequencies was seen to give unwarranted advantages to existing operators of analogue TV and to prevent the formation of a pluralistic and free TV market.

    Among its most important and controversial points, the law established a deadline for the transition to DTD in 2006, early in comparison to all other European countries. Fixing such a short-term deadline - a deadline unlikely to be respected, given the long time needed for the construction of digital terrestrial networks - was meant to avoid a change at Silvio Berlusconi's Rete 4  from analogue transmission to satellite transmission. Rete 4 exceeded the antitrust limit because, a judgment by Corte Costituzionale said in 1994, it was unconstitutional for one subject to own three TV terrestrial channels. The antitrust limit in Italy is calculated on the basis of the total number of national TV channels broadcast on terrestrial frequencies (there were previously eight DTD channels).

    The Digital Terrestrial Technology allowed an increase  in the number of TV national channels transmitting on a terrestrial frequency:  as a consequence, owning three of them was no loner to be considered “dominant position.” In other terms, according to Gasparri's line of thinking, by 2006, DTD would make it possible to “dilute” Mediaset's dominant position within the Italian TV system; this is how Legge Gasparri aimed to speed up the switch-off deadline.

    Further, the law defined the SIC (Integrated Communication System) to include written press, online newspapers and magazines, radio, television, movie, advertising and sponsorships. The definition of SIC was meant to lower down the antitrust limit to advertising revenues: the Legge Gasparri stated that this limit  – fixed at 20 percent (corresponding to 26m euro) – should be calculated on the basis of SIC, That encompassed revenues from many and very heterogeneous communication media. As a consequence, the antitrust limits decreased in comparison to previous limits, which were apparently higher (30 percent), but actually corresponded to a lesser amount 12m euro. 

    After some minor revisions to the law – including a decree law devised in order to temporarily avoid the switch of Rete 4 to satellite - it was definitively approved in 2004.  In response to the European Commission violation proceedings, the transition of the whole country to DTD was planned for 2008 and likely will be completed before the 2012 deadline.


    5.2 Accountability systems [top]

    The Ordine dei giornalisti claims to be an ethical watchdog over its members, but it has been particularly inefficient in this activity. Periodically, scandals created by reporters’ conflicts of interest surface: in 2006, some RAI journalists were named as accomplices in a sport furore over manipulation of referees at Juventus football club. More headlines were created by cooperation between the deputy editor of Libero, Renato Farina, and the Italian intelligence community in a dubious operation of political skulduggering against the then-opposition leader Romano Prodi.


    5.3 Regulatory authority [top]

    Law No. 249/1997 created an independent authority to look over the communications sector, AgCom (Autorità per le Garanzie nelle Comunicazioni). This is a collegial body with a president (appointed by the government), a council of eight members (elected by parliament) and two committees (one for networks and infrastructures, another for services and products). This authority extends its control over the telecommunications sector, the electronic media and the publishing industry.

    Its political origins, however, made AgCom a rather timid and ineffectual regulator. It holds important control over the telephone market, but it has shown little capacity to effectively regulate the TV system.

    There is a parliamentary board to supervise RAI, too. It was introduced in 1975 as a political authority comprised of 41 MPs from all parties. This body only has jurisdiction over the activity of the public broadcasting company, RAI, but it was given the important role of electing its president by the 2004 law.


    5.4 Sources [top]


    6. Media resources [top]



    6.1 Learning and support [top]

    Since the 1990s, many universities have started to offer degrees in journalism, both at undergraduate and graduate level. Only 16 schools, though, allow access to the Ordine dei Giornalisti, including Master Biennale della Scuola di Giornalismo dell'Università degli Studi di Milano, Master Biennale in Giornalismo "Giorgio Lago" Università di Padova or Master Biennale di Giornalismo dell'Università Suor Orsola Benincasa di Napoli.

