7 - The European Context

Summary

Part III of the book begins with a short chapter discussing the European Commission's efforts to promote a harmonized transition to digital TV across the continent and to create an unified regime for the telecom and broadcasting sectors. As a member of the EU, the United Kingdom is bound by the general provisions of the EU Treaty and secondary legislation regarding regional integration and effective market competition, as well as by the more specific policies laid down in Brussels to promote and regulate digital TV. It is thus necessary to examine digital TV policies at the European Community level to understand the constraints under which British policymakers have designed and executed a transition plan. The next chapter (Chapter 8) offers a historical overview of the broadcasting sector in Britain. It discusses the origins and development of the analog television regime both in terms of the rule-based arrangements that determined market entry, funding, and competitive behavior, as well as of the ideological underpinnings that sustained the mixed system of public and commercial broadcasting. In this perspective, the transition to digital TV has been part of the profound reforms introduced in the industry since the Conservatives returned to power in 1979. However, there has also been a nontrivial dose of continuity between the old (analog) and the new (digital) regimes. As the transition unfolded in unexpected ways, it became clear that the British tradition of public service broadcasting was alive and well; and the BBC, much bedeviled by many as a symbol of the old Britain, would later became a key government ally for carrying out the transition plan.