Europe - Broadcasting - Market Overview and TV Content

Synopsis

The European broadcasting market is ranked with that of the USA in importance and size. The market is distinguished by the strength and prevalence of its Free-To-Air (FTA) operators, both the descendants of ‘national champion’ terrestrial broadcasters such as the BBC, and their commercial competitors such as Canal Plus. The linguistic diversity of the market and cultural preferences which influence programming content still represents a major barrier to consolidation, although transnational operators such as BSkyB and MTV demonstrate the potential for transnational TV. Digital TV, with terrestrial DTV active in four European markets in 2003, and around 6 million subscribers, is going to be the way of the future – with the European Commission (EC) encouraging member states to migrate from analogue broadcasting by 2008.

Table of Contents

• 1. Synopsis
• 2. Europe’s broadcasting market
  • 2.1 Overview
  • 2.2 Broadcasting revenue – 1997 - 1999
  • 2.3 Terrestrial TV broadcasters
• 3. Regulatory environment
  • 3.1 European Convention on Transfrontier television
• 4. Transfrontier TV
  • 4.1 Content regulation
    • 4.1.1 Pornography, violence and protection of minors
    • 4.1.2 Events of major importance
    • 4.1.3 European works
    • 4.1.4 Film broadcasting
    • 4.1.5 Advertising, teleshopping and sponsorship
  • 4.2 Competition
• 5. Major players
  • 5.1 Bertelsmann AG
  • 5.2 BritishSkyBroadcasting (BSkyB)
  • 5.3 Canal Group
  • 5.4 Callahan Associates (Cable Partners)
  • 5.5 Mediaset
  • 5.6 Kirch Group (defunct)
  • 5.7 Liberty Media Corporation
  • 5.8 Scandinavian Broadcasting Service (SBS)
  • 5.9 UnitedGlobalCom Europe - (UPC Broadband)
  • 5.10 Vivendi Universal
• 6. European content
  • 6.1 Overview
  • 6.2 Local and foreign content
  • 6.3 Sport
  • 6.4 Hollywood content sparks EU investigation
  • 6.5 Business TV
  • 6.6 Teletext
• 7. Related reports

• Table 1 – Number of TV households in European nations – 2004
• Table 2 – All TV platforms as share of all households in Europe – 2003
• Table 3 – TV broadcasting revenue (US$ millions) – 1997 – 1999
• Table 4 – Terrestrial TV broadcasters by country – 2004

• Exhibit 1 – Sample TV sports rights