    Some schools specialise in radio and TV journalism, such as Centro Italiano di Studi Superiori per la Formazione e l’Aggiornamento in Giornalismo Radiotelevisivo in Perugia (RAI's school of journalism) and Master Biennale in Giornalismo a Stampa, Radiotelevisivo e Multimediale at the Università Cattolica


    6.2 Prime sources for detailed information [top]

    Figures and statistics about TV audiences can be found on Auditel’s website, which is a Joint Industry Committee created by advertisers and broadcasters. Equivalent sources about written press, radio and the Internet are Audipress, Audiradio and Audiweb. Analysis of the movie industry and figures about cinema audience are provided by Anica-Associazione Nazionale Industrie Cinematografiche, Audiovisive e Multimediali (a national association of movie, audiovisual and multimedia industries). Information about the legal framework of the communication sector can be found at the Internet site of AgCom, the Authority for Communications.

    There are a number of trade publications. A comprehensive one is the annual report L'industria della Comunicazione in Italia (The Communication Industry in Italy), published by the Institute of Media Economy, Fondazione Rosselli, in Milan. About the written press, a useful report is Il grande Libro della stampa italiana, published by Prima Comunicazione, a monthly trade magazine. On its website, Prima Online, detailed documents, analysis, statistics and figures about all the media sectors can also be found. 
    Censis (Centro Studi Investimenti Sociali), a socioeconomic research institute, as part of its annual report on Italian society conducts an annual survey of media use called Communication and Media, with a representative sample of the Italian population.

    Finally, each broadcasting and publishing organisation have their annual report.


    6.3 Sources [top]


    7. Conclusions [top]



    7.1 Development trends [top]

    Traditional TV consistantly maintains its centrality within Italian media consumption patterns. According to Censis, in 2007 television was regularly (at least  three times per week) viewed by 86 percent of all Italian people, more than in other European countries but France (91 percent). Also, only 29 percent Italian people believed national TV to be “old and useless.” 

    The alternatives to traditional television – DTD and satellite TV (either free or paid-for), TV on mobile phone, web TV, etc. –   have not fully developed their potential, yet: the offer of DTD national free channels is still quite poor; satellite TV – where the leader operator is Sky Italy –  is often used to watch traditional and free Mediaset and RAI channels while paid-for TV channels offered by Sky and by other satellite groups are still at the bottom of the ranking in terms of audience. TV on the mobile has not a great penetration in Italy; its future will depend on the ability of content providers to devise products compatible with the technological and cultural form of devices in the hands of an increasing mobile audience. It is likely that in the future mobile TV offers will be enhanced; in any case, they are already  competitive with traditional TV: in 2007, satellite TV was regularly watched by 21 percent of Italian people. DTD – in the few regions where it was already available – was regularly watched by 8 percent of Italians.

    The economy of traditional TV in Italy, like in other European countries, is impacted by several problems: while national free channels have maintained audience loyalty over the years, their core target is represented by the elderly. Youth increasingly prefer other media and entertainment forms; free content distributed on different platforms is becoming increasingly competitive with traditional TV offerings, whose resources are stagnant: advertising is migrating to other media. The income that RAI and Mediaset make from licence fees and/or advertising is growing far more slowly than the income Pay TV obtains from subscription fees. In the future, traditional TV is probably destined to loose audience, also because its top-down and pedagogic model is already incompatible with the media consumption habits of an audience in a multimedia environment, enriched with increasingly customised content and forms of interactive communication based on a 'pull' technology.
    It is not an accident that traditional TV have lost the most audience among young people: in 2003, 95 percent of the Italian youth were used to regularly watching TV but in 2007 the share dropped at 88 percent.  At the same time satellite TV audience shares greatly increased, growing from 25 percent of the youth in 2003 to 37 percent in 2007. Interestingly, this increment in the consumption of alternative TV coincided with that of the Internet: in 2003, 40 percent  of Italian people aged 14 to 29 were regular Internet users; in 2007, there were 74 percent.

    Another interesting trend concerns the level of truth in Italian media. In 2008, for 78 percent of Italian citizens, TV – both paid-for and traditional – represented the leading medium in the formation of public opinion during electoral campaigns. Yet 82 percent of Italians believe news offerings on traditional TV channels are influenced by political power (Spain shows a similar result: 83 percent. In France, 70 percent of the citizens have the same opinion, in UK its 50 percent, in Germany 40 percent.).  In general, TV is the medium that Italian people trust least: only 35 percent believe it to be trustworthy (the average value in Europe is 53 percent). Press is trusted by 36 percent of citizens (44 percent on average in Europe); radio is the most appreciated medium (42 percent of Italians, 61 percent on average in Europe).

