Brussels, 02/09/2003 (Agence Europe) - The European Parliament will, during Thursday's plenary, debate the report by British Conservative Roy Perry on "Television Without Borders", which is based largely on the Commission's recommendations of late 2000, and which will be the fourth report on the updating of the directive.
In its adoption of the Perry report on 2 June, the European Parliament's Committee on Culture and the Media requested that "the revision of the directive or the framework package on content be based on the essential principles of the current directive", in other words a commitment to promote European audiovisual works, the protection of minors and public order, the protection of consumers via the identification and transparency of advertising, and a guaranteed right of reply. The MEPs also professed "concern at the fact that the growing concentration of ownership and control, both horizontally and vertically, in television broadcasting and other media, could be damaging to pluralism and democracy". They feel it is "necessary to place ownership, holding and control of the management of means of audiovisual communication within clear limits". They call upon, amongst others, the Commission: 1) to take "measures to encourage television broadcasting bodies to make pan-European channels (such as Arte and Euronews) available to the greatest number in as any languages as possible, and to encourage the European-scale broadcasting of major European cultural events"; 2) conclude the feasibility study on a European cable channel ("C-Span/Channel Europe/Network").
In a press release, the rapporteur points out that the audiovisual sector has been called upon to play a fundamental role in achieving the objective laid down at the Lisbon Summit to make Europe into the most efficient knowledge-based economy.