    Strong ties between Italian media ownership and economic and political powers accounts for much of the Italian people's scepticism toward their media. This trend is probably like to continue, because DTD and paid-for TV news offers, as well as Italian press online, do not yet seem to represent a real and more pluralistic alternative to traditional media, yet.   
    Consequences of the economic crisis are difficult to foresee. Radio, which like other media sectors in 2008 and 2009 was affected by declining advertising, nevertheless appears to be maintaining if not increasing its popularity with the audience: its ownership is more diversified and competitive than that of TV. In the future, the availability of more frequencies made possible by digital terrestrial technology will further expand radio offers.

    It is already evident that publishing is the most impacted area. Both daily and periodical publications show a drop in profit, thanks to declining advertising and newspapers sales. According to AgCom, electronic publishing is doing better, but it accounts for just 4 percent of the sector's global revenues. In the future, a reversal of this trend might be possible, thanks a recent law that demands that public administration commit 60% of its budget for institutional communication activities in the press sector.   

    Telecommunications seems to be better reacting to the crisis than other sectors, thanks to the strategy adopted by the main operators. They have stimulated the market by reducing prices and improving services and products. This sector is expected to grow because of the reduction of mobile tariffs imposed by AgCom: by 2012, all the operators must keep their tariffs at  4.5 cents per minute (an expected reduction of 50 percent). 


    7.2 References [top]

    • Censis (2009) 42° Rapporto sulla situazione sociale del Paese. Rapporto Annuale 2008 [42° Report on the Country's Social Situation. Annual Report 2008] Milan: Franco Angeli
    • Fondazione Rosselli (2008) L'industria della comunicazione in Italia. Undicesimo rapporto IEM. 1987-2008: le trasformazioni dell'industria della comunicazione in Italia [Communication Industry in Italy. Eleventh Report IEM. 1987-2008: transformations of Communication Industry in Italy] Guerini e Associati: Milano
    • Giomi, Elisa (2009) Public and Private, Global and Local in Italian Crime Drama: The case of 'La Piovra'. In: Arrdizzoni, Michela; Ferrari, Chiara (eds) Beyond Monopoly: Globalization And Contemporary Italian Media. Lanham, Maryland: Lexington Books, Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, pp. 79-100.
    • Giomi, Elisa; Ceccarini, Tommaso (2005) Dall’impatto al progetto. Nuovi modelli di produzione dell’informazione nei media contemporanei [From Impact to Project: Innovative News-making Models in Contemporary Media]. In Adamoli, Patrizia; Marinelli, Maurizio (eds), Comunicazione, media e società [Communication, Media ad Society] Bologna: Baskerville, pp. 145-173.
    • Menduni, Enrico (2007) Fine delle trasmissioni. Da Pippo Baudo a YouTube [End of Broadcasting. From Pippo Baudo to YouTube] Roma-Bari: Laterza
    • Menduni, Enrico (2009) I media digitali. Tecnologie, linguaggi, usi sociali [Digital Media. Technologies, Languages, Social Uses] Roma-Bari: Laterza
    • Monteleone, Franco (2004) Storia della radio e della televisione in Italia [History of Radio and Television in Italy] Venezia: Marsilio
    • Murialdi, Paolo (2006) Storia del giornalismo italiano. Dalle gazzette a Internet [History of Italian Journalism. From Gazzette to the Internet] Bologna: Il Mulino
    • Russo, Paolo (2007) Storia del cinema italiano [History of Italian Cinema] Torino: Edizioni Lindau

    7.3 Contact [top]

    Elisa Giomi
    Dipartimento di Scienze della Comunicazione
    Università degli Studi di Siena
    Via Roma 56 – 53100 Siena, Italy
    Tel: +39 (0)577 23 47 78
    E-mail giomi@unisi.it


    Media landscape : Greece


    Last updated: 05 November 2010


    1. Introduction [top]

    image

    Greece, officially called the Hellenic Republic, is a country situated in southern Europe, on the Mediterranean, in the southern part of Balkans. The official language is Greek (99 percent). The population is estimated at 11.2 million people (2007). The literacy level is considerably high, 90.8 percent of the population can read and write . In 1981 Greece joined the EC; it became the 12th member of the eurozone in 2001. Greece has a capitalist economy with the public sector accounting for about 42 percent of GDP and with per capita GDP of at least 87.51 percent of the eurozone economies .


    2. Traditional Media [top]



    2.1 Print Media [top]

    There are a total of 82 newspapers with national circulation in Greece today. Among them, eight are morning editions, 13 evening, 22 Sunday and 16 weekly. Concerning specific content, there are six financial and 13 sport newspapers Furthermore, 607 newspapers (including the 65 local newspapers of Attica) circulate in a local or regional area. In November, 2000, the first free daily newspaper Metrorama (renamed to Metro) started circulating in Athens, followed by City Press in 2003 and others (eg., Lifo, Athens Voice). In 2008 the first Sunday freesheet (Free Sunday) was also launched. In terms of circulation, City Press has the highest with 271,000 readers, followed by Metro with 250,000 readers.

    It is worth noting that the freesheet press has taken the lead in terms of advertising revenue. In 2007, Metro made about 6.1m euro from advertising

    With reference to national newspapers’ circulation, Sunday newspapers take the lead with 56.2 percent of annual sales. Evening and weekly newspapers share the second place (11.9 percent and 11.4 percent respectively), followed by sports newspapers, (7.7 percent) daily (5.5 percent) and financial (0.09 percent) newspapers. Among the morning daily newspapers, the market leaders are Kathimerini with 47,682 copies, and To Vima with 44,144 copies. Regarding evening daily newspapers, the most popular in terms of readership seem to be Ta Nea with 55,014 copies, followed by Eleftherotypia (40,848 copies) and Ethnos (39,843copies). In the Sunday market, Proto Thema and To Vima tis Kyriakis share the majority of the Sunday readers (189,389 copies for To Proto Thema and 187,664 copies for To Vima tis Kyriakis), followed by Kyriakatiki Eleftherotypia (153,085 copies).

    Total newspaper sales figures show a continued decline from the late 1980s to the beginning of the 1990s, probably as a result of the introduction of private television in the late 1980s. From 1989 to 1992, as print and electronic media competition peaked, national newspapers lost approximately 28 percent of their circulation. Circulation figures fell from a daily average of 2.6m copies in 1989 to 1.9m in 1992. Over the same period, due to severe competition, many newspapers were forced to close down. The mid-’90s saw the majority of the Greek print media in a difficult financial situation.

    By the end of the 1990s, the press was on a sounder financial footing. Circulation was again increasing, albeit tied to a partisan tradition and aligned toward political parties. But the press was also more pluralistic and critical. In particular, Sunday newspapers increased their circulation via the production of "quality" editions, which provided the public with in-depth analysis of events as well as entertainment and education. These papers also introduced special sections on the arts, science, etc. The years that followed (2000 to 2005), found the press in a good situation with a considerable rise in terms of circulation, approximately 26 percent

    This increase did not last and today newspapers sell more or less at the same as they did at the beginning of the 1990s..

    Today, the press is the second-most important source of information for Greeks (after television). Ownership is highly concentrated in the hands of few publishers These include: Lambrakis Press S.A., Pegasus Publishing and Printing S.A (Bobolas Publishing Group), Tegopoulos Publishing S.A (Tegopoulos Publishing Group), Kathimerini Publications S.A. (Alafouzos Publishing Group) and Acropolis, (Apogevmatini Publishing Group).

    There is a trend toward intense segmentation and a decrease in income from advertising (16.6 percent less compared to 2008), in the magazine sector. Today there are circulated about 174 magazines circulated in Greece; there are titles for every conceivable need and interest. Competition between the different types of magazines is strong. Glossy publications now have to compete with free supplements provided in Sunday newspapers, which have proved very popular (eg. ‘Vimagazino’ To Vima tis Kyriakis or “Big Fish,” To Proto Thema).


    2.2 Radio [top]

    Radio is another important source of information and entertainment in Greece. The public broadcasting organisation, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation S.A. (ERT S.A.), owns five radio broadcasting stations: Second Programme, ERA-3, NET Radio, ERA Sport, KOSMOS. The first non-pirate private radio station was Athena 9.84 FM, which went on air in 1987 broadcast by the Municipality of Athens. Currently, around 1,058 radio stations broadcast regularly in Greece (among them 56 in Attica prefecture) The vast majority are private and transmit locally or regionally. Most private stations (928) are not officially licensed but are considered eligible to be awarded a licence.

    Multicultural radio is also on a development track due to the cultural diversity that characterises Greek society after an influx of immigrants and the EU EQUAL programme. In Greece, there is a range of multicultural radio stations, such as Athens & Thessaloniki Community Radio, Radio Filia, which broadcast via local frequency or via Internet. There are also world service radio stations, such as the International Hellenic Radio Network, owned by ERT, which transmit via AM to Mediterranean countries, Baltic and Black Sea countries, western Europe, Africa and nearby Asian countries. In addition, Greek radio stations adopt their programmes for multicultural publics (such as Athens 9.84, Skai Radio). Around 40.6 percent of immigrants to Greece listen to the radio on daily basis.

    Most radio stations broadcast news and music. In terms of audience, Skai Radio (owned by Alafouzos Publishing Company) takes the lead (10.8 percent) over Rythmos (8.4 percent), which has a music format. In recent years, there has been an increase in sport radio programmes with Nova Sport FM in the lead with 7.1 percent of the market.


    2.3 Television [top]

    Television is a well-established means of information, entertainment and culture in contemporary Greek society. After the deregulation of 1989 and the end of state monopoly, private television reached Greek households and dominated the market. There are 3.7m Greek households equipped with television sets.

    The public operators in Greece are ERT S.A (ERT), which owns three TV channels (ET-1, NET, ET-3) and Vouli TV. The latter is dedicated to live broadcasts of the Hellenic Parliament’s proceedings. Both transmit nationally. There are eight private national television stations under official licence: 902 Aristera sta FM, Alpha TV, Alter, Antenna (Ant1), Mega Channel (Mega), Skai TV (Skai), Star Channel (Star), Macedonia TV. Among the regional and local television stations, only three have an official licence: Tileasti, Tiletora and Municipal Channel of Thessaloniki. Another 123 have applied for a licence Television content is based on news shows, soap operas, reality shows, movies, sport and serials. Public television (ERT) and SKAI or the NOVA bouquet are the chief presenters of educational and documentary programmes.

    There are also satellite broadcasting channels — the public ERT-World and Vouli TV — and the private channels Antenna-Sat, Mega Cosmos, Alpha Without Frontiers, Star International, Teleasty, Alter Globe, Channel 10, Mad International and Extra 3. Moreover, ERT broadcasts foreign satellite channels for free, including CNN International, Cyprus Sat, RIK 1, etc. Furthermore, Hellas Sat, the owner and agent of Hellas-Sat 2 satellite, provides services in Europe, the Middle East and South Africa.

    In terms of viewership, Mega Channel (22.1 percent) and Antenna (16.8%) control the market, followed by Alpha TV (15.1 percent) and Star (11.4 percent). On the other hand, public channels enjoy less market share in comparison to the private channels (NET 10.09 percent, ET-3 4 percent and ET-1 3.7 percent). However, regarding satellite television, public channels’ viewership (ERT-World) is much higher, reaching 37.9 percent in the US and 66.7 percent in Europe. In Australia and Canada, Antenna-Sat is more appealing (46.3 percent and 45.65 percent) The high viewership scores achieved by the private channels inevitably attracts more advertisers. Therefore, in the first quarter of 2009, Mega Channel earned 52.1m euro from advertising expenditure, followed by Antenna (34.7m) and Star (24.9m)

    Multichoise Hellas is the first licence holder for the provision of pay-TV programmes. Multichoice Hellas founded the NOVA bouquet channels, which transmit via satellite and contain specific content programmes (such as movies, sport, documentaries etc.).

    Cable television has not developed as an important distribution system, due to poor infrastructure. Until recently in Greece, laws forbid private operators to lay and operate cable infrastructure for telecommunications and/or broadcasting purposes (Law 2328, from 1995). Only the public broadcaster ERT and national telecom operator OTE could develop cable TV networks, set up subsidiary companies and undertake contracts with private and local government organisations for providing cable TV services. Law 2644, from 1998, “on the provision of subscription radio and television services and related regulations” rescinded this restriction. This provision has not encouraged the development of cable television; it is considered to be very costly. Cable TV network household penetration is below 1 percent. Greece, in general, has the least-developed system of cable or satellite television in the EU. The combined penetration is a mere 8.9 percent.


    2.4 Cinema [top]

    Cinema is a popular means of entertainment in Greece. According to the Greek Film Centre, an independent body that aims at the promotion of the Greek cinematography, in 2008 approximately 13 fiction films and 14 documentaries were created by Greek producers.

    In 2007, 274 cinemas were registered in Greece, In 2008, 38.5 percent of Greeks went to cinema once. Cinema attendance has increased approximately 7.7 percent over 2006.


    2.5 Telecommunications [top]

    Until 1994, the Hellenic Organization of Telecommunications (OTE), a state entity, had a monopoly οn the sector. Since then, private telecommunication companies have entered the market providing high-quality services and forcing the implementation of broadband services.

    Private companies have introduced new products and services, had competitive prices, provided high speed, etc. Today there are 969 enterprises that develop telecommunication services.

    Among them, 151 are telephony providers (such as OTE, Vodafone etc) and six are mobile providers. In terms of the market, at constant telephony OTE is the dominant player. In the mobile market the leading companies are COSMOTE (a subsidiary company of OTE with 40 percent of the users), followed by Vodafone (31 percent) and Wind (29 percent).

    The telecommunication sector is being supervised by the National Regulatory Authority for Electronic and Postal Services (EETT), which issues and provides official licences to service providers.


    2.6 Sources [top]


    3. New Media [top]



    3.1 Online [top]

    Since the implementation of the operational programme Information Society, online services have gradually assumed a significant role in everyday communication. Almost four of every 10 Greek households have Internet access and the PC has become a household appliance. One in three Greeks is using the Internet on a weekly basis, 66 percent use it daily. Furthermore, 64 percent of Greeks use advanced Internet services such as telephone and video calls via Internet, forums, blogs, music downloads and Internet games. In the business domain, despite the spread of broadband networks in small and medium enterprises, e-commerce remains at a low level. One in 5 enterprises buys via Internet and one in 10 sells. However, there is an increase in use of the online services of the public sector.


    3.2 Digital media [top]

    One of the pillars of the National Strategic Reference Framework 2007 – 2013 (PDF) is digital convergence. The term refers to the spread and promotion of the use of information and communication technologies, by enterprises as well as the public sector, for the benefit of the citizen and the improvement of quality of life.

    Since 2007, Greece has made strides in the establishment of broadband networksand service the country place among developing countries in broadband services. In 2008, broadband services were estimated at 1.5m lines (among them 184,625 wireless connections via mobile services).

    Focusing on digital media, most of the media companies have developed portals (enet.gr, in.gr, naftemporiki.gr, etc). According to Alexa, a web information company, among the top sites users visit in Greece are: in.gr (ninth overall), zougla.gr (18th most popular), nafteboriki.gr (28th most popular).

    Apart from online services (e-commerce, etc.), digital television has been on the air since 1999. Multichoice Hellas (which has the rights to distribute pay-TV) developed the first digital platform in Greece, called Nova, providing satellite digital services. Nova offers a rich bouquet of national and international channels, such as Nova Cinema, Supersport, Discovery Channel, National Geographic. In 2006, the state broadcasting organization (ERT) entered the digital field. It offers ERT Digital, with three channels, Prisma Plus (entertainment and informative programmes especially designed for people with special needs), Cine Plus (dedicated to films, documentaries) and Sport Plus. Telecommunication providers, such as On Telecoms and OTE have also launched trial versions of digital television services.

    In book sector, in May, 2009, Kastaniotis Editions launched the first device for ebooks, the BeBook.

    In January, 2010, some changes were made to digital terrestrial television in Greece. In particular, Greece, following the AVMS, is due to switch off analogue TV by the end of 2012. In this respect, the private TV operators (Alpha, Alter, Antenna, Macedonia TV, Mega, Skai, Star) have established a company named Digea to undertake digital broadcasting of television programmes for private stations of national range (as well for any other private station wishing to have that service). 
     


    3.3 Sources [top]

    Online media


    4. Media organisations [top]



    4.1 News agencies [top]

    The two leading news agencies in Greece merged in 2006. The merger joined Athens News Agency (ANA), which was founded in 1895, with the Macedonian News Agency (MPA), founded by the state in 1991 in Thessaloniki. The aim behind this union was the creation of a powerful national news agency. The agency has approximately 250 employees, 180 are journalists. It has offices in Brussels, Istanbul, Nicosia and Berlin and correspondents all around the world (Washington, New York, Montreal, Melbourne, London, Paris, Vienna, Rome, Belgrade, Skopje, etc.). In addition, it collaborates with a number of leading international news agencies (eg., Reuters, AFP, DPA, ITAR-TASS), national news agencies (eg., Cretian News Agency), as well as the EPA photography agency. All the agency’s services are online in Greek (130 news items updated daily), English (60-70 news items) and French (between 15-20 news items). The agency has four data banks in Greek (news, biographies of Greek and foreign personalities, election results and sports) and a data bank in English (since 1992) which contains all the news items printed in the daily English Electronic Bulletin.

    Many other news agencies are regionally situated (eg. the Cretan News Agency, Aegean News) or cover a specific thematic areas eg. sports (Sport Idea, Action image), religion (eg. The Religious News Network), agriculture (Agrnonews Agency), Greek diaspora (Hellenic World, Greek American news agency, Diaspora News Agency etc.), photography (Inke photography agency).


    4.2 Trade unions [top]

    In Greece there are several journalism unions with a long history of trade action. Several journalism unions are organised around geographical regions. The Union of Journalists of Daily Newspapers of Athens, the Union of Journalists of Daily Newspapers of Macedonia-Thrace; the Union of Journalists of Daily Newspapers of Peloponissos, Epirus and Islands; the Union of Journalists of Daily Newspapers of Thessaly, Sterea, Evia; and the Union of Journalists of Periodical Press. Finally, the Pan Hellenic Confederation of Associations of ERT's Personnel represents the employees of the public broadcasting sector.

    There are a number of employers’ associations: The Association of Athens Daily Newspaper Publishers, Association of Daily Provincial Newspaper Publishers, The Association of Regional TV Channels, The Union of Owners of Athenian Private Radio Stations.

    The Association of Regional TV Channels represents the major regional private TV channels. The Union of Owners of Athenian Private Radio Stations represents the majority of the private radio stations of the greater Athens area. These two groups are among the most significant associations of the private broadcasting sector.

    Other major industry organisations include: The National Private TV Channels Association, the Hellenic Association of Radio Owners, the Hellenic Radio Technicians Association, the Greek Association of Film Critics and the Association of Greek Film Producers – Directors.


    4.3 Other media outlets [top]

    Greece, as a member of the EU MEDIA Programme, has established Media Desk Hellas in an attempt to develop information and audiovisual services.

    The Hellenic Audiovisual Institute (IOM), a scientific body supervised by the General Secretariat of Information - Communication, conducts research and studies on the audiovisual media (television, cinema, radio, multimedia and new technologies). In addition to the IOM, the Institute of Communication, a nonprofit organisation, aims to establish closer cooperation between academia and the professional media sector. In the film sector, the nonprofit film organisation STUDIO-parallel circuit, supplies artistic films to the parallel, non-commercial circuit of film distribution.

    Since 2006, the Hellenic National Audiovisual Archive has worked toward the conservation and preservation of audiovisual elements of historic and cultural heritage.

    The Institute of Journalistic Studies and Research and the Hellenic Institute of Marketing work in the research field.


    4.4 Sources [top]


    5. National media policies [top]



    5.1 Media legislation [top]

    The Greek Constitution  has guaranteed freedom of expression since 1975. Article 14 states that every person may express his thoughts orally, in writing and through the press in compliance with the laws of the state. Furthermore, the article states that the press is free; censorship, as well as the seizure of newspapers and other publications before or after publication, is prohibited.

    The right to reply to errors published or broadcast in the press is also guaranteed in article 14 of the Constitution.


    The constitutional basis of media ownership derives from paragraph No. 9 of the same article. This paragraph outlines the obligation for media outlets to register ownership status and information regarding the financing of the outlet. The paragraph goes further to directly prohibit the concentration of ownership.

    Finally, article 15 of the Greek constitution states: “protective provisions for the press are not applicable to films, sound recordings, radio, television or any other similar medium for the transmission of speech or images. Radio and television shall be under the direct control of the state. The control and imposition of administrative sanctions are under the exclusive competence of the NCRTV, which is an independent authority, as specified by law.”.

    Law 1092/1938 provides for a number of privileges for the press, such as a discount on telephone and postal tariffs. It also stipulates a number of obligations for the press, such as respect for the personality and privacy of an individual.

    The law also refers to the respect for the truth and separating editorial comments from news content. When news outlets publish untrue or incorrect facts, they are required to publish a correction.

    According to the same law, the press must respect different opinions It must also avoid inciting mass panic when publishing information. In cases of violations, accountability lies with the accusatory third party (if involved), but is the responsibility of the author, editor, manager and the owner of the newspaper. 

    The mission of ERT S.A., as stated in Law 1730/1987: is to organise, publicise and develop state radio and TV, the contribution of those means for public education and entertainment, as well the presentation of the activities of the Greek Parliament.

    The law further stipulates that state TV and radio should reach as many social groups as possible and cover a wide range of topics since its purpose is not the increase of profit, but the satisfaction of public interest.

    In 1989, Law 1866/1989 created commercial radio and TV sectors. This was the first step in the abolition of the state monopoly, which was completed later with Law 2328/1995. According to this law (revised by the Law 3592/2007, known as the “Law of the Basic Shareholder”), the NCRTV may grant licences for commercial TV and radio stations only when they (i.e. the private stations)  would serve public interest. The commercial stations are obliged to provide high-quality programmes, objective information and news reports. They are also required to promote cultural development. The law allows the NCRTV to request information from radio and television stations regarding organisation and financing
    The same law also sets limits for the concentration of media ownership. The law provides that a person and his relatives (up to the fourth degree) may own or participate in only:

    • a maximum of two daily political newspapers distributed in Athens, Piraeus or Thessaloniki
    • one daily financial paper and one daily sport paper circulated in Athens, Piraeus or Thessaloniki
    • two non-daily provincial newspapers issued in different regions
    • one Sunday publication.

    Concentration of ownership is also restricted in the broadcast industry. According to the law known as the “Law of the Basic Shareholder,” a joint stock company can own 100 percent of a television station and/or one radio station. Ownership of more than one electronic information media company is prohibited.

    The “Law of the Basic Shareholder” permits the parallel acquisition of shares in more than one media company under specific qualifications: the prospective owner should not be among the 10 basic shareholders of the company. Further, the prospective owner’s market share in both companies should not overcome 35 percent for the same media category (for example, two TV stations) or 32 percent for different media (for instance, one newspaper and one TV station) .

    Media owners, partners, main shareholders or management executives may not act in a similar capacity in an enterprise that undertakes public administration. Nor may they act as a legal entity in the wider public sector who carries out works or supplies or provides services. This includes the activities of all types of related persons, such as spouses, relatives, financially dependent persons or companies
    For non-EU media entities, concentration status is regulated by the law 2328/1995. Foreign entities may not own more than 25 percent of the total capital of a Greek media company.

    Law 2644/1998 regulates subscription-based radio and television services through analogue or digital transmission either terrestrially or via cable or satellite. A competitive licensing procedure exists only for terrestrial transmission, due to the scarcity of specific frequencies. Yet, anyone applying for a satellite transmission licence must submit an application to the NCRTV. Licences are only granted to limited companies (S.A.), the shares of which should be registered.

    The law limits licence holders in order to secure pluralism and to avoid the creation of dominant market positions. For example, an interested party may only participate in one company that provides subscription-based services using the same means of distribution as well as a second company that uses different means of distribution. Furthermore, any physical/legal entity can acquire a maximum of 40 percent of the total capital of one subscription-based television (or radio) company For further participation in other media industries, the provisions of Law 3592/2007 are applied.  

    At the same time, the state broadcaster, ERT S.A., is authorised to establish an affiliated company to provide subscription-based services. It is excluded from the licence-holding requirements as th